Working alongside chemists with German Ph.D.s and a crew of craftsmen and machinists, some of them immigrants, he created an elaborately equipped invention factory whose goal was “a minor invention every ten days and a big thing every six months or so.” What made Edison more than an improving mechanic found in thousands of American factories and shops was his desire to create entire systems that were new and unique.50 How could Americans not embrace the Edison of the 1870s as free labor came under siege?
