When was edison born

During this period, among Edison's successful creations were a carbon transmitter, which greatly improved the telephone, and quadruplex telegraphy.

It was at Menlo Park where Edison made his most famous inventions. In , the inventor demonstrated his phonograph for the first time. Two years later, he unveiled the incandescent light bulb. This second discovery led Edison to create elaborate generation plants for electricity, helping make electricity available in many people's homes. In , Edison moved his laboratory to West Orange, New Jersey, where he invented the kinetoscope, the precursor to the film projector, in He remained active in science and continued to invent products for the remainder of his life.

By the time of his death on October 18, , Edison had received more than one thousand patents. Edison's inventions forever changed people's lives. Electric lights allowed people to remain active at night, making possible activities such as reading, sewing or listening to Edison's phonograph.

Previously, with only candles or fireplaces to light homes, most people simply went to sleep once nightfall arrived. He never did. Thomas Edison listening to a phonograph through a primitive headphone.

In December , Edison developed a method for recording sound: the phonograph. His innovation relied upon tin-coated cylinders with two needles: one for recording sound, and another for playback. His first words spoken into the phonograph's mouthpiece were, "Mary had a little lamb. Army to bring music to the troops overseas during World War I. While Edison was not the inventor of the first light bulb, he came up with the technology that helped bring it to the masses. After buying Woodward and Evans' patent and making improvements in his design, Edison was granted a patent for his own improved light bulb in He began to manufacture and market it for widespread use.

In January , Edison set out to develop a company that would deliver the electricity to power and light the cities of the world. That same year, Edison founded the Edison Illuminating Company—the first investor-owned electric utility—which later became General Electric. In , he left Menlo Park to establish facilities in several cities where electrical systems were being installed. In , the Pearl Street generating station provided volts of electrical power to 59 customers in lower Manhattan.

In , Edison built an industrial research laboratory in West Orange, New Jersey, which served as the primary research laboratory for the Edison lighting companies. He spent most of his time there, supervising the development of lighting technology and power systems.

He also perfected the phonograph, and developed the motion picture camera and the alkaline storage battery. Over the next few decades, Edison found his role as inventor transitioning to one as industrialist and business manager. The laboratory in West Orange was too large and complex for any one man to completely manage, and Edison found he was not as successful in his new role as he was in his former one.

Edison also found that much of the future development and perfection of his inventions was being conducted by university-trained mathematicians and scientists. He worked best in intimate, unstructured environments with a handful of assistants and was outspoken about his disdain for academia and corporate operations.

During the s, Edison built a magnetic iron-ore processing plant in northern New Jersey that proved to be a commercial failure. Later, he was able to salvage the process into a better method for producing cement. Photo: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons. His interest in motion pictures began years earlier, when he and an associate named W.

Dickson developed a Kinetoscope, a peephole viewing device. Among the first of these was The Great Train Robbery , released in As the automobile industry began to grow, Edison worked on developing a suitable storage battery that could power an electric car.

Though the gasoline-powered engine eventually prevailed, Edison designed a battery for the self-starter on the Model T for friend and admirer Henry Ford in The system was used extensively in the auto industry for decades. During World War I, the U. Edison worked on several projects, including submarine detectors and gun-location techniques.

However, due to his moral indignation toward violence, he specified that he would work only on defensive weapons, later noting, "I am proud of the fact that I never invented weapons to kill. By the end of the s, Edison was in his 80s. He and his second wife, Mina, spent part of their time at their winter retreat in Fort Myers, Florida, where his friendship with automobile tycoon Henry Ford flourished and he continued to work on several projects, ranging from electric trains to finding a domestic source for natural rubber.

During his lifetime, Edison received 1, U. He executed his first patent for his Electrographic Vote-Recorder on October 13, , at the age of His last patent was for an apparatus for holding objects during the electroplating process. Edison became embroiled in a longstanding rivalry with Nikola Tesla , an engineering visionary with academic training who worked with Edison's company for a time. Thomas Alva Edison — Nature , — Download citation.

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