![]() Once he had an idea, he was done, he knew he had solved the problem and moved on.” Only together could these three have birthed the system that is now the bone and sinew of these United States.Īs an engineer and an entrepreneur who has been involved at various levels in the commercialization of over thirty inventions, I found The Last Days of Night to be one of those great “hard to put down” books. Tesla, the third leg, only cared for the ideas themselves. Westinghouse did not want to sell the most but wanted to make the best. Westinghouse was different as he loved the products themselves and he made them better than anyone else. Cravath turned the practice of law from a craft into an industry.Įdison, Westinghouse and Tesla, who in their own ways, changed the world: they did what they loved “for Edison who loved the audience it was the performance. This system rivaled Westinghouse’s factories for efficiency of production. They became partners themselves based on the length of time they had been with the firm. The associates ascended through a hierarchy of their own. Each suit was overseen by a partner at the firm, below which a team of associates handled the daily drudgery of legal work. He developed a pyramidal structure, the “Cravath System,” to handle the light-bulb suit. law firms, Cravath Swain and Moore, for nearly two centuries. Edison’s patent was eventually upheld in the court but it was soon to expire.Ĭravath went on to create what has been known as one of the premier U.S. It lived on beyond the time litigants cared about its result. He would die penniless in 1943.Įdison versus Westinghouse became an undead lawsuit. Tesla, on Westinghouse’s request, signed away his royalties. Westinghouse became the manufacturer of Tesla’s electric-power generation system. The Edison General Electric was renamed General Electric and became the global manufacturer of the electric bulb based on Tesla’s idea. direct current) and the commercial beginnings of electricity generation and distribution.Īt the end, there is a secret coup within Edison General Electric which was backed by J.P. The war over the ownership rights to the light bulb grew. Tesla’s genius and Westinghouse’s need to win motivated Tesla to invent alternating (A/C) current and a new bulb that would operate on A/C. Tesla, who worked at one time for Edison was hired by Westinghouse to beat Edison by having him make a better light bulb. It was up to Cravath to show that Edison patented a specific lightbulb, not the entire idea of the lightbulb. Agnes Huntingon serves as Tesla’s patron and as a romantic interest for Cravath.Įdison’s lawyers claimed his patent covered all designs of all light bulbs. We learn that Tesla, thought to be eccentric by all who knew him, was possibly a schizophrenic. Nikola Tesla, an inveterate inventor, plays a central role in the book as the inventor of A/C. Much was at stake for both the winner and the loser. The market for a better bulb was immense and not crowded. Gas lights remaned, as they were far safer and more beautiful. The first electric lamps a century earlier and by 1878, arc-lighting systems and electrical “candles” were being sold to cities and towns throughout the U.S. The story begins with Cravath being hired by Westinghouse to prosecute a patent-related lawsuit against Edison to prevent him from having a monopoly on “light.” The central issue at the heart of the legal squabble was “who invented the light bulb?” Morgan, Agnes Huntington and Paul Cravath.Ĭravath, the protagonist, is a 26-year-old attorney only 19 months out of law school. The main characters include Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse, Nikola Tesla, J.P. This book is a “Gordian knot of verifiable truth, educated supposition, dramatic rendering and total guesswork.” It follows the ground-breaking “non-fiction fiction” or historical fiction art form pioneered in 1966 by Truman Capote’s award winning “In Cold Blood.” The author states, “the bulk of the events depicted in the book did happen and every major character did exist.” But adds that nothing (in the book) should be understood as verifiable fact. Westinghouse) and the creation of today’s global giant General Electric. Set in New York City and Pittsburgh in the late 1800s, The Last Days of Night centers in the invention of the light bulb, the war over the adoption of A/C current, the largest ever patent-lawsuit (Edison vs. It will appeal to those interested in invention, technology, business, the practice of law and entrepreneurship. Even as a work of “historical fiction,” it will appeal to history buffs. The Last Days of Night by best-selling author Graham Moore is such a story. It takes a very special story for me to engage in fiction.
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