John Kruesi

Inventor and electrical engineer, born in Heiden, Switzerland. In 1871, under Thomas Edison, he began work on telegraphy, telephones, and microphones, and produced the first phonograph (1877). He perfected another idea of Edison's, to insulate wire so it could be laid underground. He became superintendent of the Edison laboratories, and in 1892 the general manager of General Electric.

John Kruesi (May 15, 1843 – February 22, 1899) was a Swiss born master machinist and close associate of Thomas Edison.

Kruesi became Edison's head machinist through his Newark and Menlo Park periods, responsible for translating Edison's numerous rough sketches into working devices. Since constructing and testing models was central to Edison's method of inventing Kruesi's skill in doing this was critical to Edison's success as an inventor. Historians Robert Friedel and Paul Israel sum up Kruesi's remarkable ability of this:

If the devices that emerged [from Kruesi's workshop] didn't work, it was because they were bad ideas, not because they were badly made. (Friedel and Israel 1987, 35)

Kruesi was involved in many of Edison's key inventions, including the quadruplex telegraph, the carbon microphone, phonograph, incandescent light bulb and system of electric lighting.

With the development of Edison's system of electric lighting Kruesi moved to more management positions. In 1881 Edison put him in charge of the Edison Electric Tube Company, responsible for the installation of underground power distribution cables from the central generating station.