Thomas Alva Edison

THE OFFICIAL DOCUMENT THAT INCORPORATES THE EDISON ELECTRIC LIGHT COMPANY.

 The agreement that formalizes the organization of The Edison Electric Light Company and assigns patents for five years for Edison’s experiments “pertaining to Electric Lighting, or to the use of electricity for the purposes of power, or of illumination or heating, or relating to improvements in Electric Engines or to the developing of electric currents by machines….” Edison would receive $250,000 “of its capital company stock of [$300,000].” Edison was also to receive $30,000 cash for materials related to his experiments.

Edison had had formulated the idea of an electrical system that provided long-range, sub-divided power in August of that year while he was “on vacation” in the west. He immersed himself in electric light and power as soon as he returned: first reviewing the literature, narrowing his focus upon incandescent light as the most promising path and then undertaking endless experimentation in his Menlo Park lab. He had made enough progress by October that he was able, with the help of Western Union general counsel Grosvenor P. Lowrey, to entice investors to sign an initial agreement on the 15^th that would provide the essential funds that allowed Edison to devote his time to solving both the problem of a power system and of long-lasting light bulbs. The present document marks the formal incorporation of the new company, which, after many changes, would eventually become General Electric in 1892.

Egisto P. Fabbri served as director and treasurer of the company. He was the partner of J.P. Morgan, who was behind the venture but chose to keep his name off the board of directors. Francis R. Upton was the Princeton graduate who had studied with Hermann von Helmholtz at University of Berlin and became one of Edison’s most important employees.

The Papers of Thomas A. Edison: The Wizard of Menlo Park, 1878. Johns Hopkins University Press, “November 1878” – pp. 659-746. – and this document transcribed on pp 712-717. The Letter does not appear; Josephson, Matthew. Edison: A Biography. New York: [2003]. Morris, Edmund. Edison. New York: [2019].