Part Of: Notebook Series -- Pocket Notebooks

[NP105-F] PN-16-04-19 (1916)

The dated entries in this pocket notebook cover the period March-September 1916. Some of the entries were made at Edison's winter home in Fort Myers, Florida. The book was used to record ideas about business matters, experiments to be tried, and other tasks to be performed. Some of the items have been crossed out and marked "Ent." Many of the experimental notes relate to disc record production. Included are entries pertaining to wear testing of various disc record compositions, varnishes, baking schedules, and presses. Some of the notes on disc composition were entered into N-16-05-10 (Notebooks by Edison and Other Experimenters -- Disc Record Book #13). Also included are notes on battery regeneration and on military topics such as airplane wings and guns, along with a series of fifteen "questions to ask Admiral [Joseph] Strauss."

The business-related entries include a list of the number of violin players and other musicians employed by Edison, lists of material needed to produce record blanks, and notes about production contracts and loans. There are also notes regarding tone tests and recitals. At the end of the book is a notation concerning Edison's agreement of July 22, 1915, with H. H. Meno Kammerhoff, supervisor of operations at the chemical plants in Silver Lake, New Jersey. Other Edison employees mentioned in the book are Charles T. Dally, William Walter Dinwiddie, Archiebald D. Hoffman, and Sherwood T. (Sam) Moore, principal assistants in the development of disc records; purchasing agent Archibald C. Emery; Allan M. Hird, manager of the Disc Record Manufacturing Division; and machinist and longtime Edison associate Frederick P. Ott. The pages are unnumbered. Approximately 150 pages have been used.

Courtesy of Thomas Edison National Historical Park.

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