II- 8
engineering— making products cheaper and easier to
manufacture— new product design from the lab, the Edison
Electric Light Company was often the customer for basic
scientific research related the Edison lighting system.
Edison's invention the phonograph 1877 had brought him
great fame but few profits. The
Edison Electric Light Company also supported research that
would help its commercial position and thwart the competition,
such the physiological experiments the effect of
electricity the human body, used the campaign against
12
alternating current. Once the electric light system had
been completed, Edison returned the phonograph and expected
. organized the Edison Speaking
Phonograph Company 1878 support the development his
fragile tinfoil instrument and market its novelty value. The phonograph and ore milling businesses
were based (respectively) new products and processes, and
both were still the development phase: their successful
conclusion depended further innovation West Orange. It
contracted for wide range experiments from the Edison
laboratory, ranging from measuring the resistance power
lines devising ways kill bugs with electricity. The
Company put $10,000 support Edison's experiments to
improve the invention but little was done because his time was
taken with electricity.
Beyond electric lighting, Edison had identified two other
major industries promoted once had finished the West
Orange laboratory
