Industrial Research 



51 



wore carried on iilinost oiitiroly hj' iiH!i\'i(luals. 

 Although maii.y important improvements in repeaters, 

 the duplex, the quaihniplex, and the telephone resulted 

 from tiie work of these inclivithials during tlie carlj- 

 years of the telegraph industrj', it was not until about 

 1900 that any concerted efl'ort was made to organize 

 telegraph research and development. About (hat time 

 the nucleus of a ^Vestcrn Union laboratory existed in 

 New York, masquerading under the name of a "Repair 

 Shop." But to all intents and purposes it was a labora- 

 tory, for there in a space of about 40 by 100 feet were 

 assembled the best of machines and apparatus then 

 available for experiments with telegraph e(iui[)ment. 

 The activity in this shop proved so worth while" that a 

 year or two later the company decided to establish an 

 E)lectrician's Work Sliop, and tliere six men were regu- 

 larly emploj'cd in experimental and development work. 

 Compared with present-day apparatus their equipment 

 was crude, but with it much of the ground work upon 

 which modern telegraph practice rests was done. 



Despite these limitations of space and equipment, the 

 first units of the modern multiplex, which permits the 

 simultaneous transmission and reception of several 

 messages over a single wire, were being tested and per- 

 fected, and the first of the modern telegraph jirinters 

 was being developed. The successful application of 

 the combination of multiplex channels and printing 

 telegraph marked the beginning of the era of mecha- 

 nized telegraphy to which these laboi'atories have made 

 and are still making major contributions. 



In 1910 the first laboratory to be organized as such 

 by Western I'liion was established at 16 Dey Street, 

 New York, and about 15 men were employed. This 

 laboratory had some of the equipment which is now con- 

 sidered indispensable, including an oscillograph, a fair 

 selection of meters, electrometers, galvanometers, and 

 Wheatstone bridges, as well as a small power plant. 



Late in 1916 the laboratory was moved to more 

 spacious quarters. The staff was increased to 25 engi- 

 neers and organized into 5 divisions — cable, power 

 |)lant, apparatus, automatics, and general laboratorj'. 

 Demands upon the laboratory continued to increase, 

 and in 1918 a research and a chemical laboratory were 

 added. In 1921 a laboratory devoted to the develop- 

 ment and ijnprovement of the multiplex ami simplex 

 was established; a year lnt(M- a mechanical laboratory 

 was addetl. 



The rapidly expanding telegraph business required, 

 however, still more experimental and development 

 facilities, and in 1925 the laboratories again were moved 

 to larger quarters. Work upon cables, simplex print- 

 ers, tickers, iind the nniltiplex continued to increase. 

 Moreover, investigations in chemistiy, metallurgy', and 

 photography were made necessary by the company's 

 broad program of research which sought not only to 



321835 — 11 5 



bring llu; benefits of scientific knowledge to every 

 branch of the telegraph industry, but also to make sure 

 that its vast volmne of supplies was of suitable quality. 

 Twice since 1925 the quarters devoted to research 

 have been outgrown, and in addition to the laboratories 

 in New Y'ork the company maintains another labora- 

 tory at Water Mill, J^ong Island, which is designed to 

 deal prijnarily with the many problems presented by 

 the radio industry. Work is also done there upon 

 |)roblems relating to wire telegraphy, such as the syn- 

 chronous operation of telegraph e(|uipmcnt, the balanc- 

 ing of ocean cable circuits, and facsimile telegraphy. 

 WhOe Western Union reseairh aims primarily to im- 

 prove telegraph service and to lower costs, it frequently 

 leads to devices and products that are made available 

 to other industries. 



Electrical Machinery, 

 Apparatus, and Supplies 



General Electric Company 



During the last part of the nineties the electrical 

 indiistiy had been expanding with tremendous speed. 

 New and larger stations were springing up in all parts 

 of the country, and transmission lines w'ere being strung 

 to carry the increasingly higher voltages, 'i'ho con- 

 stant demand for larger aiul larger apparatus with 

 which to generate, control, transmit, and distribute the 

 steadily increasing amounts of power forced innumer- 

 able problems upon the company's engineers. As 

 difficulties arose, and as new ideas came, thcj' were 

 handled in the department most intimately concerned. 

 To a limited extent facilities were also provided in the 

 model department for working otit new problems, but 

 the personnel of the department was generally very 

 limited, and the magnitude and importance of the 

 problems undertaken soon became restricted. 



The works laboratory of the early days of the indus- 

 try has been described by Elihxi Thomson as — 



not necessaril3' for research, but for the exainiiialion of products 

 brought in or sent out, and for the analysis of materials. We 

 may picture ... a space set aside fiom a portion of tlie manu- 

 facturing and testing department, where with a few tools and 

 perhaps one or two workmen, devices and new appliances were 

 constructed in the form of working models, which were there to 

 be refined and immediately put into manufacture. Sometimes 

 this space was limited in extent to that of a single moderate- 

 sized room, and later on, for privacy, it might be a space par- 

 titioned off from the rest of the floor.'" 



With the industry in its infancy, such activities 

 were sufficient to meet the immediate demands of the 

 business, but as the various departments became more 

 distinct, as the number of products increased, and as 

 the quantity of products produced became gi'eater, little 

 attention could be given to scientific research. But 



"' Thomson, Eliliu. In an unpublished manuscript. 



