Cooper Hewitt says...
General Electric Company was formed in 1892 through the merger of Edison General Electric Company, Thomson-Houston Electric Company, and with the support of Drexel, Morgan & Co. Prior to the merger, in 1876, Thomas Edison had opened a laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey, where he created a successful incandescent electric lamp and experimented with other electrical devices. Meanwhile, Edison’s competitor, the Thomson-Houston Company was gaining a reputation as a competitor in electrical innovation. The merger allowed for the companies to produce electrical installations that combined their patents and technological expertise. Edison remained associated with GE through his patents and consulting duties. The first GE appliances were electric fans, produced as early as the 1890s, followed by a full line of heating and cooling devices in production by 1907. GE began work in aeronautics in 1917 when the US government sought a company to develop the first airplane engine booster. Thomas Edison’s experiments with plastic filaments for light bulbs in 1893 led to the first GE Plastics department, founded in 1930. GE grew to become one of the most diversified companies in the world, including products such as electrical and electronic equipment across industries, home appliances, aircraft engines, and financial services. In 2011 GE sold a majority stake in NBCUniversal to Comcast, which acquired the remaining shares two years later. In 2016 GE moved its headquarters from Fairfield, Connecticut, to Boston.Today GE is active in at least 130 countries.
