Existing comment:
Room 12
"Often Edison may be seen here in animated conference with a group of his assistants; but its chief distinction lies in it being one of his favorite haunts... Within its walls have been settling many of the perplexing problems and momentous questions that have brought about great changes in electrical and engineering arts."
-- Frank Dyer and TC Martin, "Edison, His Life and Inventions," 1910
Edison preferred this cluttered but plain experimental room over his more ornate library office. A 1910 biography described how Edison used this personal lab: "the door is always open, and often he can be seen seated at a plain table in the centre of the room, deeply intent on some of the number of problems in which he is interested... Always at hand will be found one or two of the laboratory note-books, with frequent entries or comments in the handwriting which once seen is never forgotten." At one time, a smaller room was partitioned off within, probably for his secret experiments.
Fred Ott:
Edison's personal experimental machinist, Fred Ott, had an office near Edison's private lab. Like his older brother John, Fred had worked with Edison in Newark and at the Menlo Park lab, long before the West Orange lab opened. He assisted Edison with many projects, but is best known as the subject of the first film ever copyrighted. Commonly known as "Fred Ott's Sneeze," the short publicity film was made here in 1894. Something of a joker, Ott didn't mind hamming it up for the camera and later enjoyed claiming he was the first movie star. |