| 1875 | Pennsylvania Railroad Company |
| 1876 | Menlo Park (Edison's invention factory) |
| 1886 | Eastman Kodak |
| 1889 | Standard Oil |
| 1890 | DuPont (chemical industry) |
| 1900 | General Electric |
| 1903 | Westinghouse |
| 1912 | Bell Telephone Laboratories |
| research laboratory | year | employees |
| General Electric | 1901 | 8 |
| 1906 | 102 | |
| 1920 | 301 | |
| 1929 | 555 | |
| Bell Laboratories | 1925 | 3,600 |
| 1937 | 4,200 | |
| 1,600 companies | 1931 | almost 33,000 |
Bowker, G. (1995) Manufacturing Thruth: The Development of Industrial Research. In: M. Serres (editor): A History of Scientific Thought, Elements of a History of Science. Blackwell, Oxford, 583 - 610. (Translation of Éléments d'Histoire des Sciences, Bordas, Paris, 1989)
Crowther, J. G. (1967) The Social Relations of Science. 2nd ed. The Cresset Press, London.