This folder contains correspondence and other documents relating to the technical and commercial development of Edison's alkaline storage battery. Included are references to the assignment of patents and the application of the battery to electric vehicles and naval vessels. Among the many documents written by chief engineer Miller Reese Hutchison is a proposal to "frame up a law prohibiting or restricting the manufacture of lead batteries" for safety reasonsan idea that Edison rejected. Also included is Hutchison's draft of an unsent letter from Edison to Myron T. Herrick of the National Carbon Co. regarding the company's claims about their Eveready Non-Sulphating Battery. A letter by E. M Cutting, branch manager of the Edison Storage Battery Supply Co. in San Francisco, mentions Edison's visit to the Panama-Pacific Exhibition. A communication from Edison's personal assistant William H. Meadowcroft to Dr. T. J. Parker of the General Chemical Co. contains a list, prepared by Harrison G. Thompson of the Edison Storage Battery Co., of the various commercial applications of the Edison battery. Other correspondents include William G. Bee of the Edison Storage Battery Co., who accompanied Edison on his trip to California; Frederick J. Lisman, a banker involved in the marketing of the battery; Carl H. Wilson, vice president and general manager of Thomas A. Edison, Inc.; and former laboratory employee Walter E. Holland. In addition to the correspondence, there is a 14-page list, organized by state, of companies using Edison storage batteries in their trucks.
Approximately 60 percent of the documents have been selected including all items authored by Edison or bearing substantive marginalia by him. Courtesy of Thomas Edison National Historical Park.