Companies

This company was formed in Newark, New Jersey on April 24, 1904, to manufacture and market electric vehicles. Edison acquired a controlling interest in September 1908. He sold his interest to John M. Mack in 1912, and the company went into receivership shortly afterwards. In 1913 the company moved its plant to Allentown, Pennsylvania, and combined with the Mack Truck Company and the Webb Fire Engine Company.

This company was organized in 1903 by former Edison employees James W. Gladstone and Eben G. Dodge to manufacture and sell primary batteries. Edison began litigation in July, alleging patent infringement, and a settlement agreement was signed in November 1904. The company was purchased by the Edison Manufacturing Company in 1905 and officially dissolved in 1908, although its accounts show continued activity through mid-1911.

Sometimes known as the Deutsche Edison Accumulatoren Company, this company was organized in Berlin between October 1904 and March 1905 to exploit Edison's storage battery in Germany, Austria, and Hungary. Financial backing was provided by the Deutsche Bank.

This German company began operating in Berlin on April 1, 1904. It succeeded the National Phonograph Company, Berlin, an unincorporated business, and it sold phonographs, kinetoscopes and films, primary batteries, numbering machines, and other Edison products. Thomas Graf served as manager until November 1, 1915. The company ceased operations shortly after the onset of World War I, although it continued to maintain a small office until Graf's resignation. It was legally dissolved on April 12, 1926.

This company was organized in December 1889 as Edison's personal business and was incorporated in New Jersey on May 5, 1900. Originally formed to manufacture and market the Edison-Lalande primary battery, the company manufactured and sold batteries for use with telegraph, phonoplex, and telephone systems, as well as for phonographs, dental equipment, medical instruments, and other machinery. It also produced kinetoscope films, kinetoscopes, wax for phonograph cylinders, x-ray equipment, medical instruments, and electric fans. The company had a factory at Silver Lake (later named Bloomfield), New Jersey, a sales office in New York City, and agencies abroad. In 1905 its motion picture operations were moved from Manhattan to a studio in the Bronx. The company's assets and property rights were assigned to Thomas A. Edison, Inc., in February 1911. It was dissolved on November 9, 1926.

This company was organized in New Jersey on May 27, 1901, to develop, manufacture, and sell Edison's alkaline storage battery. It produced batteries for mining lamps, train lighting and signaling, submarines, electric vehicles, and other uses. The company had its own research department and sales force, but it also sold batteries through separate sales companies, including the Edison Storage Battery Supply Company and Miller Reese Hutchison, Inc.On June 30, 1932 the company ended its legal existence and became the Storage Battery Division of Thomas A. Edison, Inc. The division was sold to the Electric Storage Battery Company (now Exide Technologies) on July 20, 1960.

This company was incorporated on January 16, 1919, to service commercial and passenger vehicles equipped with Edison storage batteries. The company was sold to the Edison Storage Battery Company on July 6, 1926, and was legally dissolved on August 5, 1926.

This company was incorporated in New Jersey on February 7, 1913, to sell products of the Edison Storage Battery Company through branch offices in the United States. The company was officially dissolved on December 3, 1943.

This company was established in 1912 to diversify the applications of TAE's crushing technologies and cement manufacturing. It was dissolved in June 1919.

This company was established in 1908 to install, license, and collect royalties for the use of Edison's rock crushing rolls.

This company was incorporated on June 7, 1899, in New Jersey, to acquire Edison's process and patents for manufacturing cement in the United States and Canada. The company had a mill at Stewartsville, New Jersey, and sales offices in New York City, Boston and Philadelphia, as well as several southern states. During 1908 its patents were combined in a manufacturers' pool headed by the North American Portland Cement Company. The company was dissolved in December 1931. It was succeeded by the Edison Cement Corporation, which continued to manufacture cement until June 1942.

This company was incorporated on April 25, 1914, to market the byproducts of Edison's cement production. Its stock was owned entirely by the Edison Portland Cement Company. The company was dissolved on August 1, 1923.

This company was incorporated in New Jersey on April 29, 1908, to manufacture and sell waterproof paints for cement surfaces. The company had offices at the Edison Portland Cement Company plant in Stewartsville, New Jersey, and a sales office in New York City. It was dissolved, after several years of inactivity, on July 31, 1920.

This partnership was formed in Philadelphia in 1890 by William Stockman Pilling and Theron I. Crane. The firm dealt in iron, coal, and similar commodities and represented several furnace companies. It also handled outside sales for Edison's ore business and participated in the business of Edison Portland Cement Company.

This company was incorporated in New Jersey on December 28, 1910. It leased warehouses from the Edison Portland Cement Company. The company was dissolved on January 23, 1924.

This company was the successor to the firm of S. Bergmann, which had been established in the mid-1870s to manufacture electrical equipment. The new company was organized in April 1881 as a partnership between Sigmund Bergmann and Edward H. Johnson. It manufactured electric lighting fixtures, sockets, and other devices used with the Edison system of electric lighting. Edison joined the partnership in September 1882. The company merged with several other Edison companies in 1889 to become the Edison General Electric Company.

This company originated as the Bureau of Isolated Lighting of the Edison Electric Light Company. It began operating as a separate company in November 1881. The company sold small generating plants for the lighting of individual homes, factories, and businesses. It was absorbed by the Edison Electric Light Company on December 31, 1886.

This company was organized on December 17, 1880, to construct generating stations in New York City. Its first central station, located on Pearl Street in lower Manhattan, opened on September 4, 1882. The company was the prototype for other local illuminating companies that were established in the United States during the 1880s. . In 1901 it consolidated with the New York Gas & Electric Light, Heat & Power Company to become the New York Edison Company. In 1936 the name of the company was changed to Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc.

