the 1880s
there was already tradition works laboratories and
material testing American companies that dated back the
First Industrial Revolution.1-20
EDISON'S LABORATORY AND THE CONTEXT INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH
Although Edison claimed that "there similar
institution existence," his new laboratory was means
the only research facility the United States. The larger, and more scientific,
industries the Second Industrial Revolution put higher
premium industrial research. Several the new
corporations— Standard Oil and the Pennsylvania railroad among
them— saw the advantages chemical laboratories. One the laboratory managers was Ezra
Gilliland, self-taught electrician and old friend of
. Successful
inventors like Alexander Graham Bell needed encouragement to
set their own laboratories further their work. The rapid
technological change the "Second Industrial Revolution" made
it imperative keep pace with technological development as
well monitor ever more complex operations. He
established the Volta Laboratory Associates 1881 which
1f
t
included his cousin Chichester Bell and Charles Tainter. The
Bell Company faced the problems operating complicated
technological system and quickly formed corporate laboratories
charged with testing, product improvement, and examining new
telephone technology
