Editing Thomas Edison (section)

==West Orange and Fort Myers (1886–1931)==
[[File:Edison battery exhibit, 1915.jpg|thumb|Thomas A. Edison Industries Exhibit, Primary Battery section, in 1915]]
Edison moved from Menlo Park after the death of his first wife, Mary, in 1884, and purchased a home known as "[[Thomas Edison National Historical Park|Glenmont]]" in 1886 as a wedding gift for his second wife, [[Mina Miller Edison|Mina]], in [[Llewellyn Park]] in [[West Orange, New Jersey]]. In 1885, Thomas Edison bought 13 acres of property in [[Fort Myers, Florida|Fort Myers]], Florida, for roughly $2,750 ({{Inflation|US|2750|1885|fmt=eq}}) and built what was later called [[Seminole Lodge (Thomas Edison)|Seminole Lodge]] as a winter retreat.<ref>Cosden, M. (2015). Edison and Ford in Florida. Arcadia Publishing. {{ISBN|9781467114646}}</ref> The main house and guest house are representative of [[Italianate architecture]] and [[Queen Anne style architecture]]. The building materials were pre-cut in New England by the Kennebec Framing Company and the Stephen Nye Lumber Company of Fairfield Maine. The materials were then shipped down by boat and were constructed at a cost of $12,000 each, which included the cost of interior furnishings.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.edisonfordwinterestates.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/media-kit.pdf| title = Edison and Ford Winter Estates. Media kit. Retrieved on 10/9/2019| access-date = October 9, 2019| archive-date = October 9, 2019| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191009210125/https://www.edisonfordwinterestates.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/media-kit.pdf| url-status = live}}</ref> Edison and Mina spent many winters at their home in Fort Myers, and Edison tried to find a domestic source of natural rubber.<ref name="Reisert">{{cite magazine|last1=Reisert|first1=Sarah|title=Home Away from Home|magazine=Distillations|year=2016|volume=2|issue=2|pages=46–47|url=https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/magazine/home-away-from-home|access-date=March 22, 2018|archive-date=March 23, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180323031209/https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/magazine/home-away-from-home|url-status=live}}</ref>

Due to the security concerns around [[World War I]], Edison suggested forming a science and industry committee to provide advice and research to the US military, and he headed the [[Naval Consulting Board]] in 1915.<ref name=board>{{cite web |url=https://www.nrl.navy.mil/About-Us/History/edison/ |title=Thomas Edison's Vision |access-date=December 18, 2013 |quote=Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels seized the opportunity created by Edison's public comments to enlist Edison's support. He agreed to serve as the head of a new body of civilian experts – the Naval Consulting Board – to advise the Navy on science and technology. |publisher=[[United States Navy]] |archive-date=December 19, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131219011350/http://www.nrl.navy.mil/about-nrl/history/edison/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Edison became concerned with America's reliance on foreign supply of rubber and was determined to find a native supply of rubber.  Edison's work on rubber took place largely at his research laboratory in Fort Myers, which has been designated as a National Historic Chemical Landmark.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.edisonfordwinterestates.org/about/what-youll-see/edison-s-botanic-research-laboratory/|title=Edison Botanic Research Laboratory – Edison & Ford Winter Estates – (239) 334-7419|access-date=December 30, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170203203552/http://www.edisonfordwinterestates.org/about/what-youll-see/edison-s-botanic-research-laboratory/|archive-date=February 3, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The laboratory was built after Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and Harvey S. Firestone pulled together $75,000 to form the Edison Botanical Research Corporation. Initially, only Ford and Firestone were to contribute funds to the project, while Edison did all the research. Edison, however, wished to contribute $25,000 as well. Edison did the majority of the research and planting, sending results and sample rubber residues to his West Orange Lab. Edison employed a two-part [[Acid-base extraction]], to derive latex from the plant material after it was dried and crushed to a powder.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://communities.acs.org/community/science/sustainability/green-chemistry-nexus-blog/blog/2014/05/21/thomas-edison-s-botanical-laboratory-to-be-recognized-as-a-national-historic-chemical-landmark-in-fort-myers|title=Green Chemistry: The Nexus Blog: Thomas Edison'... {{!}} ACS Network|website=communities.acs.org|date=May 21, 2014|access-date=August 1, 2016|archive-date=August 18, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160818001041/https://communities.acs.org/community/science/sustainability/green-chemistry-nexus-blog/blog/2014/05/21/thomas-edison-s-botanical-laboratory-to-be-recognized-as-a-national-historic-chemical-landmark-in-fort-myers|url-status=live}}</ref> After testing 17,000 plant samples, he eventually found an adequate source in the Goldenrod plant. Edison decided on ''[[Solidago leavenworthii]]'', also known as Leavenworth's Goldenrod. The plant, which normally grows roughly 3–4 feet tall with a 5% latex yield, was adapted by Edison through cross-breeding to produce plants twice the size and with a latex yield of 12%.<ref>''Growing American Rubber'' by Mark Finlay.</ref>

During the 1911 New York Electrical show, Edison told representatives of the copper industry it was a shame he did not have a "chunk of it". The representatives decided to give a cubic foot of solid copper weighing 486 pounds with their gratitude inscribed on it in appreciation for his part in the "continuous stimulation in the copper industry".<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tSYtLMVydvIC&q=chunk&pg=PA62|title=Mass Destruction: The Men and Giant Mines That Wired America and Scarred the Planet|last=LeCain|first=Timothy J.|date=June 22, 2009|publisher=Rutgers University Press|isbn=9780813548562|language=en|access-date=October 7, 2020|archive-date=January 3, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210103065628/https://books.google.com/books?id=tSYtLMVydvIC&q=chunk&pg=PA62|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eIcfAQAAMAAJ&q=thomas+edison+%22chunk+of+it%22&pg=PA841|title=Electrical Review|last=Worthington|first=George|date=1911|publisher=McGraw-Hill Publishing Company|language=en|access-date=October 7, 2020|archive-date=August 13, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210813211227/https://books.google.com/books?id=eIcfAQAAMAAJ&q=thomas+edison+%22chunk+of+it%22&pg=PA841|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3xkA1hVh1fcC&q=inscribed&pg=PT41|title=Opportunity, Montana: Big Copper, Bad Water, and the Burial of an American Landscape|last=Tyer|first=Brad|date=March 26, 2013|publisher=Beacon Press|isbn=9780807003305|language=en|access-date=October 7, 2020|archive-date=May 11, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210511120546/https://books.google.com/books?id=3xkA1hVh1fcC&q=inscribed&pg=PT41|url-status=live}}</ref>