Aylsworth improved the phenol resins first developed Leo Baekeland and
produced material called condensite, purer resin with fewer by-products. Rosanoff, "Edison His Laboratory," Harpers Magazine 165, (Sept. Numerous other substances were the subject experiment and
testing: stearic acid compounds, asbestos, celluloid, montan wax, ceresin, and
beeswax. started work on
finding better combinations for the waxes that Aylsworth had developed the
nineteenth century for cylinder records. Rosanoffjoined the laboratory 1903."121 These rooms were probably the third floor Building 5
(see figures 134-136).Aylsworth experimented with compounds that could easily molded into shape
and would not deform shrink with heat.
119 Ibid. Faced with serious problems this project,
Edison fitted two rooms the laboratory and put testers work there
"night and day.
121 TAE Sigmund Bergmann, November 29,1904, Letterbook 71, 169 (LB071169).
The thermo-setting resins were not the only ones under investigation for possible
use records.)
The actual cylinder disc record was never blank pure resin but a
combination cheaper materials for the base covered with "varnish" the hard
recording medium. 130-132.
120 Shop Order 1567 (ca.1904), Notebook N-99-06-24.117
117 Vanderbilt, Thomas Edison, Chemist, pp. 120-121.120
In 1903, Edison thought had found winning chemical combination and he
introduced his new product, the type nickel-iron battery, onto the market.
45
.1.118
MjV. Like the "boys" Menlo Park, the staff
worked all night.
(Condensite refers the condensation phenol and formaldehyde which produces
the resin.
119 MA., pp. Various combinations asphalt, wood flour and china clay
were tried, and finally mixture phenol and wood flour was used for the record
base. The
battery sold well but soon complaints began arrive the laboratory about leaks
in the battery and losses charge.119 Rosanoff also had room
elsewhere the laboratory, probably Building 5. Rosanoff. recalled seeing Edison and Fred Ott the laboratory the
experimental tables throughout the night. 1932), 407. examined the properties of
phenolic resins which could molded heat and pressure and found that they
could mixed with binding agents and molded into hard, heat-resistant shapes