This company was incorporated in New York on November 15, 1878. It provided financial support for Edison's electric light experiments in return for control of the resulting patents. The company merged with several other Edison companies in 1889 to become the Edison General Electric Company.

This company was incorporated in New York on April 24, 1889, in a merger of Edison's three electric light manufacturing companies (Edison Lamp Company, Edison Machine Works, and Bergmann & Company), with the patent-holding company, Edison Electric Light Company. In 1889 it acquired the Sprague Electric Railway and Motor Company, and on April 15, 1892, it merged with the Thomson-Houston Electric Company, another electrical manufacturer, in the consolidation forming the General Electric Company.

This company began manufacturing lamps during the summer of 1880. Originally known as the Edison Lamp Works, it changed its name to the Edison Electric Lamp Company in early 1881 and became a formal partnership. The partners were Edison, Charles Batchelor, Edward H. Johnson, and Francis R. Upton. In May 1881 the company changed its name to the Edison Lamp Company. A year later it moved its factory from Menlo Park to East Newark (Harrison), N.J. The partnership became a corporation in 1884. The company merged with several other Edison companies in 1889 to become the Edison General Electric Company.

This company was established as a partnership around March 1881. It manufactured dynamos and large electric motors for the Edison electric light system. The partnership became a corporation in January 1884. Near the end of 1885 the company absorbed the Electric Tube Company and the Edison Shafting Manufacturing Company. A year later it moved its factory from Goerck Street in New York City to Schenectady, N.Y. The company merged with several other Edison companies in 1889 to become the Edison General Electric Company.

This company was incorporated in July 1884. Operating out of the Edison Machine Works factory on Goerck Street, the company manufactured belts, pulleys, and rotating bars used in shafting gear assemblies. It became a department within the Edison Machine Works around December 31, 1885.

This company was formed during the spring of 1886 to act as a sales agent for the Edison Company for Isolated Lighting, the Edison Machine Works, and Bergmann & Company. It was liquidated in 1889 shortly after the formation of a new company called the United Edison Manufacturing Company.

This company was organized in 1887. It served as the contractor for the installation of Edison electric light systems. In March 1888 it was absorbed by the Edison United Manufacturing Company.

This company was incorporated on March 4, 1881, to manufacture underground conductors for central stations. It was absorbed by the Edison Machine Works around December 31, 1885.

This company was incorporated on April 15, 1892, in a merger of the Edison General Electric Company and the Thomson-Houston Electric Company.

This company was acquired by the Edison General Electric Company in 1889.

This company was formed in May 1883 to construct direct-current electric power stations in towns and cities throughout the United States. It was responsible for the construction of thirteen central stations in Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. On September 1, 1884, the construction department was absorbed by the Edison Company for Isolated Lighting, which assumed responsibility for the construction of all central stations in the United States.

This company was formed in May 1889 to perform the same functions as the Edison United Manufacturing Company.

This was the company name adopted by the Deutsche Edison Gesellschaft in 1887.

This company was incorporated in New York on May 17, 1883, to promote the Edison system of electric lighting in the Argentine Republic.

This company succeeded Edison's Indian and Colonial Electric Company. On May 20, 1886, it obtained the latter company's interest in promoting the Edison system of electric lighting in Australasia, Ceylon, India, and South Africa; in October 1889 Edison formally assigned his patent rights to the company. In 1891 the same rights were assigned to the Brush Electrical Engineering Company.

This company succeeded the Australasian Electric Light Power and Storage Company, Ltd. in 1891 as the holder of Edison's electric light patents in Australasia, Ceylon, India, and South Africa.

This company was incorporated on April 3, 1889. This company manufactured electrical equipment including dynamos. It had offices in New York and Montreal, and it operated a factory in Sherbrooke, Canada.

This company constructed a central station in Milan in early 1883. It was succeeded in December 1883 by the Societa Generale Italiana di Elettricita Sistema Edison.

This company was established in Paris on February 2, 1882, to organize and license electric light companies throughout continental Europe. Two years later it absorbed two other French companies, the Societe Electrique Edison and the Societe Industrielle et Commerciale Edison.

This company was formed by Compagnie Continentale Edison to market Swan lamps in Europe.

This company was established in Valparaiso, Chile, in 1885 to promote the Edison system of electric lighting and other Edison inventions in Chile, Peru, and Bolivia. It was preceded by the Edison Electric Light Company of Santiago, which constructed a central station in that city in 1884.

This company was organized on March 13, 1883, to promote the Edison system of electric lighting in Germany. On May 8, 1884, it established a local illuminating company to construct generating stations in Berlin. The company was reorganized in May 1887 as the Allgemeine Elektrizitats-Gesellschaft.

This company was established in October 1883 as the result of a merger between the Edison Electric Light Company, Ltd. and the Swan United Electric Light Company, Ltd.

This company was organized in London on March 15, 1882. It controlled Edison's electric light patents in the United Kingdom and operated the central station on Holborn Viaduct, which had opened in January 1882. The company merged with the Swan United Electric Company, Ltd. on October 1883 to become the Edison and Swan United Electric Light Company, Ltd.

This company was incorporated in New York on June 10, 1881, to promote the Edison system of electric light on the islands of Cuba and Puerto Rico. . It was succeeded by the Edison Spanish and Colonial Electric Light Company.

This company was incorporated in New York on December 23, 1880. It controlled Edison's electric light patents in Europe, excluding the United Kingdom.

This company was incorporated in New York on June 10, 1881, to promote the Edison system of electric lighting in Havana, Cuba.

This company was incorporated in England on June 13, 1882; to promote the Edison system of electric lighting in Australasia, Ceylon, India, and South Africa. It was absorbed by the Australasian Electric Light Power and Storage Company, Ltd. in June 1886.

