Part Of: Notebook Series -- Pocket Notebooks

[NP113-F] PN-18-04-01 (1918)

This pocket notebook, which covers the period April-August 1918, was used by Edison at Key West, Florida, and West Orange, New Jersey. Included are notes and drawings pertaining sound detection devices and other means of locating submarines, camouflaging techniques, torpedoes, and other war-related topics. Some of the notes, including data on the penetration of steel plates by machine guns at various ranges, were copied from published sources. There are occasional disparaging remarks by Edison in regard to the Navy Dept., its Annapolis-trained officer corps, and its aversion to risk taking, along with comments about the proposed Naval Research Laboratory, which Edison believed must be under civilian management. There is also criticism of Henry G. Wolfe, one of several experimenters loaned to Edison by the New York Edison Co.

Many of the entries made after Edison's return to West Orange in May refer to the production of disc records. Included are notes on varnishes, plating experiments, and the manufacture of record blanks. There are also notes on Lalande primary batteries, chalk telephones, and chemical experiments involving nickel, lithium, and bismuth. Beginning on page 167 is a series of entries with the title "gas war notes." Among the employees mentioned in the book are Charles T. Dally, John A. Hanley, Miller Reese Hutchison, and Sherwood T. (Sam) Moore. The front cover is stamped "Cash" and is marked "Jany to Sept 1918." A stamp on the flyleaf indicates that the book was purchased at Crain's Book Store in Key West. The book contains 174 numbered pages.

Courtesy of Thomas Edison National Historical Park.

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