Edison was absentee manager of
the laboratory which had run without his daily direction.
The first year operations the mine produced few
results for the engineering problems running the giant
rollers overcame the workers Ogden. spent most the week at
the mill, returning West Orange Saturday and spending
Monday the lab, reviewing the weeks's experimental work,
before returning Ogden.
His absence from the experimental rooms West Orange sharply
cut back his output inventions. Edison now began to
devote more and more his time the work Ogden, which
demanded his personal attention. This project
reveals Edison's unswerving faith the technological
solution.VI-25
through 1890 and 1891. 1892 admitted that the ore milling process "is
quite problem" but optimistically thought that "when get
. decade which started with
an average over patents year ended much lower
level; patents obtained 1894 and 1895 and only one for
1896. The
cost failure was high; Insull calculated that the ore
milling venture was running loss $6000 week the
29
summer 1891! Convinced that the engineering problems could
be solved Ogden, and confident that this could done
the project would eventually successful, was determined
to get the ore mill working whatever the cost. was completed the end 1891 and
the first order for iron ore was started. The machines continually
broke down under the tremendous strain crushing rocks
