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."
He applied for the last of his 1,093 patents during this time. The last patent granted was for an apparatus that could hold objects together during the electroplating
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
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”.
Thomas Alva Edison was born in Milan, Ohio on February 11, 1847. He spent a few years of his life in Milan, but when he turned seven him and his family moved to Michigan. Thomas Edison's parents are Samuel Ogden Edison Jr. and Nancy Matthews Elliott. His mother was a former teacher and his dad was a shopkeeper. Edison was the youngest out of seven children. Edison attended school for a short period of time but later became home schooled. Being homeschooled allowed Edison to do more things like experimenting in his basement, crate his habit of reading and make his own newspapers. At a young age Thomas Edison started developing problems with his hearing which was caused by untreated middle-ear infections and scarlet fever he received in his childhood.
Soon after he became an independent inventor in New York. He sought work as a telegraph operator. But due to his failing hearing, he couldn’t find much work.
When Thomas became thirteen he asked his parents if he could get a job, they let him. He took the job of becoming a newsboy and “candy butcher” on the trains of the Grand Trunk Railway, running between Port Huron and Detroit. While having a job was fun for Thomas, he spent much of his free time reading scientific and technical books, he also spent some of this time learning how to operate a telegraph. In 1862, when he was fifteen, he printed and published the first ever newspaper to be typeset and printed on a moving train, The Weekly Herald. The London Times featured him and his paper in one of their stories, giving him his first exposure to international notoriety. Around the same time Thomas Edison had saved the son of J.U. Mackenzie, a station agent at Mount Clemens, Michigan. As a sign of gratitude, the child’s father taught him telegraphy. A few months later, when he was close to the age of sixteen, he hung a telegraph line from the Port Huron railway station to the Port Huron village and worked in the local telegraph office. By the time he was really at the age of sixteen, he was skilled enough to work as a telegrapher full time. (Beals,
He built an industrial research laboratory in West Orange, New Jersey, and this was the main research laboratory for the lighting company. He spent all of his time here until he realized it all could not be all done by one person. Thomas never stopped inventing or working. He became a well-known business man. He still invented throughout his later years. He had a major impact on this world and the economy. Thomas and his second wife spent the rest of their lives at their winter retreat in Fort Meyers, Florida. Thomas Edison passed away October 18, 1931 at the age of 84 years old. Now you can see that Thomas had a very good child and was a hard worker as a teenager. His invention of the universal stock printer was a popular and much needed invention and as you all know the lightbulb has been one of the most important inventions in
In 1837 Morse got two partners to help him develop his telegraph. One was Leonard Gale, a quiet professor of science at New York University who taught him how to increase voltage by increasing the number of turns around the electromagnet. The other was Alfred ...
I, Thomas Alva Edison, was born was born in Milan, Ohio on February 11th, 1847. I had seven siblings that were all older than him. My parents were busy people. My dad, Samuel, owned a lumber factory. My mom, Nancy, was a school teacher. I attended a school in Michigan, but I only went to school for no more than three months in his entire life. I was then home schooled by my mother. When I turned thirteen, I got my very first job as a newspaper boy. Since, I was a newspaper boy who worked by the railroad, I made my own lab that I could access from the railroad. I even saved a baby’s life after he almost got run over by a train. I opened my first ever real lab in Newark, New Jersey. I had over 300 workers working in this lab. After I opened this lab, I created a second lab. This second lab was in Menlo Park, New Jersey. This was probably the most important lab of my life because I created some of my most famous and most used inventions in this lab. Some of these inventions that I made here was th...
...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).
Thomas (Alva) Edison was one of America’s most important and famous inventors. Edison was born into a time and place where there wasn’t much technological advancements. His inventions helped a lot of things quickly change in the world. His inventions contributed to many inventions today such as the night light, movies, telephones, and records and CDs.
Thomas Edison is widely regarded as one of the most influential inventors and innovators of the Twentieth Century. Edison’s efforts ushered in a new era of technology; a world in which electricity would be harnessed and made to bow before man’s will. Walter Lippman wrote, “It is impossible to measure the importance of Edison by adding up the specific inventions with which his name is associated” (qtd. in Baldwin 409). Edison’s decades long career was a synergistic melding of his success as an inventor and his prowess as a promoter and businessman. He exemplified the ideals of intelligence married to hard work and perseverance. He forever changed the landscape of American invention and the limits of technological change (Baldwin 409).
Nikola Tesla is regarded as one of the most brilliant inventors in history. His work provided the basis for the modern alternating current power system, as well as having developed both radio and the fluorescent light bulb. He worked with Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse, among others. He was also widely misunderstood by his peers and the public at large.
Thomas Edison was born on February 11, 1847 in Milan, Ohio. Thomas Edison was one of the most famous American inventors and businessmen in the nineteenth century. He invented many great and remarkable devices during that period. His most famous inventions include the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and electric incandescent light bulbs. Those inventions bring great influences around the world; also his inventions improve the society.
From a discovery made by one of his associates, he patented the Edison effect (now called thermionic diode), which is the basis for all electron tubes. Edison will forever be remembered for his contributions to the incandescent light bulb. Even though he didn't dream up the first light bulb ever crafted, and technology continues to change every day, Edison's work with light bulbs was a spark of brilliance on the timeline of invention.