Like many the
great engineer-inventors before him, Edison took personal
responsibility for the safety and efficiency the technology
he introduced. Competitors such as
the Westinghouse Company combined alternating current
distribution networks with direct current lighting systems to
provide larger, and probably more economical, systems.V-20
the Edison organization had its part the struggle: the
Edison Illuminating Companies redoubled their efforts the
marketplace, the Edison Electric Light Company used its patents
to harass the competition the courts, and the West Orange
laboratory developed new technology needed compete a
crowded market. His risk assessment alternating current was
unfavorable. electrical pioneer, realized that
. believed was too dangerous used
commercially because the high voltages the distribution
networks would kill anyone coming into contact with it.
The issue safety had first been brought the
battle between gas and electric lighting and remained a
priority Edison. Edison assumed the symbolic leadership these
forces and his laboratory stood the center the struggle.
The main competitive threat the Edison enterprise came
from alternating current systems which could reach customers
that the direct current systems could not. the
end the 1880s alternating current had assumed the mantle of
electrical supply technology the future, but Edison opposed
it for economic and safety reasons and tried prevent its
continued diffusion the United States
