XII-30
THE CHANGING STATUS THE LAB
The lab's work become more mundane and orderly the
1920s.
In the old machine shop culture West Orange the
engineer was law himself and the laboratory was the
guiding force the Edison enterprise. Now the engineer was. Even the work of
the professional engineers the laboratory was closely
controlled that they could not carry out research their own
volition. The product engineers had obtain purchase orders
for any experimental work, and this required the approval of
the management. more would gentlemen travel West Orange, drawn on
by the fame Edison's laboratory, and carry out their own
experiments with the inventor's permission. Included the latter
CO
were librarians, stenographers, and engineers. Instead the chaos the 1880s, there was routine and
order. The lab longer employed "experimenters" and
muckers but experienced engineers who came the lab from
. 1920
the lab employed categories workers paid hourly
basis and over weekly basis. This policy was contrast to
employment inexperienced, but flexible, help that
characterized hiring practices the nineteenth century. 57
academia business. The
policy employing specialists West Orange paralleled the
national tendency toward professionalization work
