Edison Invention (About Thomas Edison)
(as per www.thomasedison.com)
1847 Born on February 11th at Milan, Ohio.
1854 Moved to Port Huron, Mich.
1857 Set up a chemical laboratory in the cellar of his home.
1859 Became a newsboy and "candy butcher" on the trains of
the Grand Trunk Railway, running between Port Huron and
Detroit.
1862 Printed and published "The Weekly Herald," the first
newspaper ever to be typeset and printed on a moving train.
The London Times features a story on him and his paper,
giving him his first exposure to international notoriety.
1862 Saved - from otherwise certain death in a train
accident - the young son of J. U. Mackenzie, station agent
at Mount Clemens, Mich. In gratitude, the child's father
taught him telegraphy.
1862 Strung a telegraph line from the Port Huron railway
station to Port Huron village and worked in the local
telegraph office.
1863 Obtained his first position as a regular telegraph
operator on the Grand Trunk Railway at Stratford Junction,
Canada. Later, is resigned by them to help develop a duplex
system of telegraphy
1863-1868 Spent nearly five years as a telegraph "tramp
operator" in various cities of the Central Western states,
always experimenting with ways to improve the apparatus.
1868 Entered the office of Western Union in Boston as a
telegraph operator. Becomes friendly with other early
electricians - especially a later associate of Alexander
Graham Bell named Benjamin Franklin Bredding - who was much
more knowledgeable than both himself and Bell on the
state-of-the-art of telegraphy and electricity. Entered the
private telegraph line business on a very modest scale.
Resigned from Western Union - was about to be fired anyway -
in order to conduct further experimentation on multiplexing
telegraph signals.
1868 Came up with his first patented invention, an
Electrical Vote Recorder. Application for this patent was
signed 0n October 11, 1968. Because the invention was way
ahead of its time, it was heartily denigrated by
politicians... He now becomes much more oriented towards
making certain there is a strong public demand and
associated market for anything he tries to invent.
1869 Landed in New York City by way of a Boston steamship,
poor, penniless, and in debt. While seeking work, chanced
being in the operating room of the Gold & Stock Telegraph
Company when their ticker apparatus broke down. No one but
he was able to fix it, As a result, he was given a job as
superintendent at the remarkable wage of $300 per month.
1869 Went into partnership with Franklin L. Pope as an
electrical engineer. Radically improved stock tickers and
patented several associated inventions, among which were the
Universal Stock Ticker and the Unison Device.
1870 Received the first cash payment for one of his
inventions, a $40,000 check. Sent money back to his
financially desperate parents. Opened a manufacturing shop
in Newark, where he made stock tickers and worked on
developing the quadruplex telegraph.
1871 Assisted Sholes, the inventor of the typewriter, in
making the first successful working model of that device.
1872-1876 Worked on and patented several of his most
important inventions, including the motograph and automatic
telegraph systems such as the quadruplex, sextuplex and
multiplex telegraph which saved Western Union many millions
of dollars in wiring. Also invented paraffin paper (which
was first used for wrapping candies), the electric pen, the
forerunner of the present day mimeograph machine, the carbon
rheostat, the microtasimeter, etc.
1876-1877 Invented the carbon telephone transmitter
"button", which finally made telephony a commercial success.
Significantly, this invention not only led to the
development of the microphone, which made early radio
possible, but the solid state "diode" or transistor which
makes so many of today's electronic devices possible.
Invented the phonograph. (The patent on which was later
issued by the United States Patent Office - within two
months after its application - without a single reference.)
1878 Continued to improve the phonograph. Later in the year,
went with an astronomical party to Rawlins, Wyoming for rest
and to test his new microtasimeter during an eclipse of the
sun. Associates key him in to the world-wide need for a
workable incandescent light bulb. Upon returning, he began
to investigate the "electric light problem in earnest."
1878 Became the first to apply the term "filament" to a fine
wire that glows when carrying an electric current. In a
prophetic article in the North American Review he
foreshadowed ten prominent uses for the phonograph - all
since accomplished - including its combination with the
telephone, which became a reality in 1914 with the
perfection of the Telescribe.
1879 Invented the first commercially practical incandescent
electric lamp. The lamp itself was perfected on October
21st, 1879, on which day there was put into circuit the
first bulb embodying the principles known as the "Edison
modern incandescent lamp." This bulb maintained its
incandescence for over 40 hours.
1879 Made radical improvements on the construction of
dynamos, including the mica laminated armature and mica
insulated commutator. Also constructed the first practical
generators for the systems of distribution of current for
lighting. Invented and improved upon numerous systems of
generation, distribution, regulation and, measurement of
electric current and voltage. Invented sockets, switches,
insulating tape, etc. (Meanwhile, he also invented gummed
paper tape now commonly used in place of twine or string for
securing packages.)
