1
SIDEBAR
THE CHANGING RESEARCH PROCESS WEST ORANGE
Much has been written over the years about Edison's
method invention. the course this
evolution, the West Orange lab moved gradually away from the
free-wheeling style Menlo Park and began resemble some of
the other corporate research laboratories that appeared the
early twentieth century. particular, the size and cost some
of his projects increased, Edison was less inclined rely on
a handful talented experimenters and instead chose to
routinize the research process.
Edison started his hunt for new battery 1898 not
with random experiments the laboratory but with thorough
search the technical literature. Most accounts have pointed out that Edison
began with specific commercial goal mind and that had
his men conduct literature searches and market surveys.^ The storage battery project
reveals that some the elements the rational Edisonian
methodology are true, but more importantly, shows that his
approach evolved. Just had done during
the electric lighting campaign, Edison had his assistants pore
. Some
historians have claimed that Edison conceived and conducted his
research efforts rational and systematic manner while
others have insisted that his approach was much more random,
shaped inspiration and luck
