The Thomas A. Edison Papers Digital Edition

[This note covers all of the notebooks in Group 1: Storage Battery Books.]

The fifty-one extant notebooks in this group (two books have not been located) cover the period July 1899-December 1910. One book also contains entries from 1911-1915. The books were used by Edison employees, including Ralph Arbogast, Walter E. Holland, and Robert Rafn. Occasional marginal notations by Edison indicate his attention to their work. Included are test reports, notes about battery experiments, and research notes on printed sources and patent searches. Many of the experimental entries pertain to the various metals tried in Edison's storage battery; comparisons of early Edison batteries with those of competitors; the production of ingredients (such as the iron and nickel used in the cells); and the analysis of various components, including KOH electrolyte, iron and nickel powders, and hard rubber separators. There are also numerous entries relating to the evaluation of battery components and completed cells. These include tests of the resistance of nickel flake; electric vehicle road tests; and instructions for various battery discharge tests. Also included are scattered reports of endurance tests, which later became standardized and serialized into formal sets of endurance test books. In addition to the entries by Arbogast, Holland, and Rafn, the books contain notes by other laboratory employees, including Alvin D. Caskey, Zoltan de Horvath, George H. Hooper, Jr., George A. Meister, John O. Roos, and William A. Warren. Labels on the front covers of some of the books contain notes by Edison regarding the importance of the data contained therein. The notebooks are arranged in four subgroups: (1) General Storage Battery Books (32 books); (2) Chemical Analyses and Cell Tests (10 books); (3) U.S. Patents and General Literature Search (4 books); and (4) Foreign Patents Search (5 books).