1879 Constructed the first electric motor ever made for a
110 to 120 volt line at Menlo Park, N. J. This device is
still in existence and operative, and is located in the
Edison Historical Collection in New Jersey. On December 31,
gave the first public demonstration of an electric lighting
system in streets and buildings at Menlo Park, N. J.,
utilizing underground mains.
1880 Invented further improvements in systems and details
for electric lighting and laid the first groundwork for
introducing them on a commercial basis. Established the
first incandescent lamp factory at Menlo Park, N. J.
1880 Invented a magnetic ore separator. Invented and
installed the first life-sized electric railway for handling
freight and passengers at Menlo Park, N. J.
1881 Opened business offices at No. 65 Fifth Avenue, New
York City. Established his second and improved commercial
incandescent lamp factory at Harrison, N. J. Also organized
and established shops at 104 Goerck St., 108 Wooster St.,
and 65 Washington St. in New York City, for the manufacture
of dynamos, underground conductors, sockets, switches,
fixtures, meters, etc.
1882 On September 4th, he commenced operation of the first
profit oriented central station in the United States in New
York City, for the distribution of current for electric
lighting.
1882-1883 Designed and contracted for the first three-wire
central station for distributing electric light, power, and
heat - in standardized form - in Brockton, Massachusetts. By
October, had completed construction of that station.
Discovered a previously unknown phenomenon that later came
to be known as the "Edison effect," but he called "Etheric
Force." Specifically, determined that an independent wire,
grid, or plate placed between the legs of the filament of an
incandescent lamp acted as a "damper" or valve to control
the flow of current. The associated Patent No. 307,031 was
issued to him later that year. Twelve years later these
previously unknown phenomena were recognized as electric
waves in free space and became the foundation of wireless
telegraphy. Most significantly, this discovery - along with
his carbon button - involved the foundation principles upon
which the diode was later invented, and upon which radio,
television, and computer transistors are based. Moved from
Newark to a new laboratory at Menlo Park...
1883 Constructed the first, relatively crude, three-wire
central system for electric lighting in a simple wooden
structure in Sunbury, Pa.
1880-1887 Underwent his most strenuous years of invention as
he extended and improved greatly upon his electric light,
heat, and power systems. Took out over three hundred
patents, many of which were of extraordinary and fundamental
importance. The most were those relating to "dividing"
electric power and standardizing the three-wire system and
improving its associated generation and feeder system.
1881 - 1887 Invented a system of wireless telegraphy, (by
induction) to and from trains in motion, or between moving
trains and railway stations. The system was installed on the
Lehigh Valleys R. R. in 1887, and was used there for several
years. Invented a wireless system of communication between
ships at sea, ships and shore and ships and distant points
on land. Patent No. 465,971 was issued on this invention,
the application having been filed May 23, 1885 - two years
prior to the publication of the work of Hertz. Most
significantly, this patent was eventually purchased from
Edison by the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company.
1887 Moved his center of experimentation to the laboratory
at West Orange, New Jersey.
1887-1890 Made major improvements on the brown wax and black
wax cylinder phonograph. Obtained over eighty related
patents, while establishing a very extensive commercial
business in the manufacture and sale of phonographs and
records, including associated dictating machines, "shaveable"
records, and shaving machines.
1891 Made a number of inventions associated with improving
electric railways.
1891 Invented and patented the motion picture camera. This
mechanism, with its continuous tape-like film, made it
possible to take, reproduce, and project motion pictures as
we see and hear them today.
1891-1900 Developed his great iron ore enterprise, in which
he did some of his most brilliant engineering work. One of
his most important inventions of this period was a giant
roller machine for breaking large masses of rock and finely
crushing them. Invented the Fluoroscope...realizing the
necessity and value of a practical fluorescent screen for
making examinations with X-rays, he made thousands of
crystallizations of single and double chemical salts and
finally discovered that crystals of Calcium Tungstate made
in a particular way were highly fluorescent to the X-ray.
Also made many several improvements on the X-ray tube.
1900 - 1910 Invented and perfected the steel alkaline
storage battery and made it a commercial success.
1900 -1909 Established his once famous Portland Cement Co.
and made many important inventions relating to the processes
involved in the production of pre-cast buildings. In 1907,
he introduced the first concrete mold for making one-piece
houses called "single piece cast concrete homes." The unique
type of kiln he developed for making these houses proved to
be of great importance in the cement industry.
1902-1903 Worked on improving the Edison Primary Battery.
Continued to invent improvements to his phonograph - his
favorite invention - and associated cylinders.
1905 Introduced a revolutionary new type of dictating
machine, which enabled the dictator to hear repetitions and
make paper scale corrections.
1907 Introduced the Universal Electric Motor which made it
possible to operate dictating machines etc. on all lighting
circuits.
1910-1914 Worked on - and much improved - the disc
phonograph, resulting in the production of records and
playing instruments which reproduce vocal and instrumental
music with overtones that had relatively "extraordinary
fidelity and sweetness." Introduced the diamond point
reproducer and the "indestructible" record, thereby
commencing a new era in phonographs.
