Each Edison's businesses suffered setbacks after the
optimistic beginning the new century. 1903, Edison had decided use
an electrochemical combination nickel and iron with an
electrolyte potassium hydroxide his battery and pushed
. The first
disappointment was the motion picture business. The efforts the legal department could not
prevent the activities the many independent film makers and
exhibitors who crowded into the field."
The same intense competition marked the cement business.VIII-16
this atmosphere that the policy centralization was begun.
The laboratory too underwent the rationalization and
clarification mission that marked the transformation the
Edison enterprise into modern, multinational corporation.
The storage battery project illustrated what could go
wrong with experimental campaign and the great risk of
introducing new product. The Company had begun with the good
idea exploiting Edison's patents and ore milling machinery,
but became financial drain the organization.
The Edison Portland cement Company had been successfully
started but overcapacity the industry led price cutting
which eliminated profits. Edison was still not
fully convinced that this business was not just "fad" and
22
Gilmore recognized that was now non-profitable field. 1903 the
business was low point; the public were tiring the same
film subjects— travelogues and topical films about natural
disasters and current events— and the costs litigation kept
profits low
