Working At Inventing : Thomas-A Edison And Menlo Park Experience

Working at Inventing offers a fascinating study of research and development at Thomas Edison's Menlo Park (New Jersey) laboratory between 1876 and 1882 - six years that transformed American life. In that production period Edison and his associates obtained more than four hundred patents, making major contributions to telegraphy, telephony, and the duplication of texts. They also made breakthrough innovations in two age-old human quests: conquering the darkness of night and preserving and replaying sound. In the process, Edison demonstrated how to combine technological innovation and business strategy. Afterward, research and development became essential corporate activities. Working at Inventing gathers together six experts on Edison who deal in turn with the working conditions and the experiences at Menlo Park; the shop culture of machinists and their impact on innovation; the role that telegraphy played in promoting inventive activities; Edison's use of mental models in developing the telephone; the importance of visual communication in technology; and the significance of Menlo Park as a model of scientific and technological development. William Pretzer's introduction to the volume provides the context of Edison's career, while an epilogue explains the public interpretation of the Menlo Park laboratory as reconstructed by Henry Ford in his outdoor museum, Greenfield Village.