The recommendations of
this committee described installation that bore close
resemblance his West Orange lab. Edison insisted that
the lab stocked with supplies every kind that could
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work quickly.
This facility was intended make sure that the Navy got value
for money its contracts and that would have the best
equipment available, and fair price. Edison
planned this laboratory along the same lines his own; was
to large enough benefit from economies scale and it
had situated close New York City, "the great mart"
where supplies could quickly obtained. Edison took leading role the committee that
considered the makeup the laboratory.XII- 4
America's greatest minds were involved the NCB, including
Frank Sprague, Willis Whitney, Leo Baekeland, and Elmer Sperry. was have
, 7
electrical, chemical, and physical laboratories." Edison envisaged facility that could work in
a broad spectrum different experimental projects.
A early meeting the Board resolved that its work would best
be served the creation naval laboratory that would test
new equipment and carry out experiments naval technology. described "Not research laboratory;
it construction laboratory— more properly universal
machine shop" that could produce "anything from submarine to
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a microscope. Speed of
. secondary task was
the development new technology fit the Navy's
requirements. was contain machine
shop, pattern shop, foundry, drafting rooms, testing rooms, and
a motion picture developing department
