Thomas Alva Edison And Edison's Inventions

One of the most well known technological innovator and manufacturer was Thomas Alva Edison. He invented many devices which are still being used today, with some modifications. He even built a vote-recording device before he was twenty-one. Some inventions were the phonograph, incandescent light bulb, and the kinetoscope, which was much like a motion picture camera. In total, he has patented 1,093 inventions. He earned the nickname “The Wizard of Menlo Park”.

While Edison was in Newark, NJ, he and a team of researchers worked on different aspects of projects. He would hire unique and brilliant individuals. Each were given specific research responsibilities. He took the time to take meticulous logs off everyone’s responsibilities, their progress,

Competitions grew to see who could get a patent for an invention first when multiple companies are working on a similar idea. For example, Edison, Alexander Graham, and Elisha Gray were competing for the telephone patent. Bell won since he was able to publicly display a working telephone model. Later on, the telephone that Bell manufactures eventually uses parts from Edison 's design (Carey). Other inventions that Edison made, such as a way to strengthen in longer distances, eventually were integrated into Bells other models. This type of competition is extremely time sensitive. Having Menlo Park 's lab as just a research and development area helps with the researchers since they would only need to focus on their research. Bell Labs is a company that is still up and running even today. This brings up some questions. If Edison and his team finished the telephone on time, with a demonstration ready, how different would today’s telephone company 's be? With Bell Labs, they created many departments that grew and eventually separated from the company. Would today be different if Bell Labs never existed and none of the companies were

He worked with George Westinghouse and Nikola Tesla during the late 19th century so bring electric lighting into houses and offices. Incandescent lighting is when light is produced by heat. Around 1870s, there was already lighting called arc lighting. Those were placed in large indoor rooms such as a stage and outdoors in streetlight lamps. Arc light was proven to be impractical in housing or offices. During the 1879, Edison did research in an entire electrical systems which would deal with a generator, a distribution system, and a light bulb. His main focus though was the light bulb. It needed to be strong enough so that the heat wouldn 't cause the light bulb to explode. He worked with carbon filaments which burned inside a glass globe as electricity flowed through the filaments. During the same year, Edison worked with Francis Upton to make a generator that produced direct current, which is also what Edison is very well known for. Direct current was used for incandescent