John and Fred Ott

 Brothers John and Fred Ott worked with Thomas Edison in Newark as machinists beginning in the 1870s; John beginning at 20 in 1871 and Fred beginning as a 14-year-old apprentice in 1875. Both brothers followed Edison to Menlo Park in 1876, where John was Edison's principal model and instrument maker. After the move to West Orange in 1887, John served as superintendent of the machine shop until a terrible fall in 1895 which left him severely injured.

Fred made history in 1894 as the first movie actor for pretending to sneeze while filmed. In 1900 he was also in the movie “The Kiss” with an unidentified woman. It was a remake of a movie of the same name starring May Irwin and John Rice in which the actors famously talk at each other with their mouths close for the worst kiss ever recorded.  I suppose that necessitated a remake with a machinist showing the world how to do it right.

WWI introduced problems importing latex rubber. Edison, and later Ford, bought estates in Florida and tried to find a non-tropical plant species that could replace the rubber tree if that supply would be cut off later.  John Ott retired, but Fred moved to support the work. After many years, there was some success in the weed, goldenrod, but the work hybridizing lost the energetic backing after Edison died, and the U.S. government let the attempt fail in 1936.

John died only one day after the inventor on October 19, 1931; his crutches and wheelchair were placed by Edison's casket at Mrs. Edison's request.

Fred retired shortly afterwards at the age of 81 and moved back to West Orange, New Jersey, where he died October 24, 1936.