This company was incorporated in New York on January 13, 1882. It controlled Edison's electric light patents in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and other Spanish American colonies. From 1882 until 1884 it operated an exhibition plant in Havana. It was preceded by the Edison Electric Light Company of Cuba and Porto Rico.

This company was a major commercial and shipping firm that was headed by Egisto Fabbri prior to his association with Drexel Morgan & Co. His brother Ernesto was also involved in the firm. It controlled Edison's electric light patents in Italy and South America.

Two companies operating under this name, one based in Yokohama and the other in Shanghai, were Edison's agents for the phonograph and electric light in Japan and China beginning in the early 1880s.

This company was organized in December 1883 to promote the Edison system of electric lighting in Italy. It was preceded by the Comitato per le Applicazioni dell' Elettricita Sistema Edison in Italia, which constructed a central station in Milan in early 1883.

This company was established in Geneva on May 5, 1883, to promote the Edison system of electric lighting in Switzerland.

This company was organized in Paris on February 2, 1882, to build central stations in France. It was absorbed by the Compagnie Continentale Edison in February 1884.

This company was organized in Paris on February 2, 1882, to manufacture lamps and other components of the Edison electric light system. It established a lamp factory and machine shop at Ivry-sur-Seine. The company was absorbed by the Compagnie Continentale Edison in February 1884.

This company introduced the Edison system of electric lighting into Japan. In addition to Tokyo, it was active in Yokohama, Nagoya, Hakodate, and elsewhere.

This company was incorporated in London on April 25, 1902, to acquire and work deposits of iron ore, using Edison's ore processing technologies. Originally controlled by the Edison Ore Milling Syndicate, Ltd., it erected an ore concentration plant near Mo, in the Dunderland region of Norway. The company went into receivership during 1908, then reemerged with a reconstituted board in 1910. By 1914 it was known as the New Dunderland Iron Ore Company, Ltd.

This company was incorporated on January 7, 1889, to engage in ore processing. In December 1890 its mill at Humboldt, Michigan, was destroyed by fire. In 1902 the company was dissolved.

This company was organized on December 9, 1879, to extract iron, gold, and other metals from ores. From September 1881 until January 1883 it operated a plant at Quonocontaug, Rhode Island. After its reorganization in 1887, it provided financial support for Edison's ore separation and concentration experiments in return for control of his related patents. The company was officially dissolved on April 2, 1924.

The Edison Ore Milling Syndicate, Ltd., was organized in London on February 24, 1898, to exploit Edison's ore milling patents in all countries except the United States and Canada. The company used Edison's patents and ore milling designs when developing iron deposits in the Dunderland River valley, near Mo, Norway. It also tried to promote the use of Edison's ore milling technologies in diamond crushing, gold separation, and cement manufacturing. In August 1909 the company entered liquidation.

This company was incorporated in New Jersey on May 2, 1902 to find and develop a supply of nickel for Edison's alkaline battery. The company mainly financed explorations in the Sudbury District of Ontario, Canada. It also controlled the rights to some of Edison's patents for treating ores. After many years of inactivity, the company was dissolved on June 14, 1933.

This company was organized in New Jersey on December 27, 1888. In the early 1890s it constructed a plant at Ogden (later named Edison), New Jersey, to engage in the large-scale, continuous production of concentrated iron ore. Operations were shut down permanently in 1900.

This company was incorporated on April 28, 1891, to exploit Edison's ore milling patents and mining property leases. It acquired Edison's leases in Putnam and Rockland counties. However, no milling plant was ever constructed. The company was inactive after 1896. However, it owned about two hundred acres of land on the south side of Dunderburg Mountain on which timber was cut as late as 1912. The company was officially dissolved on April 2, 1924.

This company was incorporated in New Jersey in 1865 to exploit iron mines in Sussex County. It was purchased by Edison in September 1890 and remained under his control until its dissolution in June 1918.

This partnership was formed in Philadelphia in 1890 by William Stockman Pilling and Theron I. Crane. The firm dealt in iron, coal, and similar commodities and represented several furnace companies. It also handled outside sales for Edison's ore business and participated in the business of Edison Portland Cement Company.

This company was organized in London on February 27, 1902, to carry out construction and engineering work for the Dunderland Iron Ore Company, Ltd. It was controlled by the Edison Ore Milling Syndicate, Ltd., and entered liquidation in 1909.

This company was incorporated in New Jersey on March 16, 1865, to exploit iron mines in Sussex County. It was purchased by Edison in December 1892 and remained under his control until its dissolution in 1911.

This company was incorporated in New York on November 28, 1876. It was formed to manufacture and sell small inventions being developed by Edison. The only products marketed by the company, which was managed by Edward H. Johnson, were Edison's duplicating ink and Johnson's ribbon mucilage. The company operated through 1877.

This company was established in 1863 as the Akron plant of C. Aultman & Co. of Canton, Ohio, manufacturers of farm implements and other products. It was apparently run as a separate business by Lewis, Edward, and Ira Miller, Edison's in-laws. Mina Miller Edison owned stock in the company, and at times Thomas Edison was its creditor. The company went into receivership in 1893 or 1894, was reorganized in 1895, and was liquidated in 1904.

This company served as financial agents for many of Edison's personal accounts and companies.

This company was organized on July 24, 1890, to conduct a manufacturing business, but no stock was ever issued. It surrendered its rights and franchise as a corporation in 1896.

This company was organized in December 1889 as Edison's personal business and was incorporated in New Jersey on May 5, 1900. Originally formed to manufacture and market the Edison-Lalande primary battery, the company manufactured and sold batteries for use with telegraph, phonoplex, and telephone systems, as well as for phonographs, dental equipment, medical instruments, and other machinery. It also produced kinetoscope films, kinetoscopes, wax for phonograph cylinders, x-ray equipment, medical instruments, and electric fans. The company had a factory at Silver Lake (later named Bloomfield), New Jersey, a sales office in New York City, and agencies abroad. In 1905 its motion picture operations were moved from Manhattan to a studio in the Bronx. The company's assets and property rights were assigned to Thomas A. Edison, Inc., in February 1911. Although not an operating company after that date, it maintained a legal existence as the holder of copyrights on all the motion pictures produced before 1911. It was dissolved on November 9, 1926.

