Edison as I know him, by Henry Ford, in collaboration with Samuel Crowther.

EDISON As I KNOW HIM

"With the invention of a practical incandescent lamp I had merely stepped over the threshold of a complete system. While we kept up a
constant series of experiments for the greater
perfection of the lamp, I busied myself in devising the other essential parts of the system I had
conceived. There was no precedent for such a
thing, and nowhere in the world could we purchase these parts.
"It was necessary to invent everything: dynamos, regulators, meters, switches, fuses, fixtures,
underground conductors with their necessary
connecting boxes, and a host of other detail parts,
even down to insulating tape. Everything was
new and unique. The only relevant item in the
world at that time was copper wire, and even
that was not properly insulated.
"My laboratory was a scene of feverish activity, and we worked incessantly, regardless of day,
night, Sunday or holiday. I had quite a large
force and they were a loyal lot of men as a whole,
and worked with vim and enthusiasm. We accomplished a great deal in a short space of time,
and before Christmas of 1879 I had already
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