Science and technology in the United States finish. For example, the British engineer Joseph Swan built an incandescent electric lamp in 1860, almost 20 years before Edison. But Edison's light bulbs lasted much longer than Swan's, and they could be turned on and off individually, while Swan's bulbs could be used only in a system where several lights were turned on or off at the same time. Edison followed up his improvement of the light bulb with the development of electrical generating systems. Within 30 years, his inventions had introduced electric lighting into millions of homes. Another landmark application of scientific ideas to practical uses was the
Edison Manufacturing Company instruments, and other machinery. It also made kinetoscopes, phonograph cylinder wax, x-ray equipment, medical instruments, and electric fans in its factory in Silver Lake, New Jersey. From April 1895 to June 1908 William E. Gilmore was vice-president and general manager of the company. He was succeeded by the patent lawyer Frank Dyer. Edison's films were made by the Kinetograph Department of the Edison Manufacturing Company. The Edison Studios first produced kinetoscope films in Manhattan, then from 1905 in a studio in the Bronx. The company had the same senior executives as the more profitable National Phonograph Company, to which Edison