1
THOMAS ALVA EDISON
The Story of
a Great American
I OURNEYING from Holland, the Edison family J originally landed in Elizabethport, New Jersey, about 1730. In Colonial times, they farmed a large tract of land not far from West Orange. New Jersey, where Thomas A. Edison made his home some 160 years later. Their fortunes fluctuated with their politics. Like many well-to-do landowners of that time, John Edison, a greatgrandfather of the inventor, remained a Loyalist during the revolution , suffered imprisonment and was under sentence of execution from which he was saved only through the efforts of his own and his wife's prominent Whig relatives, His lands were confiscated, however, and the family migrated to Nova Scotia, where they remained until 1811, when they moved to Vienna, Ontario. Edison's grandfather, Captain Samuel Edison, served with the British in the War of 1812. In Ontario, Edison's father, another Samuel, met and married Nancy Elliott, schoolteacher and daughter of a minister whose family had
GODFATHER OF INDUSTRY ,
'BUT the man whose clothes were always wrinkl whose hair was always tousled and who quently lacked a shave probably did more than any other one man to influence the industrial civilization in which we live. To him we owe the phonograph and motion picture which spice hours of leisure; the universal electric motor and the nickel-iron-alkaline storage battery with their numberless commercial uses; the magnetic ore separator, the fiuorescent lamp, the basic principles of modern electronics. Medicine thanks him for the fluoroscope, which he left to the public domain without patent. Chemical research follows the field he opened in his work on coaltar derivatives, synthetic carbolic acid, and a source of natural rubber that can be grown in the United States. His greatest contribution, perhaps, was the incandescent lamp-the germ from which sprouted the great power utility systems of our day . . . Although his formal education stopped at the age of 12, his whole life was consumed by a passion for self-education, and he was a moving force behind the establishment of a great scientific journal. The number of his patents-I 100-far exceeds that of any other inventor. And the 2500 notebooks in which he recorded the pProgress of thousands of experiments are still being gleaned of unused material. Once, asked in what his interests layt Edison smilingly responded, 'Everything.' If we ask ourselves where the fruits of his life are seen, we might well answer, 'Everywhere.' "
From Natton's Heritage
Chronology
1847 February 11 -born at Milan, Ohio, son of Samuel and Nancy Elliott Edison. 1854 Edison family moved tDn. 1859 A newsboy and t'candy butcher" on the train of the Grand Trunk Railway, runn ing between Port Huron and Detroit. 1862 Printed and published Herald," on the train-the first newspaper ever printed on a moving train. 1862 August-saved from death the young son of J. U. MacKenzie, Station Agent at Mt. Clemens, M ichi. gan. In gratitude, the father taught Edison teleg-raphy. 1863 Began a five-yearperio a telegraph operator in various cities of the Central Western States, always studyi ng and experimenting to improve apparatus. 1868 Made his first patente Vote Recorder. Application for patent signed October 11 , 1868. 1869 Landed in NewYork Ci afterwards, looking for WOrk, Was in operating room of the Gold Indicator Company when its apparatus broke down. No one but Edison could fix it and･ he was given a job as superintendent. 1869 October-established Job as superintendent. L. Pope as electrical engineers.
187O Received his first money for an invention -$4O,OOO pa id him by the Gold and Stock Telegraph Company for his stock ticker, Opened a manufac･ turing shop in Newark where he made stock tickers and telegraph instruments. 1371 Assisted Christopher L.nstruments. typewriter, in making first successful WOrking model. 1872 Began a four･year period during which he con･ ducted manufacturing of telegraph instruments for Western Union Telegraph Company and Automatic Telegraph Company. He had several shops during this time in Newark, New Jersey. He worked on and completed many inventions, including the motograph, automatic telegraph system, duplex, quadruplex, sextuplex and multiplex telegraph systems; also paraffin paper and the carbon rheostat. 1875 November 22-discovered a previously unknown and unique electrical phenomenon which he called "etheric force." Twelve years later, this phenomenon was recognized as being due to electric waves in free space. This discovery is the foundation of wireless telegraphy. 1876 March 7-applied for patent on his invention of the "electric pen." Patent Was granted August 8, same year. Licenses covering the pen were later obtained by the A. B. Dick Company of Chicago, for the manufacture of the mimeograph. 1816 April-moved from N structed laboratory at Menlo Park, New Jersey. This was the first laboratory for organized industrial re s e a rc h .
