Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison - born February 11, 1847, Milan, Ohio, U.S. d. Oct. 18, 1931, West Orange, N.J. American inventor who, singly or jointly, held a world record 1,093 patents. In addition, he created the world's first industrial research laboratory. Edison was the quintessential American inventor in the era of Yankee ingenuity. He began his career in 1863, in the adolescence of the telegraph industry, when virtually the only source of electricity was primitive batteries putting out a low-voltage current. Before he died, in 1931, he had played a critical role in introducing the modern age of electricity. From his laboratories and workshops emanated the phonograph, the carbon-button transmitter for the telephone speaker and microphone, the incandescent lamp, a revolutionary generator of unprecedented efficiency, the first commercial electric light and power system, an experimental electric railroad, and key elements of motion-picture apparatus, as well as a host of other inventions. Edison was the seventh and last child--the fourth surviving--of Samuel Edison, Jr., and Nancy Elliot Edison. At an early age he developed hearing problems, which have been variously attributed but were most likely due to a familial tendency to mastoiditis. Whatever the cause, Edison's deafness strongly influenced his behaviour and career, providing the motivation for many of his inventions. Early years In 1854 Samuel Edison became the lighthouse keeper and carpenter on the Fort Gratiot military post near Port Huron, Mich., where the family lived in a substantial home. Alva, as the inventor was known until his second marriage, entered school there and attended sporadically for five years. He was imaginative and inquisitive, but because much instruction was by rote and he had difficulty hearing, he was bored and was labeled a misfit. To compensate, he became an avid and omnivorous reader. Edison's lack of formal schooling was not unusual. At the time of the Civil War the average American had attended school a total of 434 days--little more than two years' schooling by today's standards. In 1859 Edison quit school and began working as a trainboy on the railroad between Detroit and Port Huron. Four years earlier, the Michigan Central had initiated the commercial application of the telegraph by using it to control the movement of its tr... ... middle of paper ... ...s for particular technologies. His issued patents are presented here in three lists—by execution date, patent date, and subject. The execution and patent date lists are each presented in six parts to make the files less cumbersome. He execution date of a patent application is the date on which the inventor signs the application, and hence is the date closest to the actual inventive activity. However, in his early years Edison did not always rush to his patent lawyer with an invention, especially if there was little competition for the invention or he was feeling broke and unable to pay the various fees involved in an application. In a few cases Edison removed some of the claims from an original application and filed a new application to cover those claims. The execution date of such a patent can be considerably later than that of the original application even though the patent covers designs from the earlier date. The subject lists are necessarily somewhat arbitrary. They are arranged by execution date. A few patents appear in two lists—for example, Patent 142,999 is for a battery Edison developed for telegraphy, and it is under "Batteries" and "Telegraphy and Telephony."
Some of his inventions include the photograph, the motion picture the electrographic vote recorder, and his most famous invention the light bulb. Thomas edison started working on his igea of a light bulb in 1878. He envisioned it as a oil and gas based light that would be longlasting that could be used indoors instead of having to use the outdoor light. He based his ideas on other people's inventions such as Henry Woodward and Mathew Evans. He found that there were many flaws with where light sources and planned on creating a whole different approach to building his light build that would fix all on the problems. Thomas Edison light bulb consisted of a carbon filament. It took him many tries before he successfully tested his lightbulb which lasted thirteen and a half hours. His carbon light bulb became a patent on November 4, 1879. Even though the light bulb was already patent Thomas Edison still found more ways to improve it. He discovered that carbonized bamboo filament could last 1,200 hours, so Edison decided to form the Edison Electric Light Company where he could publicly sell his new light bulbs and have access to new supplies where he can improve and manufacture his carbon light bulbs. Thomas edison created a whole new way of access to working and living environments that impacted history in a great
Thomas Edison only had 3 months of formal education, and his schoolmaster thought that Edison may have been retarded. And no one not even his family could envision that Edison would become the inventor that he would eventually end up to be. Born in Milan, Ohio, youngest of 7 children, Edison would often ask questions that his father and mother both could not answer. So naturally he sought out answers through experimentation. Through out his younger years Edison’s mother tried to make learning fun for him, describing it as “exploring”. At age 12 Edison had begun selling newspapers on a railroad line. After purchasing some old type, he soon began printing his own newspapers Grand Truck Herald, the first known newspaper to be printed on a train. However, printing soon halted due to the fact that Edison had set the boxcar on fire, and Edison along with his equipment was thrown from the train. At age 16 Edison got his second job as a telegrapher. He would have to signal Toronto every hour, and Edison thought this to be pointless, thus creating his first invention something to automatically signal Toronto every hour. At 21 Edison made his commercial debut as an inventor with an electric vote-recorder. It did not sell so thereafter he decided to concentrate his efforts on inventions that he was sure would be in universal demand. Then in 1869 Edison arrived in Boston, practically penniless he persuaded a broker to let him sleep in his office. Then when the broker’s stock ticker broke Edison was able to repair it where many others had failed. Amazed the manager quickly made Edison one of his superiors. Soon after Edison invented the printing telegraph, but before approaching the company president to sell the device he thought he should settle on a fair selling price, 3,000$. But Edison decided to let the president of the company to make an offer on his machine, which turned out to be 40,000$ Edison accepted the offer. After selling the patents for the stock ticker Edison had enough money to open his own workshop known as Menlo Park, it was here that some of his most important inventions were created. Of these were
(“Thomas Alva Edison Biography”) He was born on February 11, 1847 in Milan, Ohio. He was the youngest of seven children. Young Thomas had trouble at school so his mom pulled him out and started to home school him. At the age of 14 Thomas was working at a local railroad station. He sold candy, newspapers, and magazines. At one point he even started his own newspaper, which was a big hit for travelers. From 1863-1867 he traveled the U.S. as an illiterate telegrapher. And soon after became interested in science and electricity. Then in 1871 he married Mary Stilwell. (“Thomas Alva Edison Biography”) According to Bio.com says that “They were happily married for 13 years and then had three kids, William, Thomas, and Marion. (“Thomas Alva Edison Biography”) Soon after he became an independent inventor in New York. He sought work as a telegraph operator. But due to his failing heari...
