Edison's Electric Light: The Art of Invention

2. “The Throes of Invention”

24 chapter two “The Throes of Invention” Up to the end of 1878, Edison’s attack on the problem of “subdividing the light” was really little different from that of would-be inventors who had preceded him or of rivals who were then in the midst of their own efforts. What was to distinguish Edison ’s work in the coming months (and years) was the wealth of men, equipment, and facilities that he could mobilize for the campaign. No other inventor in the nineteenth century had at his disposal what Edison had—a team of skilled and intelligent co-workers armed with every instrument, tool, or material they required and dedicated to the accomplishment of whatever task Edison set out for them. As the search for a practical light moved into 1879, the scope of effort that the Menlo Park team and laboratory made possible began to have an impact. Between 1876, when Edison moved to Menlo Park, and the years 1881–82, when he began phasing out the laboratory there, the number of men working in the little group of buildings hard by the Pennsylvania Railroad tracks varied considerably. There were, however, never more than a half-dozen central figures in the lab’s work. These individuals differed enormously in background, training , and skills but possessed in common, at least while they were at Menlo Park, an extraordinary loyalty to Edison and faith in what they could accomplish under his guidance. Their loyalty and confidence was perhaps the most important factor in making the Menlo Park laboratory an effective and productive cooperative enterprise. Even if it had been conceivable, the corporate structure of the twentieth -century industrial research laboratory was not necessary in “The Throes of Invention” 25 a setting built around the inspiration and leadership of one man. Nonetheless, Menlo Park was also a place that brought out the most important talents of the individuals there—talents that were themselves critical to the successful pursuit of invention. Unquestionably, the chief among Edison’s co-workers was the English-born mechanic Charles Batchelor. Raised in Manchester and receiving most of his training in textile mills, Batchelor came to America at age 22 to help a Newark factory with its installation of machinery. When he shortly thereafter joined Edison at his Newark shop, he quickly became an indispensable part of the operation. Batchelor was particularly valued for the fineness of his handiwork and the painstaking care and patience he put into all he did. It would perhaps be going too far to call him a foil to Edison, but much of his value clearly lay in the extent to which his methodical manner balanced Edison’s more rough-and-ready tendencies. More than anyone else, it was Batchelor who was to be found by Edison’s side at the laboratory workbench. John Kruesi was another valuable Menlo Park hand whose association with Edison dated from Newark days. Kruesi was a master machinist whose mechanical skills reflected his Swiss background. It was his Menlo Park machine shop that was responsible for turning the roughly sketched ideas of Edison and others into real constructions of wood, metal, and wire. If the devices that emerged didn’t work, it was because they were bad ideas, not because they were badly made. And when the ideas were good, as in the case of the phonograph, the product of Kruesi’s shop would prove it. The fact that the Menlo Park laboratory possessed the mechanical capability of a first-rate machine shop was no small element in its success . Not only did the quality of the shop’s output give good designs their best chance of working, but it also allowed the rapid testing and elimination of poor concepts. It was advantages like this that set Menlo Park apart from the environment of any other inventor in the world. Edison also owed much to the other members of his team, even if their contributions were not as singular as those of the lab’s most 26 edison’s electric light skilled or knowledgeable individuals. John and Fred Ott were mechanics who worked for Edison from Newark days until well after Menlo Park. Samuel D. Mott was a draughtsman with an artistic flair who was responsible for the attractively detailed drawings of laboratory devices scattered throughout the Menlo Park notebooks. Martin Force was another whose name recurs throughout the laboratory records. He came to...