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The man who built Edison's phonograph: Mucker John Kruesi (1843-1899)

John Kruesi was born in Switzerland on May 15, 1843. He served an apprenticeship as a clock maker and instrument builder and later worked as a journeyman machinist in Zurich and Paris. He immigrated to the United States in 1870 and found a position with the Singer Sewing Machine Co. in Elizabeth, New Jersey. He joined the staff of Edison's Newark shop in 1872. 

Kruesi functioned principally as a shop foreman, building models, instruments, and apparatus for Edison's experimental work in various technologies: phonograph, telephone, electric railway, incandescent lamp, and, especially, electric lighting delivery systems, to which he made significant contributions. 

At the Edison Machine Works, Kruesi supervised several hundred employees engaged in the production of dynamos for electric lighting systems. In 1881 he developed an underground electric tube system (patented in 1883) and became general manager and treasurer of the Electric Tube Co. When the company merged with the Edison Machine Works, Kruesi served as assistant general manager under Charles Batchelor and assumed Batchelor's position in 1885. 

The following year the Machine Works moved to Schenectady, New York, and was later absorbed into the Edison General Electric Co. Kruesi, as assistant general manager under Samuel Insull, greatly expanded the shops to accommodate a work force that grew from 200 to 4,000 employees in six years. He became general manager of the newly organized General Electric Co. in 1892, and chief mechanical engineer in 1896; he served in that capacity until his death, February 22, 1899. 

Kruesi married Emily Zwinger of Allegheny, Pennsylvania, in 1873; they had eight children. His wife died in 1897. 

As solid as cement: Mucker Walter S. Mallory (1860-1944)

Walter S. Mallory was born on July 12, 1860. He first met Edison the summer of 1885 at Chautauqua, New York. The following year he was an usher at the wedding of Edison and Mina Miller. Mallory started working for Edison in 1888 or 1889. He was an officer and stockholder in the Edison ore milling companies and later served as vice-president of the New Jersey and Pennsylvania Concentrating Works from 1895 to 1908. Later, he became president of the Edison Portland Cement Company. He died on February 13, 1944.

Treasured treasurer: Mucker Harry F. Miller (1869-1950)

Harry F. Miller (no relation to Mina Miller Edison) was scheduled to start work for Thomas A. Edison on March 11, 1888 but a blizzard prevented his arrival. He made it the next day, and began work as an assistant to John F. Randolph, bookkeeper. Documents indicate that he may also have served as office manager for the Edison Manufacturing Company in Silver Lake, New Jersey. 

From 1896 to 1908 he was the cashier for the National Phonograph Company. When John F. Randolph died in 1908, Miller took his place as private secretary to Edison and assistant treasurer for the Edison Phonograph Works, the National Phonograph Company, the Edison Manufacturing Company and the Bates Manufacturing Company. In 1910, William H. Meadowcroft became Edison's private secretary, but the records indicate that Miller continued to act as assistant treasurer for the various Edison companies and, in some capacity, as secretary, until 1916. 

In 1916, Miller succeeded Ernest J. Berggren as treasurer of Thomas A. Edison, Inc. He later became treasurer and director of Thomas A. Edison, Inc., Edison Portland Cement Company and affiliated Companies. He maintained these responsibilities until his retirement on January 1, 1937. 

Dynamic dynamo designer: Mucker Francis R. Upton (1852-1921)

Francis R. Upton was born in Peabody, Massachusetts on July 26, 1852. He studied mathematics at Bowdoin College, Princeton University, and the University of Berlin (under Hermann von Helmholtz) before joining Edison at Menlo Park in December 1878. At Menlo Park he worked as Edison's chief scientific assistant, preparing blueprints, performing calculations, and solving mathematical problems associated with Edison's incandescent electric lighting system. He also helped design incandescent lamps, dynamos, and the electric railway. 

Following the perfection of the incandescent lamp and Edison's consequent expansion into lamp manufacture, Upton became general manager of the Edison Lamp Co. in Menlo Park and later in Harrison, New Jersey. There he combined his managerial duties with experimental work on lamp improvements. 

Upton traveled to Europe in 1886 to inspect Edison's financially-troubled electric lighting companies. While there, he examined a transformer used in alternating current electrical delivery systems and advised Edison to purchase the American rights. Edison did so, but later allowed his option to lapse, preferring the direct current delivery system. During the 1880s Upton also served on the board of the Edison General Electric Co. 

He left the Edison Lamp Works in 1894 but returned to Edison's employ in 1898 as an efficiency engineer at the New Jersey & Pennsylvania Concentrating Works. Upton's talent for selling sand (a by-product of ore-milling) to cement manufacturers helped persuade Edison to enter the cement business himself. Following the collapse of the ore-milling venture, Upton joined the Edison Portland Cement Co., eventually serving as company representative for northern New Jersey. He left that position in 1911, continuing to sell brick and crushed sand independently.

Upton married twice and had three children by each wife. He served as first president of the Edison Pioneers (1918). He later retired to California, but died in Orange, New Jersey, March 10, 1921. 

images and partial information provided by the National Parks Service

©Mary Bellis

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