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6. A System Complete
- Johns Hopkins University Press
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121 chapter six A System Complete In the first months of 1880, the laboratory at Menlo Park completed the transition from a research establishment, devoted to discovering how to construct a practical incandescent lamp, to a development center, driven by the economic and technical requisites of a marketable system. In some ways, the activities were little different than they had been: a myriad projects pursued at once, a dozen or so workers assuming particular responsibilities, all under the general guidance of Edison himself. The problems wrestled with and the methods of solution also resembled those of years before; they were usually approached in an unremittingly practical way, broken down into discrete tasks that appeared to present a limited and manageable range of options. The laboratory’s swollen staff, however, was now less the personal staff of a mercurial inventor than an organization serving the interests of an enterprise as much commercial as technological—the electric lighting system. The changes at Menlo Park were not sudden or simple. It was still Edison’s laboratory and, as such, reflected the liveliness and imagination of the man who once promised “a minor invention every ten days and a big thing every six months or so.” Throughout 1880 the change in spirit and orientation was steady, driven by the technical demands of the lighting system. To understand what was happening, it is more important than ever to comprehend the entire complexity of the laboratory’s operations rather than focus simply on the records of electric light experiments. Fortunately, just at this time, in March, a remarkable record of the day-to-day work of the 122 edison’s electric light people at Menlo Park was begun by Charles Mott, who had joined Edison’s office staff at the beginning of the year. This account, part diary and part logbook, was apparently an effort to keep track of all the laboratory’s projects and the activities of all its most important staff. Mott does not tell why he kept this record, but it was clearly not just for personal reasons. In the beginning , he cross-referenced many of his notes with indications of pertinent laboratory notebook entries. While this practice became less consistent as time went on, Mott’s journal still provided a summary of the activities and ideas often recorded in more detail elsewhere. This careful record of daily activities may have been a task assigned to Mott to provide both a means of retrieving notebook data (a kind of narrative index) and additional ammunition for patent problems that might arise. Whatever the reason for the journal, Mott’s picture of Menlo Park’s activities is the most comprehensive available. For about a year, from March 1880 to March 1881, he jotted down in small pocket notebooks his observations of what people were doing, who was absent (and for what reason), and what the laboratory notebook entries for any particular day covered. Supplementing his rough notes with conversations with laboratory workers, Mott entered his observations in a narrative journal. An extended look at this journal gives some flavor of Menlo Park’s hectic pace as well as an occasional glimpse of the less serious side of life in what was to many the world’s most exciting workshop.1 !@ When Mott began his journal, the men at Menlo Park were involved with not only the electric light but also other projects, some old, some new. The telephone work that had previously occupied Edison’s attention, and which was closely tied to commercial efforts in Britain, was still a source of concern, and in March 1880 a few workers were set to improving the chalk-drum receiver Edison had devised to get around Alexander Graham Bell’s patents. In a curious conjunction of efforts, one of the possible improvements [44.204.117.57] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 11:35 GMT) A System Complete 123 under investigation was the application of an electric motor to the chalk drum, which had to be continuously rotated when in use as a receiver. Another project diverting some attention from the electric light was the continuing study of ore samples being sent to Menlo Park from all over North America. This study had begun in 1878 with the attempt to locate new and cheaper supplies of platinum at a time when Edison was convinced the expensive metal would be the basic incandescent element. Despite the fact that he was no longer considering platinum for this use, ore samples continued...