The Thomas A. Edison Papers Digital Edition

[The first paragraph of this note covers all of the Unbound Notes and Drawings for Part I.]

The loose technical notes and drawings constituting this collection cover the years 1873-1878. They relate to a variety of subjects, including telegraphy, electric lighting and power, the electric pen and duplicating press, the telephone, and the phonograph. There are also documents pertaining to various other subjects, such as carbon rheostats, acoustic devices, the tasimeter, and the voltameter. The unbound notes and drawings are organized by year and within each year by subject. Undated notes and drawings, organized by subject, follow the dated material.

This folder contains notes and drawings by Edison and Charles Batchelor relating to telegraphy. Included are four pages in Edison's hand of a caveat (preliminary patent application) for a Roman-letter chemical telegraph. The complete caveat, copied by Batchelor from Edison's notes, can be found in Caveats: Unbound Notebook (1874) in the Patent Series. Also included is a note from May 16, 1874, bearing the inscription "Experiments por Socitie du Cable Transatlantique Francaise Por Mr Edison & Batchelor." The Societe was a French company established in 1869 to lay an Atlantic cable. A month earlier, Edison had prepared a demonstration of his roman-letter automatic system for George G. Ward, American manager of the French line.