This paper will be an effort to explain about Thomas Alva Edison and his life before the 1900s. Thomas Edison was an American inventor, he was considered the most prolific inventor in American history and one of America’s leading businessmen who came from humble beginnings to work as an inventor of major technology. He was also giving public recognition as a participant in the production of helping build America’s economy during the nation’s vulnerable early years. Thomas Edison was born on February 11th, 1847 in Milan, Ohio. He was the last and youngest out of seven children of Samuel Edison Jr., an exiled political activist, and Nancy Elliott Edison, an accomplished school teacher. When he was seven years old he suffered from scarlet fever
After he was done with his telegraph job, on October 11th, 1868 he got his first patented invention for an electrical vote recorder. To Edison's surprise it wasn't popular enough among the people. After this incident, Edison became more determined towards making certain there was a strong public demand for anything he was going to invent. He improved the original stock ticker and invented the Universal Stock Ticker and the Unison Device. I...
Among his improvements was an easier-to-use version of the world’s first stock ticker. It was this mode of thought that led Edison to work on his first issued patent, the electrographic vote-recorder. He was one of several inventors at the time developing methods for the U.S. Congress to record their votes in a more timely fashion than the traditional voice vote system.
Thomas Alva Edison was born on February 11, 1847, in Milan, Ohio. Thomas's father, Samuel, was an exiled political activist from Canada. His mother, Nancy, was a school teacher. As a child he got scarlet fever which left him to have loss of hearing in both ears. As he got older he was almost deaf. He was misbehaving in school, so he was home school by his mother. At 12, he started his own business selling newspapers to train passengers and started his own newspaper called the "Grand Trunk Herald". He saved a 3 year old from being run over by a train, so the father taught him how to use a telegraph. At 21, he went to Boston and got a job at the Western Union Company. That is when he designed and patented an electronic voting recorder to count
Thomas Alva Edison was born in Milan, Ohio on 11 February 1847. He died in Orange, New Jersey on 18 October 1931. It can be said that Thomas Edison was one of the most influential people of the 19th century. Thomas Edison was responsible for many inventions that influenced America to become a more modernized country. His inventions are some of the most important inventions to date. Some examples of his inventions are the iridescent light bulb, carbon microphone, and the Kinetoscope or movie camera. Thomas Edison was a prism of history.
From a young age, Edison was always very enamored by the thought of the telegraph. This was an electric machine that was used to send messages back and forth in the form of dots and dashes. Longer or shorter dashes stood for different letters, and put together, they created words (Barnham). Though Edison had started out with simple jobs that didn’t take much time or effort, he eventually became a professional telegrapher. Only later on did he realize his real calling in life was to become an inventor.
that was with him. Later on he joined Edison’s continental company in Paris. He made a
The year was 1878 was the beginning of Electricity. That year Thomas Edison had made the first affordable light bulb. That year he focused primarily to make a light bulb powered by electricity which was safe; something that scientist were trying to make and succeed since 1828 "Thomas Alva Edison." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2013.) With the help of J.P Morgan (financial banker) he founded his company. Edison soon later became quite famous around the world. His lighting systems were soon used to light the “Paris lighting exhibition” and the “Crystal palace of London” ("Thomas Alva Edison." History.com. ) Later on came in the “the battle of currents”
...lting board to come and help with a project. They needed help in developing a better plan to protect us ships from under water attacks from the Germans. For 18 months he worked in the government lab and perfected several items for use against submarine attacks. In 1928 Thomas Alva Edison was awarded congressional medal of honor. This award was given to him because of the practical and imaginative talent he used to life easer for the people of the United States (Dolan 109).
Edison is most famous for the development of the first electric light bulb. Like I said Edison was born into a time where America wasn’t very developed. He was born, and electricity had not been developed. But thanks to Edison when he had passed away on October 18, 1931 whole cities were lit up in electricity. For electricity, much of the credit goes to Edison.
Edison’s vision of invention as a process shaped much of his business approach. For Edison it was never enough to simply develop and perfect a concept or idea; he constantly drove him...
Many of people came to see the showcase of the phonograph. In 1878, Thomas Edison starts expanding his inventions factory, and also builds a shopping store behind the laboratory. So he could sell his inventions to the public. Later Thomas Edison starts continuous to his other inventions. He starts to investigation how to create a light bulb that can stay longer time. Before Thomas Edison start making the light bulb, there have other inventor was working on it, but no one can let the light bulb work longer. Eventually, on October 21, 1879, Thomas Edison’s light bulbs can continuous work forty hours. Thomas Edison and his team try to use the incandescent light bulb in the laboratory and his home. In 1880, Thomas Edison believes the incandescent bulbs can able to produce and sell it to the public. Also he builds the Edison Electric Light Company to find way to use electricity to light the incandescent bulbs. In 1882, Thomas Edison uses his incandescent bulb in all the office building and houses on the Pearl Street. Many people came to the Pearl Street see the all of the building and houses is light with electricity. This became a great achievement in Thomas Edison’s life. Also Thomas Edison became a rich and famous people. Many of business and investors want to invest Thomas Edison’s