GE traces its beginnings to Thomas A. Edison, who established Edison Electric Light Company in 1878.
Thomas
Alva Edison opened a laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey in 1876 where
he was able to explore the possibilities of generator and other
electrical devices that he had seen in the Exposition. From that
laboratory, Edison came up with the greatest invention of the age – a
successful radiant electric lamp. Edison brought his various businesses
together in 1890 and established the Edison General Electric Company.
In 1892, a merger of Edison General Electric Company and Thomson-Houston Electric Company created General Electric Company.
Before
the creation of General Electric, a series of mergers in the late 1880s
created three giant corporations. The several Edison companies and the
Sprague Electric Railway Company merged, incorporating officially in
January 1889, to become Edison General Electric.
At
the same time Westinghouse acquired three small companies: Consolidated
Electric Company (1887), the United Electric Lighting Company (1890)
and the Waterhouse Electric and Manufacturing Company (1888).
George
Westinghouse’s inroads into the industry in the mid 1880s
with the alternate current (AC) system challenged and eventually
replaced the DC system. Arc lighting, for open spaces, and
incandescent lighting, for internal use, complemented each other, and
together, they challenged gas lighting. In addition, the industry
diversified into electric motors and traction.
Another
company is the Thompson-Houston Electric Company. Elihu Thomson was
the improvement-innovator who together with Edwin Houston gave
rise to the Thomson-Houston Electric Company. After a few years
of work, by the end of 1881, Thomson felt he had finally built
an arc-lighting system, which was technically superior to any
other in the market. In the middle of 1882 a group of Lynn
businessmen, including Charles A. Coffin, became interested in Thomson’s
system and Thompson-Houston Electric Company was founded in 1883 to
exploit arc-lighting patents of Elihu Thomson and Edwin
Houston.
Thompson-Houston Electric Company of Lynn,
Massachusetts, acquired seven competitors between 1888 and 1890 and
emerged with the majority of the arc lighting business, a clutch of key
patents, and a large pool of skilled personnel. The Thomson-Houston
Company led by Charles A. Coffin the salesman and organizer, and became
the Edison General Electric Company’s competitor.
Thus in
1890 there were three large corporations in the electrical industry:
Edison General Electric, Westinghouse and Thompson-Houston.
After
many mergers of the late 1880s the patent positions of the three
corporations remained extremely confused in many respects. In particular
the Thompson-Houston Company held weak patents in incandescent
lighting, and Edison General Electric had few patents in the alternating
current field.
Equally important problems bedeviled the
electric street railway business, where each had some patents; similar
conflicts prevailed through every products line in the industry. Merger
promised an end to these potential conflicts; competition virtually
ensured many legal expenses and price wars, not to mention the
possibility of exclusion from new markets.
All three
competitors considered mergers with each other two before the Edison
General Electric Company and the Thompson-Houston Company joined in
1892.
They became General Electric. With their merger the
entire electrical industry was reduced from fifteen competitors to a
duopoly in just five years. Westinghouse and General Electric completed
this rationalization in 1895 by signing a patent sharing agreement,
effectively removing the last barrier to market control.
Many
of the Edison's early business contributions are still part of GE
today. Some of these contributions include lighting, transportation,
industrial products, power transmission, and medical equipment. Earlier
of 1890s, GE produced its first appliances electric fans at the Ft.
Wayne electric works while a full line of heating and cooking devices
were settled in 1907.
Historical development of General Electric
History is about people in society, their actions and interactions, the beliefs and prejudices their pasts and presents. History is the science which investigates and then records past human activities as are definite in time and space, social in nature and socially significant. The word ‘History’ means learned, expert, and knowledgeable. The word history has the connotation of finding out by investigation or inquiry.
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