Ironically, at
the same time that the Navy was proudly announcing the great
inventor's connection with them, his batteries were blamed for
the tragic accident.
12
The war came busy time for Edison who was spending
much his time the storage battery and resolving
problems with the disc record. The
laboratory they planned included facility big enough build
experimental submarines.^ This accident killed any hope of
developing the submarine market for Edison's alkaline battery. The cause this accident was traced hydrogen
build-up from the batteries which then exploded."
The experimental directions the naval laboratory were
dominated the submarine. His deafness made him poor choice for leader of
. Chief among the proposed projects
considered the NCB were: motive power for torpedoes and
submarines (including storage batteries), improvements in
submarine attachments and guns, and submarine detection.
Edison's involvement the development modern American
submarine came sudden end when the blew up.XII- 5
innovation was again important consideration the design
of the laboratory: "the value the lab turn things out
quickly. Several men
were killed. Nevertheless, threw himself
into the creation the Naval Consulting Board with his usual
enthusiasm. The West Orange laboratory was already
involved the development this weapon; Edison storage
batteries were powering the Navy's new submarine, the E2
