Edison Tech Center

Learn more about the story of electricity in the 1830s-1900s period on our website and YouTube Channel.

Its already ten years since we interviewed Bob Lillquist, a physicist at GE who showed us the Cylinder Phonograph, since then 169,000 other internet fans have watched his piece.

How the Cylinder Phonograph Works The wax cylinder was the first real commercial sound reproducer. Ph...

Schenectady wasn't always famous for electrical innovation, The Stockade district of the city goes back 365 years to the time of New Nederlands. It was only in the 1880s when George Westinghouse Jr. and Thomas Edison chose the city as a base for doing production and innovation. Westinghouse's time was brief in the city before he moved to Pennsylvania. The Schenectady County Historical Society is located in the first developed part of the city by the Mohawk River.

Our interview with Marshall Jones (ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers) talking about how he got into laser technology at school, and later went on to pioneer use of lasers in welding and other applications.

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Who else is a fan of older ballasts? Quality made fluorescent light ballasts made in the 1940s can still be operational today because of thicker insulation and good design. Today they would never make such a ballast as the copper and materials would be too expensive.

Since 2008 the Edison Tech Center has produced oral history interviews with engineers that advanced electrical technology in the The Schenectady Techsplorer Series. Check out our videos on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/

Another great clip we just released from the late Tom Blalock on the formation of General Electric. Tom was an important person in the Pittsfield scene, as an engineer and historian. He will always be remembered. If your are over there be sure to check out the Berkshire Museum.

How Edison Companies became General Electric Company How did Thomas Edison's cluster of companies become General Electri...

Meters used to test electronics are critical for development of technology. These meters from the 1920s-1980s were used at GE Vernova Research Center in Niskayuna, New York. The GE Research Center was founded by several people including Charles Proteus Steinmetz in the early 20th century.

Plug-in electric heaters have evolved over the years, from open brass dishes to safer closed models with overheat feedback switches. The Edison Tech Center has a full range of heaters in its collection. Each one shows an iteration in technological history.

Magnetic recording was the primary way we would save video and audio up until the 2010s. This collection at the Edison shows VCRs from the 1980s-2010s, and a rare audio wire recorder with two spools of wire. The wire recorder was a donation from Journalist Ernie Tetrault who used the wire recorder for years in the news gathering industry.