Thomas Edison

Thomas Edison was an American inventor and businessman who developed many devices that had a major influence on modern life. He is best known for the phonograph and for the practical electric light bulb, and he established the first industrial research laboratory.

Early Life

Edison was born in 1847 in Milan, Ohio, and he grew up in Port Huron, Michigan. He received little formal education, and he was largely self-taught.

He worked as a telegraph operator and studied the technology of the telegraph. He became interested in invention and filed his first patent in 1869.

He moved to New York and worked in the telegraph industry, and he soon established himself as an independent inventor. He married Mary Stilwell in 1871.

Menlo Park and the Invention Factory

Edison established a laboratory at Menlo Park, New Jersey, in 1876. The laboratory was organised for systematic invention, and it became a model for industrial research.

He developed the carbon transmitter, which improved the telephone, and he invented the phonograph in 1877. The phonograph was the first device to record and reproduce sound.

He then turned to the problem of electric lighting. He developed a practical incandescent lamp with a carbon filament, and he designed a complete system of generation and distribution.

The Electric Light and Power

Edison demonstrated his lighting system in 1879 and opened the first commercial power station in New York in 1882. The Pearl Street station supplied electricity to customers in lower Manhattan.

The system used direct current, and it was later challenged by the alternating current system of Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse. The battle of the currents ended in the adoption of alternating current for long-distance transmission.

Edison also developed the kinetograph and the kinetoscope, early devices for motion pictures. He established a film studio and produced many short films.

Later Career

Edison moved his laboratory to West Orange, New Jersey, in 1887. He worked on the storage battery, on cement, and on the mining and processing of iron ore.

He remarried after the death of his first wife and had three more children. He remained active as an inventor and as an industrialist until his death.

He died in 1931 at his home in West Orange. His laboratories and his inventions had transformed the technological landscape of the modern world.

Legacy

Edison held more than a thousand patents, a record that stood for many years. His greatest contribution was perhaps the organisation of invention as an industrial process.

He is remembered as the archetype of the American inventor and as a founder of the electrical industry. His name is associated with the phonograph, the light bulb, and the motion picture.

The Edison laboratory at Menlo Park has been preserved as a historic site. His work continues to be studied as an example of the interaction between technology and business.

The Laboratory System

Edison's laboratory at Menlo Park was the first institution organised for the purpose of invention. It combined a workshop, a library, and a staff of skilled assistants.

The system was copied throughout the world and became the basis of industrial research and development. Edison himself held more than a thousand patents in the United States.

He insisted on the importance of experiment and of persistence. His famous remark about genius as one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration expressed his method.

The Phonograph

The phonograph was Edison's favourite invention. It recorded sound on a cylinder covered with tinfoil and later with wax.

The device was exhibited in 1877 and caused a sensation. It was used for the dictation of letters, for the recording of music, and for the reproduction of speech.

Edison later developed the disc phonograph and the Diamond Disc records. The rivalry with the Victor Talking Machine Company shaped the early recording industry.

The Motion Picture

Edison developed the kinetograph, a camera for motion pictures, and the kinetoscope, a peep-show viewer. The first films were made in his studio, the Black Maria.

The films were short and were shown in arcades and in peep-show parlours. The projection of films to large audiences was developed by others, and Edison entered the business later.

He formed the Motion Picture Patents Company to control the industry, but the attempt failed. The centre of film production moved to Hollywood.

The Storage Battery and Other Work

Edison worked for many years on the nickel-iron storage battery. The battery was used in electric vehicles and in submarines, and it was one of his most profitable inventions.

He also worked on the extraction of iron ore, on the manufacture of cement, and on the production of synthetic rubber. Many of these ventures were unsuccessful.

He maintained a close relationship with his assistant and second wife, and he worked long hours until his health declined. He died at his home in West Orange in 1931.

Place in History

Edison is remembered as the most prolific inventor in American history. His work transformed the technologies of light, sound, and motion.

His organisation of invention as an industrial process was perhaps his most important contribution. It changed the way in which new technologies were developed.

He is also remembered for his competitiveness and for his willingness to litigate. His legacy includes the companies that grew out of his laboratories, including General Electric.

See also

• History of electric power
• Phonograph