This company was organized in London on September 25, 1903. It never functioned as an operating company, but it maintained a legal existence until its dissolution on October 24, 1919.

This company was incorporated in New Jersey on April 18, 1899, to acquire, control, and develop Edison's patents for reheating compressed air. It also assumed rights to a patent related to the efficiency of motor fluids, which had been granted jointly to William L. Saunders and the Ingersoll-Sergeant Drill Company in 1892.

This company was established as a partnership in 1911 with Edison, Jonas W. Aylsworth, and Frank L. Dyer as the partners. It manufactured halogen products, including chlorinated naphthalene and chlorinated phenol, for sale to Thomas A. Edison, Inc., and allied Edison companies. In January 1913 the Condensite Company of America agreed to take over the financially troubled company.

This company was incorporated in New York in 1879 to promote Edison's patent medicine "Polyform" as a treatment for neuralgia, rheumatism, and headaches among other illnesses. The company relocated to Boston in 1884, with Edison's patent application still pending (it was never issued). The firm was apparently never profitable and in tried to reorganize as the Edison Polyform Company but Edison objected to further attempts to market polyform.

This company was formed by Edison and Winfield Scott Sims in New York on February 17, 1886, to manufacture and sell torpedoes, torpedo boats, submarines, warships, and related war materials. In September 1891 it formed a company in either London or Paris to handle its marketing in Europe.

This company was organized in 1912 by A. Paul Keith, Edward F. Albee, and Martin Beck to exhibit TAE's kinetophone movies in the United States and Canada through the Keith-Albee chain of vaudeville theaters. The company's agreement with TAE Inc. was terminated in July 1913, and the Edison Kinetophone Company took over the distribution of talking pictures.

This company was organized in Paris on October 10, 1904, to manufacture and sell phonographs, records, and supplies. It later added motion picture films and apparatus to its business. Renamed Compagnie Francaise du Phonographe et Cinematographe Edison during 1912, by January 1913 it was called Compagnie Francaise Thomas A. Edison. The company was mainly inactive until December 1923; it was legally dissolved in France during July 1924.

This company was incorporated in New Jersey on March 29, 1907, to sell phonographs, records, kinetoscopes, films, and other Edison products. It maintained a branch office in Buenos Aires. The company was dissolved on April 16, 1920.

This company was incorporated in New York on September 12, 1894, to operate the rights of its founder, Maguire & Baucus. It had offices in New York and London and served as the exclusive sales and exhibition agent for Edison's kinetoscopes and kinetoscope films in Europe. On October 30, 1894, the company's rights were enlarged to include Africa and Asia.

This German company began operating in Berlin on April 1, 1904. It succeeded the National Phonograph Company, Berlin, an unincorporated business, and it sold phonographs, kinetoscopes and films, primary batteries, numbering machines, and other Edison products. Thomas Graf served as manager until November 1, 1915. The company ceased operations shortly after the onset of World War I, although it continued to maintain a small office until Graf's resignation. It was legally dissolved on April 12, 1926.

This company was incorporated on July 24, 1913 to exhibit kinetophone movies after the American Talking Picture Company lost its American and Canadian rights. There is no evidence that it was ever an operating company, but it maintained a legal existence until its dissolution on April 16, 1920.

This company was organized in December 1889 as Edison's personal business and was incorporated in New Jersey on May 5, 1900. Originally formed to manufacture and market the Edison-Lalande primary battery, the company manufactured and sold batteries for use with telegraph, phonoplex, and telephone systems, as well as for phonographs, dental equipment, medical instruments, and other machinery. It also produced kinetoscope films, kinetoscopes, wax for phonograph cylinders, x-ray equipment, medical instruments, and electric fans. The company had a factory at Silver Lake (later named Bloomfield), New Jersey, a sales office in New York City, and agencies abroad. In 1905 its motion picture operations were moved from Manhattan to a studio in the Bronx. The company's assets and property rights were assigned to Thomas A. Edison, Inc., in February 1911. Although not an operating company after that date, it maintained a legal existence as the holder of copyrights on all the motion pictures produced before 1911. It was dissolved on November 9, 1926.

This company was incorporated in Maine on April 18, 1910, to distribute films produced by licensees of the Motion Picture Patents Company. The stock controlled by the Edison Manufacturing Company was transferred to Thomas A. Edison, Inc., in 1911 and sold in 1917.

This company was organized in New York by a group of businessmen largely connected with the phonograph industry, including Alfred O. Tate, Thomas Lombard, Erastus Benson, Andrew Holland, Norman C. Raff, and Frank R. Gammon. Raff and Gammon were the principal business managers for this company. After September 1894 it controlled the exclusive rights to Edison's kinetoscopes and kinetoscope films in the United States and Canada, excepting the 150-foot fight films made for the oversize kinetoscopes being used by the Kinetoscope Exhibiting Company.

This company entered the motion picture business in 1894. During the period August-October 1894 it acquired the exclusive rights to sell and exhibit Edison's kinetoscopes and kinetoscope films in Europe, Mexico and South America, the West Indies, Australia, Burma, Ceylon, and India. It founded the Continental Commerce Company in September 1894 to handle the European, Asian, and African business. The company adopted the name Maguire & Baucus, Ltd. during 1896. On December 7, 1897, Edison brought suit against the company for infringement of his motion picture patents.

