THE EDISON LEGEND
While innovation the West Orange laboratory declined,
Edison's image great inventor grew. Edison's long career bridged two Americas: the
nineteenth century world his mid-western upbringing and
meteoric rise fame and fortune, and the modern industrial
society the twentieth century that his inventions had helped
create. In
the same way the Diamond Disc machine was portrayed Edison's
masterpiece; after years work the laboratory, Edison and
his assistants had produced superior means reproducing
sound. read like Horatio
Alger story. The myth the heroic
inventor who went from rags riches was described a
growing number books and articles.
always claimed that "Ours the best machine" because Edison's
genius, and the great resources his West Orange laboratory,
stood behind it. was his "supreme effort" and his "latest and greatest
triumph. The standards the laboratory were the
highest, and this way the Official Laboratory Model
phonograph was advertised the ultimate reproduction.
The image Edison the great inventor, and his famous
laboratory, had served the Edison industries well."25
. TAE Inc. The appeal the Edison legend was that managed to
combine the values rural America with the trappings an
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industrial state
