It was also the largest electrical laboratory yet built. the time was built, the West Orange laboratory
was the most complete and advanced electrical testing
laboratory the world. Testing was only
one the tasks the laboratory, and only one small part of
a large operation which was centered innovation
The term "research and development" implies two part
process: research that leads invention, and then the
development commercial product from this original idea.
There were other facilities the U. the nineteenth
century that could compare with the West Orange laboratory in
terms its great size and ambitious scope.
None its contemporaries employed more men than Edison's West
Orange complex; the laboratory the Bell Company employed 29
men around 1885, the staff Charles Dudley's chemical
laboratory the Pennsylvania railroad did not exceed 30,
Thomson's model room its peak employed less than people,
and did Weston's laboratory. comparison, Edison's new
laboratory was built employ over 100 men and the physical
facilities West Orange dwarfs those Weston and Thomson.S.1-23
complex, including the Llewellyn Park lighting installation,
served test bed for the distribution network cables and
feeders and for the meters central stations which recorded
output.
Although historians and economists are not agreed common
definition industrial research, must include the research
and development new products addition testing and