1912 Having spent many previous years in its general
development and perfection, finally introduced the
Kinetophone or talking motion picture.
1913 Introduced an important automatic correction device for
the dictating machine.
1914 Being the largest individual user in the United States
of carbolic acid (for making phonograph records), he found
himself at the onset of World War One in danger of being
compelled to close his factory by reason of a related
embargo placed on exporting said substance by England and
Germany. The basic issue was that carbolic acid was in great
demand for the purpose of making explosives. He now devised
an alternative method for making carbolic acid
synthetically, and finally put crews of men to work twenty
four hours a day to build a related plant. By the eighteenth
day, was producing carbolic acid, and within four weeks was
turning out a ton of it per day.
1914 On the night of December 9th his great plant at West
Orange, N. J. was the scene of a spectacular fire. As soon
as he saw the scope of this conflagration he
enthusiastically sent word to several friends and members of
his family, advising them to "Get down here quick.... you
may never have another chance to see anything like this
again!" Within hours after the fire had been extinguished,
he had given orders for the complete rehabilitation of the
plant. Early the next morning he arrived with a gang of men
and began to supervise the task of clearing the debris.
Hundreds more workers were added throughout the day, and the
project continued around the clock for several months until
an even larger and more efficient facility than the original
had been completed.
1914 Invented the Telescribe, combining the telephone and
the dictating phonograph, thus permitting - for the first
time - the recording of both sides of a telephone
conversation.
1915 Because military conflicts in Europe had created an
enormous demand for phenols, and supplies were uncertain, he
invented the first synthetic form of carbolic acid (C6H6O).
Next, after evaluating all of the literature available on
the erection and operation of benzol (C6H6) absorbing
plants, he drew up plans for
benzine-making facility that could be readily installed.
Although it had previously taken nine months to a year to
install such a facility, his first such structure was put
into operation in just forty five days. A larger plant
designed for the Woodward Iron Company at Woodward, Ala.,
was completed in only 60 days. At about this time, he also
built two other large benzol plants in Canada, each of were
was put into operation in less than sixty days. All these
plants became highly successful commercial operations,
producing benzol, toluol, solvent naphtha, xylol, and
naphthalene.
1915 In the early months of this year, he conceived the idea
of helping out the struggling textile and rubber industries
of America by making myrbane, aniline oil, and aniline salt,
which, are still important commercial substances, and which
had been previously imported from Germany. Following his
usual procedure, he first exhausted the literature on the
subject, and then laid out the plant. By bringing great
pressure to bear on his workers - and by working day and
night himself - he constructed the plant in just forty five
working days, commenced deliveries in June, and was soon
turning out over 4,000 pounds of these products per day.
1915 During World War One, the dyeing industry was suffering
from a great scarcity of paraphenylenediamine, formerly
imported from Germany. Since he was using the chemical in
the manufacture of records for his Diamond Disc Phonograph
and was no longer able to procure it, he experimented until
he found a way to synthesize it. Much pressure was now
brought to bear upon him to supply some of it to fur dyers
and others. He equipped a separate plant for this purpose
and ultimately manufactured over a ton a day.
1915 The great scarcity of carbolic acid in America now
brought innumerable requests to him to sell some of this
product. His first such plant worked well, producing about
7,000 pounds a day. This, however, soon proved to be
insufficient to supply the demand. He now projected and
installed another plant with a capacity of about 7,000
pounds additional per day. As he devised improved processes
for use in the latter plant there were a vast number of
difficult problems to overcome. However, with his usual
energy and dogged perseverance - involving many weeks of
strenuous work - he finally prevailed.
1916 Worked several months making important improvements in
the manufacture of disc phonograph records and new methods
and devices for recording. Worked on improved methods and
processes producing his chemical products. Worked out
processes for making a paramidaphenol base, hydrochloride
benzidine base, and sulphate and constructed new plants for
their manufacture. As President of the Naval Consulting
Board, he did a great deal of work connected with national
defense.
1917-1918 Worked on special experiments relating to defense
for the United States Government. See below.
I Locating positions of guns by sound ranging.
2 Detecting submarines by sound from moving vessels.
3 Detecting, on moving vessels, the discharge of torpedoes
by submarines.
4 The faster turning of ships.
5 Strategic plans for saving cargo boats from harm by enemy
submarines.
6 Development of collision mats for submarines and ships.
7 Methods for guiding merchant ships out of mined harbors.
8 Oleum cloud shells.
9 Camouflaging ships.
10 Blocking torpedoes with nets.
11 Increased power for torpedoes.
12 Coastal patrol by submarine buoys.
13 Destroying periscopes with machine guns.
14 Cartridges for taking soundings.
15 Sailing lights for convoys.
16 Smudging skyline.
1 17 Underwater searchlights.
18 High speed signaling with searchlights.
19 Water penetrating projectiles.
20 Airplane detection.
21 Observing periscopes in silhouette.
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