7.5. Lesson 63: "Guard Against Results"
Thomas Edison liked working with men who had proven natural mechanical instincts, who engaged the physical world much as he did: hands-on. One such man was longtime employee John Ott, master machinist. In the spring of 1882, Edison handed Ott sketches of various alternative designs for voltage regulators—part of his emerging electric lighting system—and told him how to get started making them and what results he anticipated from them. But he did not tell Ott to watch for these results or report these results. Instead, he used a phrase heard often in Menlo Park. "Guard against results," Edison cautioned John Ott—and keep careful notes.
In later patent court testimony, Ott explained that to "guard against ...
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