Edison Storage Battery CompanyIn 1901, the Edison Storage Battery Company was organized. Thomas Edisonaimed to improve the widely used lead cell batteries of the time, but he had another target for his effort: a practical battery to power electric automobiles. He converted an old brass mill in Glen Ridge, N.J., for manufacturing the cells, and built a chemical plant to supply materials near Newark. Although, starting in 1899, he had spent two years in testing and developing his battery, once marketing began, unanticipated defects caused him to cease production until five years later. Eventually, it still became a huge operation, in a vast new building, and highly profitable. His innovations produced many uses, such as in railroad signals or miner's lamps. For electric automobiles, though, the market was rapidly dominated by gasoline-powered engines.«[Image: Thomas Edison holding his A4 alkaline storage battery, in May 1911.] |