This company was incorporated in New Jersey on September 9, 1908, by the Edison Manufacturing Company and the American Mutoscope & Biograph Company. It pooled the requisite and previously competing patents and licensing arrangements in the manufacture and projection of motion pictures. An antitrust suit filed by the federal government on August 15, 1912, resulted in rulings against the company on October 1, 1915, and January 24, 1916. The company was sold on July 31, 1918, but it maintained a legal existence until its charter was forfeited on January 28, 1928.

This New York-based partnership entered the motion picture business in 1894. During the period August 18, 1894-July 29, 1896, it served as the sales agent for the Kinetoscope Company. In 1896 the partners severed their connections with the Kinetoscope Company and formed the Vitascope Company.

This company was incorporated on May 7, 1896, by Raft & Gammon. It owned the rights to exhibit the vitascope projector, invented by Thomas Armat and C. Francis Jenkins and manufactured by the Edison Manufacturing Company. The company sold films and leased projectors to those licensees who bought subrights to the vitascope in specific territories.

This company was incorporated in 1884, succeeding the earlier firm of A. B. Dick and Company. On June 27, 1887, it acquired the manufacturing and sales rights for Edison's mimeograph. During 1896 it formed H. F. Martyn & Company in London as the exclusive sales agent for the mimeograph in Great Britain.

This company was incorporated in New York on November 28, 1876. It was formed to manufacture and sell small inventions being developed by Edison. The only products marketed by the company, which was managed by Edward H. Johnson, were Edison's duplicating ink and Johnson's ribbon mucilage. The company operated through 1877.

This company was incorporated in New York on September 13, 1890, to manufacture and sell automatic hand-held numbering machines. During the period 1892-1897 the Edison Phonograph Works absorbed its manufacturing operations and acquired nearly all of the company's stock. The Bates Manufacturing Company continued as the sales agent for numbering machines, line-dating machines, and other office products. Clarence S. A. Williams purchased the company on November 14, 1921, and served as its president until 1958.

Edison began marketing his electric pen and duplicating press in September 1876 and the business soon became known as Edison's Electric Pen and Duplicating Press Company. It was originally managed by Charles Batchelor and then by George Bliss, who expanded into Europe, except for Great Britain, which was controlled by the Electric Writing Company. The company's instruments were manufactured initially by Gilliland & Company and then by Western Electric Manufacturing Company, which later took over marketing as well.

This company was established in London in August 1876 by John Breckon and Thomas Clare, who had acquired the British rights to Edison's electric pen and duplicating press.

This company was started in Orange, New Jersey, in 1903. Edison associate William E. Gilmore was vice president, and Edison held a small amount of the company's stock. It was acquired by the Burroughs Adding Machine Company in 1909.

This company was incorporated in New York in February 1890. It controlled the distribution of Edison's nickel-in-the-slot phonograph. On December 5, 1894, its trustees filed for the voluntary dissolution of the company.

This company was incorporated in New York on October 25, 1904, as the successor to Douglas and Company, a dealer in Edison phonographs and Victor talking machines. Controlling interest in the company was acquired by the National Phonograph Company on November 1, 1904.

This company was incorporated in New Jersey on January 17, 1908, as the successor to the Commercial Department of the National Phonograph Company, to promote the marketing of Edison's business phonographs, later known as the Ediphone. In 1911 the company was absorbed into Thomas A. Edison, Inc.

This company was incorporated in New Jersey on October 10, 1887, to hold the patents and manufacturing rights for Edison's phonograph. It returned the manufacturing rights to Edison on October 28, 1887. The company was sold to Jesse Lippincott in June 1888 and was controlled by the North American Phonograph Company during the period 1888-1894.

This company was incorporated in Maine in 1887 and maintained offices in Boston and New York. It sold phonograph dolls using Edison's phonograph patents. The business was closed in 1895.

This company was incorporated in New Jersey on May 3, 1888. It controlled the manufacturing rights for Edison's phonograph. It operated a factory in West Orange, New Jersey, where it manufactured phonographs, cylinders, machines for the Bates Manufacturing Company, and electrical devices for the Edison Manufacturing Company. In 1914 its factory was destroyed by fire but was quickly rebuilt. In 1924 the company became part of Thomas A. Edison, Inc.

This company was organized in Connecticut on April 24, 1878 to control Edison's phonograph patents and to manufacture, sell, and rent phonographs. On October 10, 1888, its rights to market the phonograph in New England and downstate New York were transferred to the North American Phonograph Company.

This company was incorporated in New Jersey on January 27, 1896, to succeed the North American Phonograph Company and to return control of both the marketing and manufacturing of the phonograph to Edison. Within six months of the formation of the company, its profits were assigned to Edison in exchange for his technical improvements in the phonograph. Its foreign department, which also supervised the overseas interests of the Edison Manufacturing Company and the Bates Manufacturing Company, operated distribution offices, recording studios, and factories for manufacturing phonograph records in Great Britain, Germany, France, and Belgium, along with distribution subsidiaries in Australia and Mexico. In February 1911 the company was reorganized as part of the newly formed Thomas A. Edison, Inc.

This company was one of the local phonograph companies licensed in 1888 by the North American Phonograph Company. In 1905 a struggle for control of the company, which had not conducted any business since the 1890s, developed between a group led by James L. Andem and an Edison-aligned faction led by John E. Helm and Joseph F. McCoy.

This company was incorporated in New Jersey on April 25, 1903, to obtain and hold the phonograph-related patents of Edison and other inventors. In 1911 the company's property rights were transferred to Thomas A. Edison, Inc., in exchange for stock in that corporation. The company was officially dissolved on December 11, 1931.

