Thomas Alva Edison

http://edison.rutgers.edu/taephren.htm

1847 - 1931

ThomasAlva Edison was one of the most outstanding geniuses in the history of technology and the most famous inventor in American history. He is the owner of over one thousand patents for his ingenious inventions and received numerous awards and honors throughout his lifetime.          

Thomas Alva Edison was born on February 11, 1847, in Milan, Ohio in the United States to Samuel Ogden and Nancy Elliot Edison. He was their seventh child. When the young Thomas was seven years old, he and his family moved from their home in Ohio to Port Huron, Michigan. It was in Michigan that Thomas began his formal education. He was pulled out of regular classes after only three months. Thomas was a very inquisitive child and asked many questions of his teachers. Unfortunately, they misunderstood him and thought instead that he was either slower than the other children or that he couldn't grasp even the simplest concepts. For the next three years his mother, a former schoolteacher home schooled him. From this very early age, Edison expressed an unstoppable curiosity for determining how things worked. He was especially interested in chemistry and consequently conducted many early experiments. Edison was later quoted as saying about his mother "she had instilled in him a love for and purpose in learning".

When he was ten, his mother gave him an elementary book on physical science so he could further pursue his interests. He proceeded by building a chemical laboratory in his cellar. He quickly absorbed an understanding of chemistry from this book and by producing electrical currents from voltaic jars was soon operating his own fully-operational homemade telegraph set.

On a less serious note though, the young Thomas was quite a 'mettlesome' child. He was known to pull pranks that were carefully calculated to frustrate his father. His father responded by beating him on a regular basis. He once even whipped him in front of the townspeople in the Village Square! This continuous and severe punishment that young Thomas received may have contributed to his near total deafness, a condition which had resulted from scarlatina, a problem that already ran in the family.

His father was a poor provider for the Edison family, so at the early age of twelve Thomas went to work and began selling newspapers and candy at the railroad station. In addition to helping support the family, he raised enough money to start a small newspaper of his own. Then he built a little laboratory in a baggage car where he kept himself busy conducting more experiments. He described this period of his youth as the 'happiest time of his life'. Ironically, it was his poor sense of hearing that let him enjoy the quietness so he could read and work in his lab without being distracted.

Thomas trained himself in telegraphy and roamed the country finding odd jobs in Mid Western and Southern cities. At one point, he even worked as a telegrapher during the Civil War. He also began working for the Western Union Telegraph Company. During this time, he read all the books and magazines about chemistry that he could get his hands on.

Soon after his twenty-first birthday, he bought a copy of Michael Faraday's Experimental Researches in Electricity. This marked a turning point in his life. The experiments in this journal were so self-explanatory that Edison performed them all successfully. His early successes were completely self-taught. Inspired by Faraday's experiments, Edison quit his job as a telegrapher and became a full time inventor. His first patent was for the 'Electric Vote Recorder.' Congress did not particularly want to use this invention. Edison quickly realized that to be taken seriously he needed to invent things 'that people would find useful.' After his inventions gained some recognition, the Western Union Telegraph Company hired him to improve on their new stock ticker. He perfected it and created what became known as the 'Edison Universal Stock Printer.' This effort earned him $40,000. He invested this capital in setting up a stockticker and starting his own 'high-speed telegrapher manufacturing business' in New Jersey. While here, he also made improvements on 'the typewriter' and invented 'the carbon transmitter' that was used to put the final touches on Alexander Graham Bell's famous invention, 'the telephone.'

Edison married Mary Stilwell in 1871. He and his wife eventually had two sons and a daughter, but like his own father before him Edison was not a particularly attentive father figure. Edison neglected his family because of his work.

In 1876, Edison moved his laboratory to Menlo Park, New Jersey. By 1877, he had invented 'the phonograph,' his most original invention. He wanted to make the phonograph even more popular by hooking it up to a machine called 'synchronizer,' a device that would give the illusion of motion to pictures. He assigned William K.L. Dickson to the project because Edison knew that Dickson was also interested in photography. The two of them, after making a motion picture, tried to add sound. This proved to be a difficult venture, so they dropped the idea. The 'silent movie' was born. They called this invention the 'Kinetoscope.'

In 1876, the electric light was gaining popularity in Europe. Edison had seen William Wallace's invention, the 500-candlepower lightbulb. He set about improving on this invention - to make it safer and less expensive. This invention earned Edison enough funds for him to start his own company. The Edison General Electric Company manufactured his lamps and a variety of central station equipment. He lost control of its ownership when, in 1892, it merged and became The General Electric Company, which operates even today. Nikola Tesla, a physicist and employee who worked for Edison said of his partner that he had a "needle - in - the haystack" method of experimenting. Edison, who was now in his thirties, was very successful in manufacturing and by this time, had obtained patents for a number of his inventions. He became known as "the wizard of Menlo Park".

His first wife, Mary Stilwell died in 1884. Edison then married Mina Miller from Akron, Ohio. She was a young woman half his age, but this was of great benefit to him because she taught him how to 'behave' in public. With Mina, Edison extended his family by another two sons and a second daughter. One of his sons later became secretary of the Navy and the Governor of New Jersey.

As he got older, Thomas Edison focused more on promoting his business and product ventures. In 1887, he moved his lab again to West Orange, New Jersey. Here, he built the Edison Laboratory, which is now a national monument. Over 5,000 people worked here producing consumer-friendly inventions like 'phonographs', 'wax records', 'mimeographs', 'fluoroscopes', 'alkaline storage batteries', 'dictating machines', 'movie cameras' and 'projectors'. Edison got too ambitious, though, while developing his 'magnetic ore separating process' and lost $4,000,000 because of it. He had a typical reaction: "Well, it's all gone, but we had a heck of a good time spending it!"

He supervised one of his last major accomplishments in 1920. Edison established the Navel Research Laboratory, the first institution for military research. Edison then spent the rest of his early eighties developing rubber latex.

Throughout his lifetime, Thomas Alva Edison patented a total of 1,093 inventions and became a well-known figure in the history of American technology. He is still remembered today, and many of his inventions are still used. Thomas Alva Edison lived an incredible life as a great American. He died in West Orange, New Jersey at the age of eighty-four on October 18, 1931, the fifty-second anniversary of the invention of the light bulb.

  For More Information

Thomas Edison Inventions - imagine a world without telephones or lightbulbs... http://www.expage.com/page/edison

Thomas Edison's Patents - Edison exectued amost 100 hundred patents over his lifetim... http://edison.rutgers.edu/patents.htm

Thomas Edison Inventions (2)- http://www.norfacad,pvt.k12.va.us/project/edison/inventions.htm