Jonas Walter Aylsworth was a brilliant chemist, and a pioneer in the field of plastics. He joined the West Orange Laboratory when it was opened in 1887. He was mostly involved in testing materials for making phonograph records.
Aylsworth made a material called ‘condensite’, mixing phenol and formaldehyde for use in disc records. It was a plastic on which recordings could be made. This led the way to the vinyl records.
Jonas left West Orange four years after joining, but returned ten years later to work for Edison, at the same time working in his own laboratory, too.
John Ott was another brilliant worker of Edison, who also became a close friend. John and his younger brother Fred started to work with Edison in Newark in the 1870’s, and moved to Menlo Park with Edison in 1876. At Menlo Park, John was the main maker of models and instruments.
When the West Orange Laboratory was started, John served as the superintendent of the machine shop. But in 1895, he was severely injured in a terrible fall. He had acquired 22 patents, some of them shared with Edison.
John Ott died just a day after Edison. He was so valued by the family that Mrs. Edison made a special request to place his crutches and wheelchair by Edison’s coffin.
Picture Credit : Google