This company was incorporated in New Jersey on July 14, 1888. It acquired from its co-founder, Jesse Lippincott, the exclusive license of the American Graphophone Company, the controlling interest in the Edison Phonograph Company, and the exclusive rights to the commercial development of the phonograph in the United States and Canada. Edison eventually assumed financial and administrative control of the company, becoming president in June 1892 and, as its principal creditor, driving it into receivership on August 21, 1894.

This company was incorporated in New Jersey on February 27, 1896, and was used briefly by Edison as a means to regain control of the phonograph business. After years of inactivity, the company was dissolved in 1910.

On January 7, 1878 Edison signed an agreement with Oliver D. Russell to license the use of his phonograph for toys. In April 1878 Russell formed a partnership with Charles B. Harris to exploit this license and their partnership became known informally as the Toy Phonograph Company. This partnership was dissolved in October 1878 and in November the license was transferred to Hilbourne Roosevelt.

This company was organized in New Jersey, probably in 1894. It succeeded the New Jersey Phonograph Company and maintained offices in Newark. The company manufactured musical recordings and sold phonographs, kinetoscopes, and other products.

This company was organized in Paris on October 10, 1904, to manufacture and sell phonographs, records, and supplies. It later added motion picture films and apparatus to its business. Renamed Compagnie Francaise du Phonographe et Cinematographe Edison during 1912, by January 1913 it was called Compagnie Francaise Thomas A. Edison. The company was mainly inactive until December 1923; it was legally dissolved in France during July 1924.

This company was incorporated in New Jersey on March 29, 1907, to sell phonographs, records, kinetoscopes, films, and other Edison products. It maintained a branch office in Buenos Aires. The company was dissolved on April 16, 1920.

This company was organized in Cologne on October 23, 1895, to promote the German phonograph patents controlled by the Edison United Phonograph Company, which was also a part-owner of the company.

This London-based company was formed in London during March 1898, as a reconstruction of the Edison-Bell Phonograph Corporation, Ltd., itself the successor to the Edison United Phonograph Company. Until 1903 Edison-Bell purchased its phonographs from the Edison Phonograph Works, but strained relations led Edison to deal directly in Britain under the National Phonograph Company, Ltd. In 1909 Edison-Bell went into receivership. Its assets were later purchased by James E. Hough, who reorganized the company as J.E. Hough, Ltd.

This company was formed in London on November 30, 1892. It acquired the exclusive rights to the British phonograph market from the Edison United Phonograph Company.

This German company began operating in Berlin on April 1, 1904. It succeeded the National Phonograph Company, Berlin, an unincorporated business, and it sold phonographs, kinetoscopes and films, primary batteries, numbering machines, and other Edison products.Thomas Graf served as manager until November 1, 1915. The company ceased operations shortly after the onset of World War I, although it continued to maintain a small office until Graf's resignation. It was legally dissolved on April 12, 1926.

This company was organized in London, probably in 1898, as the exclusive vendor of the Edison-Bell Consolidated Phonograph Company, Ltd., with which it was merged in 1902. It manufactured sound recordings, and sold phonographs, graphophones, and records.

This company was formed in Great Britain sometime before 1889 to promote Edison's phonograph in all foreign markets except Canada, Japan, and China. It operated under rights acquired from Edison by George E. Gouraud on October 14, 1887, which were withdrawn in early 1890. J. Lewis Young was its general manager.

This company was organized in New Jersey on February 24, 1890, to manufacture and market phonographs and graphophones outside of the United States and Canada. It had complex stock and contractual relations with Edison, the Edison Phonograph Works, and the International Graphophone Company. The New York banking house of J. & W. Seligman & Company and its associate firms in foreign countries were the bankers and financial agents of the firm. The company entered receivership in the spring of 1894; it was probably dissolved in 1902.

Two companies operating under this name, one based in Yokohama and the other in Shanghai, were Edison's agents for the phonograph and electric light in Japan and China beginning in the early 1880s.

This syndicate was formed in 1889 to secure the patent rights of Alexander Graham Bell, Chichester Bell, and Charles Sumner Tainter, and to promote the leasing of graphophones in Great Britain

This company was organized in New York before 1887. It held the patent rights of Alexander Graham Bell, Chichester Bell, and Charles Sumner Tainter and operated a factory in Hartford, Connecticut. On August 30, 1889, Stephen F. Moriarty and Theodore Seligman became the company's European representatives. After 1890 the company had complex stock and contractual relations with the Edison United Phonograph Company, the Edison-Bell phonograph companies, and the Edison Phonograph Works.

This photographic company was a partnership of George Nottage and Howard John Kennard. It acquired British rights to Edison's phonograph in March 1878.

This company was formed in 1906, when a resident manager was appointed in Mexico City, to sell phonographs, records, and other products. The company's office in Mexico City was closed in February 1911, with provisions that local dealers would thereafter be supplied directly from West Orange. The company was legally dissolved in September 1914.

This London-based company was established on March 22, 1902, to sell Edison phonographs, records, and other products in the United Kingdom. For a time, it also had offices in Berlin, Paris, and Brussels. These offices later became separate companies. In addition to distributing Edison products, the company also maintained a factory and a recording studio. The company changed its name to Thomas A. Edison, Ltd. in August 1912.

This company was incorporated on January 4, 1906 to sell Edison phonographs, records, and other products. It was succeeded by Thomas A. Edison, Ltd. (Australia) around 1912 and continued in business until its dissolution on May 12, 1936.

This company was incorporated on May 5, 1883, to develop improvements in electrical propulsion and to manufacture and sell electrical apparatus for railways. It controlled all of Edison's railway patents. The company assigned Edison's patents to Edison General Electric in 1889 and was liquidated in 1897.

This company was incorporated in New Jersey on October 21, 1907, and leased to the Edison Portland Cement Company. Edison was the owner of all the issued stock until his death on October 18, 1931. The company was dissolved on December 8, 1964.

