Large and impressive archive of Edison business-related material, much concerning the Bull-Con Lode Mining Claim. The archive includes four items signed by Edison which are:
DS, signed “Thos. A. Edison,” one page, both sides, 8.25 x 11, June 14, 1922. Minutes of the annual meeting of the Board of Directors of Thomas A. Edison Inc. In part: “The Chairman stated the object of the meeting was to elect officers of the Corporation to hold office until the next regular annual meeting…On motion regularly made, seconded, put to vote and unanimously carried, the following gentlemen were elected to fill the offices set opposite their respective names: Charles Edison—Chairman of the Board of Directors; Thomas A. Edison—President…There being no further business, the meeting adjourned.” Signed at the conclusion by Edison, as well as Charles Edison, Stephen Mambert, Harry Miller, and Henry Lanahan.
ANS in pencil, signed “Edison,” on a 5 x 8 lightly-lined sheet, dated May 16, 1925. Edison writes, in full: “Lieb, You certainly are a hustler. The affair was perfectly organized and went off fine. I thank you very much.” Note is affixed to a 9 x 12 board.
ANS in pencil, signed “TAE,” at the bottom of a one page TLS to Edison from Henry Lanahan, 8.75 x 11, dated January 10, 1924. Lanahan’s letter reads, in part: “Our attorneys now advise us that it is quite certain we shall be unable to obtain the patent by the first of next July, the closing time for performing the assessment work for the year ending July 1st…Are you satisfied to have Mr. Swanzey go ahead with his work as indicated…I presume in authorizing him to do this work, we should limit him to work amounting to $100. Do you think he will expect any additional compensation?” At the bottom, Edison writes: “Lanahan—I think you better have Swanzy [sic] go ahead & do the assessment work & have it approved it would seem that new work would be safer as US inspectors might object to cleaning out caved work—as assessment work.”
Pencil endorsement, signed “T. A. Edison,” at the bottom of a one page TLS to Edison from Henry Lanahan, 8.5 x 11, dated November 24, 1923. Concerning the Bull-Con Lode Mining Claim. Lanahan writes in part: “Our attorneys…recommend that we proceed with the application for the patent and state that in case the application for the patent is made and final proof submitted prior to the first of next July, it will be necessary to do the annual assessment work for the year ending July 21, 1924.” At the bottom, Edison writes: “Lanahan, All right, go ahead.”
The remainder of the archive consists of hundreds of typewritten documents dating from 1919 up to 1930 pertaining to Edison’s pursuit of the ideal automobile battery to power Henry Ford’s cars, and his purchase of a South Dakota property where he could mine for lithium. Many of the mostly onionskin documents are addressed to or from Henry Lanahan. Punch holes to letters, toning to all signed pages, with partial separations and tape toning to ANS, reinforcement to one side of meeting minutes, chipping to edges of the 1924 ANS, and expected age wear to remainder of archive, otherwise overall very good condition.
Edison was a proponent of electric cars for their cleanliness, efficiency, safety, and relative quietness (unlike the volatile gasoline engines used by Ford), however he was plagued by battery issues. He originally produced nickel-iron batteries in 1903 which he pronounced "the final perfection of the storage battery," but they leaked and lost their capacity quickly and he returned to the drawing board. By 1908, Edison developed the second-generation "A" cell which used some lithium and built his electric car in 1912. Realizing the potential of lithium, he purchased the Bull-Con Lode Mining Company in South Dakota in November 1923 with the intention mining lithium to develop longer-lasting batteries.
On November 24, his attorney Henry Lanahan wrote the inventor that "Our attorneys recommend that we proceed with the application for the patent" but that it "will be necessary to do the annual assessment." Mining claims always started out as "unpatented" with the actual patent claims granted only if minerals that can be produced for profit are found. Today lithium powers cell phones, cameras…and the electric car, fulfilling Edison's prediction that electric cars were the future of the automobile industry. RR Auction COA.
