1891
| Jan | Jonas W. Aylsworth resigns his position at the West Orange laboratory. Returns intermittently as a consultant and employee regarding the composition of phonograph records, the development of x-ray apparatus, and incandescent lamps. |
| Jan | Travels to Port Huron for the funeral of his brother, William Pitt Edison. |
| Feb | Returns to the Edison General Electric Company plant in Schenectady to work on an alternating current transformer and to conduct additional experiments on streetcar motors. |
| May 12 | Travels to Chicago for discussions regarding the electric lighting business and plans for the 1893 Columbian Exposition. |
| May 20 | Demonstrates the kinetoscope at the West Orange laboratory for the Federation of Women's Clubs. |
| May 21 | The Board of Directors of the New Jersey and Pennsylvania Concentrating Works authorizes the purchase of the Ogden Iron Company. |
| ca. May-June | The New Jersey and Pennsylvania Concentrating Works begins delivering loose ore on contract to Bethlehem Iron Company. |
| June-Dec | Spends most of his time at the New Jersey and Pennsylvania Concentrating Works plant in Ogden. |
| July 14 | The primacy of Edison's lamp patents is upheld in the decision of Electric Light Company v. U.S. Electric Lighting Company. |
| Aug 24 | Executes patent applications (U.S. Pats. 493,426 and 589,168) for the kinetoscope and kinetograph. |
1892
| Mar | Begins experimenting with the composition and production of iron ore briquettes. |
| Apr 15 | The General Electric Company is organized. |
| May | Samuel Insull resigns his positions with the Edison General Electric Company and Edison Phonograph Works and assumes the presidency of the Edison General Illuminating Company of Chicago. |
| Summer | The village at the site of the Ogden plant is renamed 'Edison." |
| Oct | Enters contractual relations with the General Electric Company (established originally with the Edison General Electric Company) for research on electric light and power. |
| Nov 14 | Shuts down the Ogden plant for repairs and modifications. |
| Dec | Begins construction on the Black Maria motion picture studio. |
1893
| Date | Description |
|---|---|
| Feb | The construction of the Black Maria is completed, although it is not fully outfitted and operational until May. |
| Feb | Prepares design plans and cost estimates with Arthur E. Kennelly for the General Electric Company's bid on the Niagara Falls power project. |
| May 9 | Displays his standard peephole kinetoscope (vertical-feed, 1½ inch film width) at the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences. |
| Aug-Sep | Joins members of the Miller family for a visit to Chicago during the Columbian Exposition. |
| Dec. 29 | Executes a patent application (U.S. Pat. 567,187) for the "Giant" ore crushing rolls. |
1894
| The bank panic of 1893 and the ensuing depression result in the discharging of numerous "old hands" and the suspension of many activities at the laboratory. | |
| Spends most of his time at the Ogden plant. Is available in West Orange only on weekends and occasionally on Mondays. | |
| Sells blocks of his General Electric Company stock. | |
| Jan 9 | Resigns as president of the North American Phonograph Company and as vice president of the Edison United Phonograph Company. |
| Jan | William K. L. Dickson produces "Edison Kinetographic Record of a Sneeze," the first motion picture to receive a copyright. Dickson and Theodore Heise go on to copyright approximately seventy-five motion pictures in 1894. |
| Mar 1 | Arthur E. Kennelly resigns his position at the West Orange laboratory; forms a consulting firm with Edwin Houston in Philadelphia. |
| Mar | The first contract for the production of twenty-five kinetoscopes is completed. |
| Apr 1 | William E. Gilmore becomes vice president and general manager of the Edison Manufacturing Company. |
| Apr 14 | The first commercial viewing of the peephole kinetoscope is held by the Holland Brothers at 1155 Broadway, New York City. |
| Apr | Alfred O. Tate resigns as Edison's private secretary. |
| Aug 21 | The North American Phonograph Company enters receivership; Newark attorney John R. Hardin is appointed receiver. |
| Oct 17 | The first foreign kinetoscope parlor opens in London, England. |
| Dec. | Closes the Ogden plant for repairs and design modifications. |
1895
| Continues to spend much of his time at the Ogden plant. | |
| Continues to sell blocks of his General Electric stock and railroad bonds. | |
| Apr | William K. L. Dickson resigns his position at the West Orange laboratory. |
| Summer | Experiments in the mass production of iron ore briquettes suitable for shipping and use in blast furnaces; development continues through early 1897. |
| Oct 1 | Marion E. Edison marries Oscar Oeser in Dresden, Germany. |
| Renews contractual relations with the General Electric Company for research on improvements in electric lighting. | |
| Oct 18 | The Edison Electric Illuminating Company of New York rejects Edison's claim, based on an 1885 contract, for a bonus payment of $100,000 due to the success of the company's electric lighting business. |
