[D1005-F] (D-10-05) Battery -- Storage -- General
Item set
Title
Description
This folder contains correspondence and other documents relating to the commercial and technical development of Edison's alkaline storage battery. Among the documents for 1910 are numerous items in Edison's hand, including a 20-page draft letter to Samuel Insull urging him to promote the battery among "our central station people" and a memorandum regarding the proposed guarantee on his battery. There are also documents pertaining to the manufacture of batteries and the finances of the Edison Storage Battery Co., along with letters concerning the use of the battery in submarines, buses, streetcars, railroads, and other applications. Some of the letters refer to the proposed use of the battery with the Klaxon automobile horn invented by Miller Reese Hutchison. Also included are numerous unsolicited requests for information about the battery, some with marginal notes by Edison. A sample of these letters has been selected. At the end of the folder is an undated typescript containing "instructions for the proper care of Edison storage batteries" and comparing the Edison battery to the Exide battery manufactured by the Electric Storage Battery Co. Among the correspondents are Frank L. Dyer, vice president and general counsel of the Edison Storage Battery Co.; William G. Bee, sales manager; and business associates Ralph H. Beach, Cornelius J. Field, Miller Reese Hutchison, Samuel Insull, Frank J. Sprague, and Walter E. Holland.
Approximately 50 percent of the documents have been selected. The items not selected include letters and memoranda regarding company board meetings, purchasing, and inventory; reports on the use of lead batteries in submarines and streetcars; unsolicited requests; letters of transmittal; and items that duplicate information in selected material.