This company was founded in 1866 by Edison's brother Pitt and others to connect the Grand Trunk Railway depot in Fort Gratiot to the town of Port Huron, Michigan. Thomas Edison became an investor in the railway in November 1871.

This company was formed in 1877 as a merger of the Port Huron and Gratiot Street Railway and the City Railroad Company, which had been formed in 1873 by some of the original investors in the Port Huron Company after they had a falling out with Pitt Edison. Thomas Edison took 158 shares in the new company.

This company was incorporated in Canada in 1874 to connect the town of Sarnia with the Grand Trunk Railway depot in Point Edward across the river from Fort Gratiot. Pitt Edison, who was the company's secretary, was one of the incorporators and Thomas Edison also invested in the road.

This company was acquired by the Edison General Electric Company in 1889.

This company was probably organized in August 1875 by investors in the original Automatic Telegraph Company in order to contest the Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph Company's use of Edison's automatic patents without proper recompense. Edison assigned his patents to the new company in December 1875.

This successor to the National Bell Telephone Company was formed in 1880 after acquisition of Western Union's telephone patents (including Edison's) in November 1879. Edison began working under a five-year agreement as a contact inventor for the company in 1884.

This company was incorporated in New York in May 1872 by Gold and Stock Telegraph Company investors to exploit the district telegraph system invented by Edward Calahan, who had also invented the Gold and Stock ticker. Edison's first caveat for improvements in district telegraphy and an unsuccessful patent application were both assigned to this company.

This company was incorporated in New York on July 1, 1870 to exploit the printing telegraph patents of Edison and Franklin Pope for private lines. By October 1870 control of the company had passed to the Gold and Stock Telegraph company, whose president Marshall Lefferts had been one of the incorporators of American Printing.

This company was formed by a November 17, 1877 agreement to combine the interests in Edison's telephone patents controlled by Gold and Stock Telegraph Company as a subsidiary of Western Union with those of Elisha Gray's telephone patents controlled by the Harmonic Telegraph Company. Gold and Stock was given the exclusive right to manufacture, sell, and lease telephone instruments protected by these patents.

This company was formed in Newark, New Jersey, on October 1, 1870 as a partnership between Edison and George Harrington to manufacture telegraph instruments. The company ceased operation by the beginning of January 1873; most of its equipment and many of its employees were transferred to Edison and Murray.

This company, controlled by Jay Gould, acquired control of the Automatic Telegraph Company along with Edison's automatic patents as well as Edison's rights to his quadruplex patents in 1875. Edison served as company electrician only during the first six months of 1875 although his formal appointment was dated 10 June 1875 and his resignation took place on September 11, 1877.

This company was incorporated in New York on November 28, 1870 to exploit the automatic telegraph patents of George Little. Edison, who was already associated with officials of the company, became its principal inventor and developed his own automatic telegraph system used commercially by company beginning in December 1872. Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph acquired control of Automatic Telegraph in 1875.

Edison had an association with this New York firm in 1869. At the beginning of the year Edison rented two rooms at 9 Wilson Lane in Boston, also the location of Bankers' and Brokers', where he established headquarters for a stock-quotation service. Bankers' and Brokers' was then planning to build a line between New York and Boston to provide stock quotation service with Samuel Laws's Gold and Stock Reporting Telegraph Company. In the spring Edison traveled to New York where he became associated with Laws and also tested his double transmitter on Bankers' and Brokers' lines.

This company was organized on April 4, 1887, in the consolidation of the Phelps Induction Telegraph Company and the Railway Telegraph and Telephone Company. It controlled Edison's patents on train telegraphy in the United States and Canada.

This company was incorporated in New York on April 2, 1874 to exploit Edison's domestic (district) telegraph system as well as his fire and burglar alarm inventions. The company was acquired by Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph in 1876.

This company was formed in Newark, New Jersey, sometime between July and October 1873 as a manufacturing partnership between Edison and Joseph Murray by consolidating their former shop known as Murray and Company into the larger Ward Street shop that had been occupied by Edison and Unger, which dissolved in July 1873. Edison and Murray dissolved their partnership on July 13, 1875, although they had agreed to the dissolution in mid-May when Edison took part of the Ward Street shop as his laboratory. Murray continued to manufacture electrical and telegraph instruments and later telephones at the shop.

In May 1871 the Newark Telegraph Works moved to new and larger quarters on Ward Street in Newark, New Jersey, and changed its name to Edison and Unger. Edison and William Unger dissolved their manufacturing partnership on 1 July 1873 and the shop was taken over by Edison and Murray.

This unincorporated business was established to market Edison's phonoplex to railroad and telegraph systems in the United States and Canada. This system, which he developed in 1885-86, was an induction telegraph system that used a telephone as a receiver and permitted communication between way stations.

This company was organized in fall 1869 by Edison, Franklin Pope, and James Ashley to provide gold and stock quotations to mercantile and importing firms in lower Manhattan. On 30 April 1870 they sold the company to Gold and Stock.

This company was formed by Ezra Gilliland about April 1875 with Edison as a silent partner. In July the company moved into the Ward Street shop that formerly housed Edison and Murray where it manufactured electrical and telegraph instruments, including Edison's electric pen.

This company was formed by Samuel Laws, vice president of the New York Gold Exchange, in 1867 by to provide quotations from the Exchange to the offices of brokers and merchants using small electromechanical indicators. At the beginning of August 1869 Edison replaced Franklin Pope as superintendent of the company and improved the printing telegraph developed by Laws to compete with Gold and Stock. The company was acquired by Gold and Stock at the end of August.

This company was incorporated in New York in August 1867 to exploit Edward Calahan's stock ticker. On August 27, 1869 it acquired the Gold and Stock Reporting Company, including Edison's patents held by the company. In February 1870 Edison began working under contract to officials of the company. Two of his firms, American Printing Telegraph and Financial and Commercial Telegraph were acquired by Gold and Stock in 1870. On May 26, 1871 Edison signed a five-year contract as a consulting electrician and inventor for Gold and Stock. At the same time, Western Union acquired control of the company.

