[The following note describes a series of notebooks and has no document records attached to it. For that reason, a "no Documents found" message will appear if the "List Documents" button at the bottom of the note is used. To see the records in the notebooks described here, use the "Which Series Notes?" button to enter the Series Notes or use the "Next Text" button to move to the first item in the series.]
These thirty-one notebooks were used during the period 1917-1919 for experimental work for the U.S. Navy and other wartime research. The experimenters whose research is documented in these books include Isidor (Jerry) Chesler, Charles T. Dally, E. Rowland Dawson, William Deans, John A. Hanley, Newman Henry Holland, William A. Hayes, Absalom M. Kennedy, Paul D. Payne, Edwin Smith, Jr., and Selden G. Warner. Many of the books contain entries pertaining to submarine and torpedo detection. Also included are experiments on smoke generation to hide ships, the prevention of rust on submarine guns, and improvements to range finders and spotting telescopes. In addition, there are notes on a respirator to protect men in the fighting tops of battleships from sulphur dioxide fumes, a smoke bomb, a kite for bomb delivery, a primary battery for airplane use, a "stabilized plane for running light," and a "wheel" weapon for trench warfare. Much of this work was carried out under Edison's instructions and supervision. Some of the tests took place at sea near Sandy Hook and Red Bank, New Jersey. Sixteen books with indications of oversight or involvement by Edison have been selected. The results of this research were incorporated into letters and reports submitted by Edison to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels that can be found in the Naval Consulting Board and Wartime Research Papers (Special Collections Series), Josephus Daniels Papers (Library of Congress), and the Edison Wartime Research Reports (Charles Hummel Collection).
The notebooks are arranged in five subgroups: