This is great stuff! Anyone interested in the history of technology should look at Edison's notebooks, some now available on line:
http://edison.rutgers.edu/docsamp.htm Here is a famous one kept by Charles Batchelor in 1879: http://edison.rutgers.edu/NamesSearch/SingleDoc.php3?DocId=N052105 Lots of great sketches. You can see them going through one design after another. Jump to image 58 for the comment about the globe that broke in the middle of a critical test, "Shitt! Busted by Bohm." Bohm was the glassblower. Batchelor was British, as you can perhaps tell from the spelling and diction. He worked closely with Edison for many years. They have similar personalities. They were both night owls, and lonely, well read and fond of Shakespeare. A funny cartoon by Francis Upton of a light bulb as a person, with a recurring theme: this thing's worth millions! http://edison.rutgers.edu/NamesSearch/SingleDoc.php3?DocId=N068075 "I shed the light of my shining countenance for $15,000 per share" Other pages in this book show glassware designs. Here is Edison's personal diary. He was self educated, but not the uneducated bumpkin that he sometimes portrayed himself as: http://edison.rutgers.edu/NamesSearch/SingleDoc.php3?DocId=MA001 - Jed
