Tate naturally expected that this duplicating process would be
7
quickly put into operation, but was wrong. They were particularly busy with
the job creating the large scale facilities produce
storage batteries. Edison's staff,
especially Charles Wurth and his son Al, spent the next ten
years trying get better quality duplicate with less
. both the motion picture and phonograph businesses it
was found desirable site studios close the artistes and
not force them come West Orange perform.VIII- 4
productions justified the construction studio 21st
Street New York, the artistic center the country, make
films. Begun 1888, the
experiments had achieved success 1891, when matrices were
used make records. The
laboratory played critical part the expansion the
Edison enterprise: The center this sprawling industrial
empire was the main laboratory building the West Orange
complex. The process involved coating the master
with graphite and then electroplating thin layer gold on
it. This matrix could used mould thousands duplicates. The history the duplication project the
clearest example this process. The laboratory staff were not solely concerned with
R&D; they planned the layout new factories, designed the
machinery, and often actually made equipment the lab and
then installed place.
The research orientation the laboratory the 1890s
was subtly changing support the manufacture new
products
