Edison In Commerce And Manufacture - 3

Edison In Commerce And Manufacture - 3

 Within a few months after establishing himself at the present laboratory, in 1887, Edison

entered upon one of those intensely active periods of work that have been so

characteristic of his methods in commercializing his other inventions. In this case his

labors were directed toward improving the phonograph so as to put it into thoroughly

practicable form, capable of ordinary use by the public at large. The net result of this

work was the general type of machine of which the well-known phonograph of today is a

refinement evolved through many years of sustained experiment and improvement.

After a considerable period of strenuous activity in the eighties, the phonograph and its

wax records were developed to a sufficient degree of perfection to warrant him in making

arrangements for their manufacture and commercial introduction. At this time the

surroundings of the Orange laboratory were distinctly rural in character. Immediately

adjacent to the main building and the four smaller structures, constituting the laboratory

plant, were grass meadows that stretched away for some considerable distance in all

directions, and at its back door, so to speak, ducks paddled around and quacked in a pond

undisturbed. Being now ready for manufacturing, but requiring more facilities, Edison

increased his real-estate holdings by purchasing a large tract of land lying contiguous to

what he already owned. At one end of the newly acquired land two unpretentious brick

structures were erected, equipped with first- class machinery, and put into commission as

shops for manufacturing phonographs and their record blanks; while the capacious hall

forming the third story of the laboratory, over the library, was fitted up and used as a

music-room where records were made.

Thus the modern Edison phonograph made its modest debut in 1888, in what was then

called the "Improved" form to distinguish it from the original style of machine he

invented in 1877, in which the record was made on a sheet of tin-foil held in place upon a

metallic cylinder. The "Improved" form is the general type so well known for many years

and sold at the present day--viz., the spring or electric motor-driven machine with the

cylindrical wax record--in fact, the regulation Edison phonograph.

It did not take a long time to find a market for the products of the newly established

factory, for a world- wide public interest in the machine had been created by the

appearance of newspaper articles from time to time, announcing the approaching

completion by Edison of his improved phonograph. The original (tin-foil) machine had

been sufficient to illustrate the fact that the human voice and other sounds could be

recorded and reproduced, but such a type of machine had sharp limitations in general use;

hence the coming into being of a type that any ordinary person could handle was

sufficient of itself to insure a market. Thus the demand for the new machines and wax

records grew apace as the corporations organized to handle the business extended their

lines. An examination of the newspaper files of the years 1888, 1889, and 1890 will

reveal the great excitement caused by the bringing out of the new phonograph, and how

frequently and successfully it was employed in public entertainments, either for the

whole or part of an evening. In this and other ways it became popularized to a still further

extent. This led to the demand for a nickel-in-the-slot machine, which, when established,

became immensely popular over the whole country. In its earlier forms the "Improved"

phonograph was not capable of such general non-expert handling as is the machine of the

present day, and consequently there was a constant endeavor on Edison's part to simplify

the construction of the machine and its manner of opera- tion. Experimentation was

incessantly going on with this in view, and in the processes of evolution changes were

made here and there that resulted in a still greater measure of perfection.

In various ways there was a continual slow and steady growth of the industry thus

created, necessitating the erection of many additional buildings as the years passed by.

During part of the last decade there was a lull, caused mostly from the failure of

corporate interests to carry out their contract relations with Edison, and he was thereby

compelled to resort to legal proceedings, at the end of which he bought in the outstanding

contracts and assumed command of the business personally.

Being thus freed from many irksome restrictions that had hung heavily upon him, Edison

now proceeded to push the phonograph business under a broader policy than that which

obtained under his previous contractual relations. With the ever-increasing simplification

and efficiency of the machine and a broadening of its application, the results of this

policy were manifested in a still more rapid growth of the business that necessitated

further additions to the manufacturing plant. And thus matters went on until the early part

of the present decade, when the factory facilities were becoming so rapidly outgrown as

to render radical changes necessary. It was in these circumstances that Edison's sagacity

and breadth of business capacity came to the front. With characteristic boldness and

foresight he planned the erection of the series of magnificent concrete buildings that now

stand adjacent to and around the laboratory, and in which the manufacturing plant is at

present housed.