| Oct | Resumes work on squirted cellulose lamp filaments. |
1896
| Continues to spend much of his time at the Ogden plant. | |
| Jan 15 | Reaches a preliminary agreement with Thomas Armat for the Edison Manufacturing Company to produce and market Armat's phantoscope as the Edison vitascope. |
| Jan 27 | Organizes the National Phonograph Company. |
| Jan | Begins experimenting with x-rays. |
| Feb 26 | Edison's father, Samuel, dies in Norwalk, Ohio. Edison attends the funeral. |
| late Mar | Sends a completed x-ray fluoroscope to Columbia University physicist Michael Pupin. |
| Mar-July | Closes the Ogden plant for modifications. |
| Apr 23 | The Edison vitascope has its commercial debut at Koster and Bial's Music Hall, New York City. |
| Apr | Tests his gold ore separation process on placer samples sent from the Ortiz mine in New Mexico. |
| May-July | Exhibitions of the vitascope are held across the United States. |
| mid Aug | Attends the meeting of the Association of Edison Illuminating Companies held in Brooklyn, New York, on August 11-13. Henry Ford, who also attends, later recalls meeting Edison there. |
| Nov | Introduces the Edison Home Phonograph, an inexpensive, spring motor driven phonograph. |
| Dec | Travels to the Crane Iron Works in Catasauqua, Pennsylvania, to observe test runs of pig iron produced from his iron ore briquettes. |
1897
| Continues to spend much of his time at the New Jersey and Pennsylvania Concentrating Works plant in Ogden. | |
| June | Prepares a summary of separation tests and ore assays for gold placer samples from the Ortiz mine, along with cost estimates for the construction and operation of an ore separation mill at the site. |
| July 16 | Executes a patent application (U.S. Pat. 644,746) for the three-high crushing rolls in his ore milling process. |
| Aug | James H. White of the Edison Manufacturing Company embarks on a ten-month international tour to produce film subjects; over 130 subjects are copyrighted. |
| Summer | The Ogden plant is again closed for repairs and modifications. |
| Nov 30 | Edison's own motion picture projector, the projectoscope or projecting kinetoscope, has its first commercial exhibition. |
| Dec | Begins a series of lawsuits alleging patent infringement by his competitors in the motion picture industry, including the International Film Company, Maguire & Baucus, Ltd., the American Mutoscope Company, Benjamin F. Keith, and Sigmund Lubin. |
1898
| Continues to travel between his West Orange laboratory and his ore milling plant at Ogden. | |
| Jan | Leases placer tracts near the Ortiz mine. |
| July 8 | Mina Miller Edison's brother, Theodore, dies from wounds received during fighting in the Spanish-American War. |
| July 10 | Edison's fourth son is born; is named Theodore Miller Edison after Mina Edison's brother. |
| Dec 20 | Shuts down his ore milling plant at Ogden; plans to repair the machinery, build additional employee housing, and start up the mill in the spring. |
| Dec | Prepares to visit Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley region to observe Portland Cement plants. |
1899
| Jan | Designs a long rotary kiln for making cement. |
| Feb 17 | Edison's father-in-law, Lewis Miller, dies. Edison attends his funeral in Akron, Ohio. |
| Feb 19 | Edison's eldest son, Thomas A. Edison, Jr., and Marie Louise Toohey are married in the Roman Catholic Church, two days after announcing that they had secretly married in November. After living together less than two years, they separate. |
| Feb 22 | Edison's longtime associate John Kruesi dies. |
| Mar 14 | Signs an agreement with Thomas Crahan of the Klondike Exposition Company to obtain motion pictures of the Alaska gold fields. |
| Mar | Begins building a full-scale model of a section of his long rotary kiln. |
| Apr 15 | Organizes the Edison Portland Cement Company. |
| Summer | Begins experimental work on storage batteries. |
| Builds a one-sixth scale model of the cement works. | |
| Nov | Edison's second son, William Leslie Edison, marries Blanche F. Travers against his father's wishes. |
1900
| Jan 31 | Edison's sister Marion Edison Page dies. Edison plans to attend her funeral in Milan, Ohio. |
| Mar | Vacations with his family in Florida |
| June 16 | Executes a patent application on a method of mass-producing cylinder phonograph records. |
| Aug | Completes construction of a full-size long kiln for making cement. Later the kiln is removed from the West Orange laboratory and rebuilt at the Edison Portland Cement Company works in Stewartsville, New Jersey. |
| Summer | Edison's experimental mill for the concentration of gold ore begins testing at the Ortiz Mine in Dolores, New Mexico. |
| Sep | Suspends operations at the New Jersey and Pennsylvania Concentrating Works, citing the poor market for iron. |
| Nov 1 | Shuts down the experimental mill at the Ortiz Mine, later blaming his lack of success on poor quality ore. |
