Experimenting with Electricity

What could possilby go wrong?!

As his 21st birthday approached, Hiram Ely reflected on his days as an electrical experimenter:

I was not over six or seven years old when my interest was aroused one day in the mysteries of electricity. I chanced upon an old doorbell and an old dry cell and putting two and two together (two binding posts on each) I made not four, but the bell ring. From thence on I was an electrician. 

I was soon established with dry cells, wet cells, bells, small incandescent lamps and switches in an old desk which I kept in my room — my first laboratory. I held consultations with Joe Hild,^[1] likewise embryo machine and electrician. I had spare change which he did not have and he was willing to part with his more advanced learning in advising me as to suitable apparatus to buy. 

He suggested the wireless which then was far in its infancy in so much as amateurs were concerned. I was not long in adding to my equipment the necessary headphones, spark coil, detector and so forth, and soon had an antenna rigged up above the house between the pine tree and a giant walnut. 

I began to acquire a small library of electrical books, took several magazines and availed myself of all information I could obtain on the subject of electricity. My wireless equipment worked very satisfactorily and I soon set about other experiments with my spark coil. 

I had an electrically fired cannon for Fourth of July and I have electrocuted such small animals as mice. I just failed to electrocute a cousin of about my own age, whom Jim and I forced into [a] live electric chair; he came nearer dying of fright than of the results of the shock. 

Occasionally, I would give the boys a treat when they would come in early in the morning and oblige me by stepping on some bare wires I had exposed for their benefit. I must mention, too, the time when I shocked my Aunt Grace Sandford by handing her a charged Leyden jar which soon discharged itself through her arms. 

It is a wonder, I suppose, that I did not burn the house down either by a bolt of lightning entering through my aerial or from overloading the service wires for I used the lighting circuit to operate my induction coil. However, many youthful experimenters have been less careful than I was and with no disastrous results, thanks to good luck.

A Leyden jar is an electrical component that stores a high-voltage electric charge from an external source. It is the forerunner of the modern day capacitor. Because they could store significant amounts of charge, Leyden jars allowed scientists, including novice scientists like Hiram, to experiment with electricity in a way never before possible.

Electrical Experiments Pay Off

I was 12 years old when I received my first contract. Father had just erected a new carriage barn; we already had a large cow barn and a dairy — all these were ready for the installation of a lighting system. I was confronted with the proposition that if I could do the job, the seventy-five dollar contract which would otherwise be awarded to a town electrician, would fall to me. 

I counseled friend Hild; could we do it? I felt a trifle safer to have an advisor in the matter and it just happened that friend Hild's uncle was a wireman so that he was a valuable advisor to have at this time. 

There were numerous obstacles to confront: approved materials had to be bought and at proper prices to allow for profit; there was a good deal of hardwork about the job — stringing high wires and boring holes through hardwood beams is no fun for a twelve year old; and finally the whole system had to be inspected and approved by the Fire Underwriters’ inspector and by the electric company’s inspector. 

I was not to be daunted though and set about my layout. With the aid of the Underwriter's rule book, my own knowledge of circuit wiring and occasional advices from Hildy, I got my material and went to work. There were hardships — I was even deserted once or twice by my advisory board who had no capital at stake but I stuck and the job was inspected and approved by Mr. Inspector; the seventy-five went to into my bank account. 

Becoming a “Professional” Electrician

By this time I had changed the tone of my operations from that of mere play to one more business like and it was quite necessary that I have a laboratory or shop, as I always called it, in which I could work more extensively. I believe mother was quite happy to have my "junk" eliminated from the articles in my bedroom. 

I took possession of an extra building which happened to find itself empty in the farmyard and I was soon well established. I erected a seventy-five foot wireless antenna and built up my wireless apparatus on a good basis. Later on I was unable to give so much attention to the wireless department. 

My advertisement appeared in the local paper and several small jobs came to me as a result. Then I got busy and hustled around informing contractors that I was desirous of submitting them bids on the wiring in their constructions. This brought me quite a little business and at one time I had four men working for me as it required all of my time to look after my business. 

Contracting became dull my last year in high school so the summer following my graduation I discontinued my business and took a position with the Public Service Corporation as wireman. I was with a gang who worked thro the summer in Englewood, Hackensack and Rutherford installing overload grounds on service lines. This was the last electrical work I did, for I went to college the following fall.

Published 24 May 2026.