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  Ætherists possessed to this degree usually ended up for a stay in Newburgh, from which it became necessary to break them out, Merle after a while becoming known as the fellow to see, once he'd developed a relationship with elements of the staff out there who did not mind an escapee now and then, the work-load being what it was.

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"possessed"
As defined by Merriam-Webster: "controlled or overwhelmingly influenced by something (such as an evil spirit, a passion, or an idea)" In this case, as this is a Pynchon novel, it's probably an evil spirit.
    Wouldn't be great if it were an evil spirit? Not that the reader would ever find out because as soon as Pynchon gets this idea on the page he's moving on to a short little drama about Ed Addle escaping Newburgh. I think.

"Ætherists possessed to this degree usually ended up for a stay in Newburgh"
Was it Isaac Asimov, the well-known Con Groper, who once said that thing about there being no difference between magic and science advanced past a population's understanding (like microwave ovens)? Pynchon seems to suggest a similar thing (or he's playing off a standard trope, I suppose) that genius simply looks like madness to the dimwitted and dull.

"from which it became necessary to break them out"
Knowing that they're just eccentric fans of Æther and not hand-tucked-in-shirt Napoleon-wannabes, Merle and his new friends can only see it as justice to break them out of the insane asylum. If not for Merle, they'd have to wait until one of the inmates convinced another inmate that he wasn't actually small and could throw a sink through a window to escape. And who has time for that?!

"once he'd developed a relationship with elements of the staff"
Pynchon doesn't go any more into how Merle became friends with people on the inside at Newburgh, possibly because we already have all of the information we need. Merle's a good guy who easily socializes with others. Maybe he met them at a bar. Maybe at the brothel. Maybe he just went up and introduced himself because the cops kept throwing his new friends, guys like Ed Addle, into the asylum simply because they didn't like the looks of them and couldn't comprehend any of the scientific talk.

"the staff out there who did not mind an escapee now and then, the work-load being what it was"
I'm beginning to understand that Cleveland in 1893 was full of lazy people willing to take a bribe if it meant they get another cigarette break. I bet Cleveland is still like that! Laziest population in America is what I heard! Sometimes they can't even bother to go to the toilet when they're engaged in coitus!

Chapter 1: Section 7: Page 61: Lines 82-83 (1064-1065)

 "Better. Psychical anti-gravity."

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Oh. You know what. My bad. I'm sorry. I didn't realize this guy had it all figured out without any help from rocket science at all. I'm just over here thinking all he needs to do is invent a Wernher von Braun 19 years before von Braun's mother invented him. Little did my stupid brain realize that this Ætherist already has space travel figured out. Just use your mind, buddy! Defy gravity with psychic powers. Easy peasy! Boy, I sure look foolish now!

Chapter 1: Section 7: Page 61: Line 81 (1063)

 "Airships?"

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This is Merle's response to the money-making scheme to corner light by capturing the light further away from the Earth where the stream is smaller. I know, I know! You don't have to tell me how light works! Tell the money-making schemer!

Anyway, Merle's reaction justifies my reaction to this concept in the last entry when I mocked the guy for just needing to come up with rocket science. Since it doesn't exist and most common people probably have barely put any thought to it, Merle responds in much the same way anybody from 1893 would: "Oh, you must be talking about balloons since that's the only way to get up that high. Just a massive fleet of balloons to block the light and collect it in little Æther jars that you can then sell to the public at outrageous prices." Obviously Merle doesn't mean any of that stuff that I just pretended he meant by saying, "Airships?" This questioning response is his way to stay "unentangled from money-making schemes." Also maybe he's just curious, drunk, and  horny. The drunk and horny have nothing to do with any of this but I suspect he is those things as well.

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 We have the know-how, the world's most inventive engineers and mechanics, all's we need is to get far enough out to catch the prevailing flows. . . ."

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"We have the know-how"
To corner the light market. To capture up all the light and feed it to all the little piggies in drips and drabs but only if they work hard and endure every hardship we think they must. "Work smart, not hard," some asshole always says as he steals the resources from everybody else while sitting on his fattest of all the asses and making the world a worse place for everybody except his dimwitted children.

"the world's most inventive engineers and mechanics"
If you live in America, you always simply assume that everybody from America is better than everybody in the rest of the world. You don't need to know history or facts. You're always just certain because America is the fucking cat's knees, Daddio. Ask any piece of shit mediocre white dude on the Internet and he'll tell you with all the confidence garnered by generations of shit mediocre white dude DNA that everything great in the world came from white dudes and, 99% of the time (even if America is only 250 years ald), an American white dude.
    Look, you can believe it or not. Who am I to convince you otherwise? Either you believe it because you've never read any actual books that didn't have "Sigma" in the title or you've read loads and loads of science, history, and novels by incredible smart people and you know they're full of smegma.

"far enough out to catch the prevailing flows"
Oh, is that all? The only thing you need to corner the light market is rocket science? I think you need a fucking brain surgeon, sir.