The Thomas A. Edison Papers Digital Edition

This collection consists of four undated notes from Edison to construction engineer Robert Brisbane. Born in Scotland in 1865, Brisbane came to the United States in 1887 and probably worked for Edison at the New Jersey & Pennsylvania Concentrating Works in Ogden, N.J. during the late 1890s and at the Edison Cement Works in Stewartsville during the early 1900s. In the first note, which probably dates from the 1890s, Edison announces his intention to shut down the mills for the winter and instructs Brisbane to bring all tools and instruments "connected with the mines for safe keeping into the store room" Edison also comments on the unreliability of his workers, complaining that they "nearly all stay home when there is a storm." The other three notes most likely date from the early 1900s. The first instructs Brisbane to turn in his daily notes to "Damon the Draughtsman" (engineer Harry Sumner Damon) so that he "can put the results on the map." Another advises Brisbane to ask Damon's help in verifying his measurements, so that the position of the holes on the map may be as accurate as possible. The last note asks Brisbane to measure the distance from dryer no. 2 of the cement plant to a drain near the railroad track.