(Illus 4-2, Doll Advert.) Charles Batchelor,
the father two girls, took special interest the doll
experiments, developing small phonograph mechanism and
fitting into doll that was less than two feet high.
While cautious minds might have had reservations about
the reliability small doll mechanism, Edison was confident
that could produce working doll phonograph and even made
ambitious plans manufacture 500 day the Phonograph
Works. group of
businessmen from Boston established the Edison Toy Doll Company
in 1889 market the doll and support the cost its
development. Edison
patented his first doll phonograph the summer 1889, but
it was not until the end the year that the laboratory began
25
to design tools and prepare for manufacture. Edison and Batchelor received stock the company
in return for their inventive efforts and the costs their
experiments were billed the company Boston. One
important design criterion for the doll was cost— usual
Edison was eyeing mass market— and experimental project
was soon begun "smaller cheap doll phono". There was nothing wrong the marketing strategy; the
. The toy doll was the first attempt market the
phonograph invention; experiments were begun Menlo Park and
continued the West Orange laboratory soon opened in
December 1887.IV-14
produce commercial product 1888; the other phonograph
project the Edison laboratory, the Talking Doll, was plagued
with design and production difficulties which delayed its
introduction
