Production engineering was the order the day and
the new products developed the laboratory were hardly
revolutionary. Radios and consumer durables, such toasters
and coffee percolators, were new departures for TAE Inc. Instead leading
the pack, the Edison industries were entering fields that had
already passed through the pioneering phase. The West Orange laboratory also
continued along the conservative paths set the twentieth
century.
The experimental projects undertaken Edison his
last years show divergence from his earlier work; stayed
in the same general areas— storage battery, phonograph, and
chemistry. took pride telling the press and his associates
that was busy "getting rubber from weeds," and what could be
g
more appropriate task for patriot and practical man.
Edison's stubborn opposition radio had been overcome
by 1928." was able produce strain with high rubber
content, but the results gained did not justify production. The
.XIV- 6
Q
just now. allotted large
sum money for R&D and the setting manufacture. Both the radio and
Edicraft appliances leaned heavily the appeal Edison's
name without advancing the technological boundaries these
products. Nor did not alter his approach the problem or
his experimental method. Yet
the rubber project kept the aged inventor busy and content., but
they were way radical new products. The Board Directors TAE Inc. The
staff West Orange were instructed not send him any bad
news