This small telegraph manufacturing company was established in Newark, New Jersey, in February 1872 by Edison and Joseph Murray. It was reorganized as Edison and Murray in 1873.

Edison and William Unger established this telegraph manufacturing company in Newark, New Jersey, in February 1870 using funds from Edison's contract for inventive work for Gold and Stock Telegraph Company. In May 1871 it moved to larger quarters and changed its name to Edison and Unger.

This company was organized by Edison and William Unger in October 1870 to provide news from the main telegraph in New York to homes and offices in Newark, New Jersey, in advance of publication in local newspapers. It operated for only three months from its offices in the Newark Daily Advertiser building. Edison's future wife, Mary Stilwell, was one of employees who operated the company's private line printing telegraph system.

Edison, Franklin Pope, and James Ashley formed this company in New York in September or October 1869 as "electrical engineers and general telegraph agency."

This company was incorporated in New York in February 1885. It merged with the Phelps Induction Telegraph Company on April 4, 1887, to become the Consolidated Railway Telegraph Company.

This company was registered in Great Britain on November 11, 1887, to construct lines of railway train telegraphs under patents granted to Edison.

This was a company was established by former Edison machinist Sigmund Bergmann in New York City in 1876 to manufacture telegraph and other electrical equipment. In 1878 it also began manufacturing Edison telephones and phonographs.

This was apparently a telegraph manufacturing company established in New York City in 1872 or 1873 as a partnership between former Edison machinists Henry Thau and Sigmund Bergmann. Edison later claimed to have an interest in the firm.

This company was formed in Chicago in 1872 by Elisha Gray, Enos Barton, and Western Union divisional superintendent Anson T. Stager; Western Union held a one-third interest in the firm that it later sold to American Bell Telephone Company. Western Electric manufactured and sold Edison's electric pen and duplicating press and also manufactured Edison telephones for Western Union.

This company emerged from the Civil War as the dominant American telegraph company. During the 1860s Edison worked as an itinerant telegrapher in several Western Union offices. Beginning in the early 1870s he worked for the company as a contract inventor, first for its Gold and Stock subsidiary and then under separate agreements directly with Western Union. The company controlled most of Edison's telegraph and telephone patents.

This company was organized in January 1880 to sell Edison telephones in Chile. Edison officially assigned his patent rights to the company in October 1880, and it began issuing stock during the spring of 1881.

This company was organized in New York in April 1887. It owned and controlled Edison's patents on train telegraphy in all foreign countries except Canada.

This company was incorporated in April 1881 as the result of negotiations between the United Telephone Company, Ltd. and its competitor, the Gower-Bell Telephone Company, Ltd. It manufactured telephones and equipment for the United Telephone Company, Ltd. and for the Edison Gower-Bell Telephone Company of Europe, Ltd.

This company was established on October 28, 1881. It controlled Edison's telephone patents in all of continental Europe, excluding France, Turkey, and Greece.

This company was incorporated in New York on May 14, 1879. It controlled Edison's telephone patents in Europe, excluding the United Kingdom. On November 10, 1881, the company agreed to sell most of its European patent rights to the Edison Gower-Bell Telephone Company of Europe, Ltd.

This company was established on October 28, 1879, to market the Edison telephone in Glasgow and its environs. It was absorbed by the Edison Telephone Company of London, Ltd. on May 5, 1880.

This company was incorporated on August 2, 1879, to market the Edison telephone in London and its environs. After absorbing the Edison Telephone Company of Glasgow, Ltd., the company merged with the Telephone Company, Ltd. on May 13, 1880, to become the United Telephone Company, Ltd.

This company was incorporated in spring 1870 by officials of the Gold and Stock Telegraph Company, and British investors to provide quotations from the London Stock Exchange using Gold and Stock instruments, including Edison's Universal stock printer.

This British company was established in 1889 as the result of the merger between United Telephone Company, Ltd. and several competing companies.

This company was established on January 25, 1881, as the result of an agreement between Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, the Oriental Bell Telephone Company of New York and the Anglo-Indian Telephone Company, Ltd. The company was licensed to sell telephones in Greece, Turkey, South Africa, India, Japan, China, and other Asian countries.

This was a firm of East India merchants consisting of John Smith, John Fleming, Robert McIlwraith, and William Nicol. In September 1873 they acquired British and other foreign rights to Edison's automatic telegraph inventions but the agreement was sufficiently broad that they later claimed rights to his quadruplex as well.

This company was established in Paris on January 1, 1879, to market the Edison telephone in France. It merged with several competing companies on August 17, 1880, to become the Societe Generale des Telephones.

This company was established on August 17, 1880, as the result of a merger between the Societe du Telephone Edison, the Societe du Telephone Gower and the Soulerin Company. Prior to its establishment, the proposed company was also called the Compagnie Generale des Telephones.

This company was established on May 13, 1880, as the result of a merger between the Edison Telephone Company of London, Ltd. and Alexander Graham Bell's company, the Telephone Company, Ltd. The company merged with several competing companies in 1889 to become the National Telephone Company.

This company was incorporated on January 27, 1896, as the National Phonograph Company, then reorganized and newly incorporated as Thomas A. Edison, Inc., on February 28, 1911. Over time it consolidated most of Edison's companies, including the Edison Phonograph Works on August 28, 1924, Edison Storage Battery Company on June 30, 1932, and Emark Battery Corporation on December 30, 1933. The company merged with McGraw Electric Company on January 2, 1957, and became known as McGraw-Edison Company. In 1985 McGraw-Edison was absorbed by Cooper Industries.