1877 April 27-applied for patent on the carbon tele-phone transmitter which made telephony commer･ cially practicable. This invention included the microphone which is used in radio broadcasting. 1877 August 12-invented the phonograph. Patent was issued by the United States Patent Office within two months after application without a single
referen ce .
1878 September 8-accompanied by Professor George
F. Barker and Professor A. B. Chandler, he visited
William Wallace in Ansonia, Connecticut, where he became actively interested in the problem of electric lighting. 1878 October 24-incorporation of the Edison Electric Light Company. 1879 Invented the first practical incandescent electric lamp. The invention was perfected October 21 , 1879 when the first lamp embodying the principles of the modern incandescent lamp had maintained its incandescence for more than forty hours. 1879 Invented radical improvements in construction of dynamos, making them suitable for generators for his system of distribution of current for light, heat and power. Invented systems of distribution, regulation and measurement of electric current, including sockets, switches, fuses, etc. 1879 December31-gave a public demonstration of his electric lighting system in streets and bui Idi ngs at Menlo Park, New Jersey. 188O April 3-invented the magnetic ore separator.
188O May 13-started operation of the first passenger electric railways in this country at Menlo Park, New Jersey. 188O Ushered in seven strenuous years of invention and endeavor in extending and improving the electric light, heat and power systems. During these years he took out upwards of 3OO patents. Of 1,O97 patents issued to Thomas A. Edison, 356 deal with electric lighting and power distribution. 1881 March 2-Edison arranged to open the Edison Machine Works at 1O4 Goerck Street, New York City. 1882 January 12-opened the first commercial incan-descent lighting and power station at Holborn Viaduct, London, England. 1882 May 1-moved the first commercial incandescent lamp factory from Menlo Park to Harrison, New Jersey. Organized and established shops for the manufacture of dynamos, underground conductors, sockets, switches, fixtures, meters, etc. 1882 September 4-commenced the operation of the first commercial central station for incandescent lighting in this country at 257 Pearl Street, New York City. 1883 Discovered a previously unknown phenomenon. He found that an independent wire or plate, placed between the legs of the filament of an incandes･ cent lamp, acted as a valve to control the flow of current. This became known as the "Edson Effect." This discovery covers the fundamental principle on which rests the modern science of electron ics.
1885 March 27-patent executed on a system for communicating by means of wireless induction telegraphy between moving trains and railway stations. 1885 May 14-patent executed on a ship･to･shore wireless telegraphy system, bY induction. 1886 December-moved plant of Edison Machine Works from I O4 Goerck Street, New York City, to Schenectady, New York. 1887 November 24-moved his laboratory to West Orange. During the first four years of his occupancy of his West Orange laboratory, he took out over eighty patents on improvements on the cylinder phonograph. 1889 October 6-first projection of an experimental motion picture. 1894 April 14-first commercial showing of motion pictures took place with the opening of a "peep-hole" Kinetoscope parlor at 1155 Broadway, New York. 1896 Experimented with the X.ray discovered by Roentgen in 1895. Developed the fluoroscope which invention Mr. Edison did not patent, choosing to leave it to public domain because of its universal need in medicine and surgery. 1896 May 16-applied for a patent on the first fluorescent electric lamp. This invention sprang directly from his work on the fluoroscope. 19OO This year marked the beginning of a ten･year period of work Which resulted in the invention of
the Edison nickel-iron-alkaline storage battery and its commercial introduction. 19O1 commenced constructction on plant at New Village, New Jersey, and started quarry~ing operations at nearby Oxford. 19O2 worked on improving the Edison copper oxide primary battery. 19O7 Developedthe universal electri dictating machines on either alternating or direct current. 191O This year initiated a four-year period of work on improving the disc phonograph. 1913 Introduced the Kinetophone for talking motion pictures, after spending much time on its development. 1914 October 13 patent execute lanterns which are used by miners for working lights. These miners' lamps have contributed in an important degree to the reduction of mine fatalities. 1914 Developed a process reductionofminefatalities. synthetic carbolic acid. Designed a plant, and within a month was producing a ton a day to help overcome the acute shortage due to the World Wa r. 1914 December 9-Edison's great plant at West Orange, New Jersey. was destroyed by fire. Immediate plans for rebuilding were laid and new buildings began to arise almost before the ruins of the old were cold. 1914 Invented the Telescribe, combining the telephone and the dictating phonograph.