Square D pitches in to preserve Edison legacy.

PALATINE, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 9, 1995--Square D Company, a key electrical business of Paris-based Groupe Schneider, today pledged to donate and install the equipment required to make urgent repairs to the Edison National Historic Site in West Orange, N.J., and preserve the site where Thomas Alva Edison created more than half of his 1,093 patented devices.

``Edison invented our industry,'' said Charles W. Denny, president and CEO of Schneider North America and president and COO of Square D. ``His development of electrical technology did so much to improve the quality of American life, we feel as though we have a real responsibility to contribute to this renovation and to encourage others to do the same.''

The Thomas A. Edison Laboratory in West Orange, birthplace of the perfected phonograph, motion picture camera and alkaline storage battery, is in need of urgent repair, according to the National Park Service, which operates it. Many of the five million documents and 390,000 objects stored throughout the facility's 10 buildings remain uncatalogued and are in danger of being lost forever due to deteriorating conditions.

Square D will donate the electrical equipment needed to renovate and preserve the facility. The Square D Foundation will underwrite installation costs. The donation is being made through the National Park Foundation, which was chartered by Congress in 1967 as the official nonprofit partner of the National Park Service.

``Square D electrical products have been used at Edison's lab for almost 90 years,'' Denny added. ``In fact, Edison himself may have specified the Square D safety switches that you see on the walls of his laboratory. Everything is just the way he left it.''

In 1879 Edison's incandescent lamp burned for 13 hours, but only in a controlled laboratory situation. To put the bulb to practical use, Edison spent several years fighting gaslight interests and indifferent politicians to install a new system of electrical power distribution in New York City's financial district. He designed and patented an array of original equipment that included a high-efficiency dynamo, insulated conduits, underground junction boxes, relay circuits and switchboards. For the consumer he developed meters, fuses, fuse boxes and sockets for the bulbs.

Model for American Industry

The modern industrial research lab is among Edison's greatest inventions, however. Beginning with his Menlo Park lab in 1876, Edison was a pioneer in developing team-based research and development. When the West Orange ``invention factory'' opened in 1887, it was the largest such facility in the U.S. At these two facilities, which served as the models for private labs later developed by General Electric, Westinghouse and Bell, Edison worked to translate pure technology into commercial products.

``I always invent to obtain money to go on inventing,'' he said.

The three-story main laboratory at West Orange contained machine shops, an engine room, glass blowing and pumping rooms, chemical and photographic departments, rooms for electrical testing and a 10,000-volume library. Four smaller labs were stocked with the latest machinery and finest instruments, in addition to every conceivable material that scientists and engineers might need in the course of their research.

Edison managed the West Orange labs for 44 years until his death in 1931.

CONTACT: Square D Company, Palatine

Robert Fiorani, 708/397-2600

Selz, Seabolt & Associates Inc., Chicago

Bill Paige, 312/372-7090