Thomas Edison had a record 1093 US patents: what do you know about him?

It will be impossible to examine the developments in Engineering over centuries completely without mentioning the immeasurable impact of arguably the greatest American inventor and the fourth most prolific inventor in history: Thomas Alva Edison.

Despite Thomas Edison having little schooling when he was young, this did not prevent his education about the principles of science. He rose above all challenges to write his name in the book of history. Curiosity was perhaps his greatest asset as he had a history of always asking about virtually anything when he was young.

Thomas Alva Edison, the wizard of Menlo Park, was born on February 11, 1847 in Milan, Ohio in the United States of America. He was the seventh and last child of Samuel and Nancy Edison.

He had very little school education as a child (about 3 months). He was withdrawn from school by his furious mother after one of his teachers called him addled. His mother taught him reading, writing, and arithmetic but what enhanced Thomas Edison’s learning most was his high level of curiosity.

Edison recalled the event later: “My mother was the making of me. She was so true, so sure of me; and I felt I had something to live for, someone I must not disappoint.”

He had hearing impairment at an early age which was attributed to bouts of scarlet fever and being hit by a train conductor at the side of his head. Although there was later a device that could allow him to improve his hearing, he chose not to use it because he does not want his thinking to be affected by the noisy world.

Thomas started business (his own newspaper Grand Trunk Herald and other newspapers he sold) as early as 12. Due to his interest in reading books and science books recommended by his father, Edison started asking questions that his father could no more handle. He had to get a tutor who explained science principles to him. Edison said of his curiosity later: “I accept nothing dealing with electricity without thoroughly testing it first.”

At age 19, Edison moved to Louisville, Kentucky where he became an employee Western Union. He chose the night shift so that he could do other things of his interest like reading and experimenting. Experimenting later got the troublesome employee fired after a lead-acid battery he was working with spilled sulfuric acid (H₂SO₄) which ran from the floor to his boss’ desk below. Obviously, you know what happened next.

He later moved from Boston to the “more commercially oriented city of New York.” He got a $300 per month job from a local brokerage firm after he repaired an important stock-ticker in the manager’s office. Apparently, that was his interview as he was employed right after he repaired the machine which a crowd has gathered around without a clue until Edison got there. At the time, the salary was twice the going rate for top electricians in New York.

His first invention was an automatic repeater which transmits telegraph signals between unmanned stations, allowing virtually anyone to easily and accurately translate code at their own speed and convenience. He didn’t apply for a patent of this invention though.

His first patented invention was the electric vote recording machine which was granted on June 1, 1869 (US patent 90,646). However, when he tried to market it to Massachusetts legislature, they rejected it claiming “its speed in tallying votes would disrupt the delicate political status-quo.” They claimed the speed of the machine will eliminate the brief delays that allows minority to try to influence majority.

He was disappointed after this episode. With the desperate need to make ends meet, he vowed he would never waste time inventing things that people would not want to buy.

In 1877, Thomas Edison had his first great invention which was the phonograph. While Al was working to improve the telegraph, he discovered that the tape of the machine gave off a noise resembling spoken words when played at a high speed. This set off a series of experiments which led to the invention of the phonograph. He tried a stylus on a tin foil cylinder, which played back the short message he recorded, “Mary had a little lamb.” This unexpected invention gave him the nickname the “wizard of Menlo Park”.

The first industrial laboratory was built by Edison in Menlo Park, New Jersey. He built it with funds from the sale of his quadruplex telegraph. He sold it for $40,000 after Western Union made a bid for it.

According to reports, most of Edison’s patents were utility patents with about a dozen design patents. In about a decade, Edison’s Menlo Park laboratory has expanded to occupy two city blocks. Edison said he wanted the lab to have “a stock of almost every conceivable material”.

A newspaper later revealed in 1877 that the lab contained “eight thousand kind of chemicals, every kind of screw made, every size of needle, every kind of cord or wire, hair of humans, horses, hogs, cows, rabbits, goats, minx, camels … silk in every texture, cocoons, various kinds of hoofs, shark’s teeth, deer horns, tortoise shell … cork, resin, varnish and oil, ostrich feathers, a peacock’s tail, jet, amber, rubber, all ores …” and so on. I wonder how he got all those materials and at what price.

History also had it that Edison displayed a placard with Sir Joshua Reynolds’ famous quotation on his desk: “There is no expedient to which a man will not resort to avoid the real labour of thinking.”

In 1877, Edison invented the carbon microphone which was used in telephones along with the Bell receiver until the 1980s. In 1888, he developed the motion picture camera, the kinetograph and kinetoscope , a small box for viewing moving films.

It must be noted that there have been forms of electrical lightings before Thomas Edison’s incandescent light bulb but Edison’s light bulb was the first practical bulb for home use. The main problems of the previous electric lightings were short life, high cost, etc. The first Edison’s incandescent lamp with a carbon filament and connected to platinum contact wires burned for 13.5 hours.

The first successful test of the bulb was on October 22, 1879. By November 4, 1879, Edison filed for US patent 223,898 which was granted on January 27, 1880. Months after the patent was granted, Edison and his team discovered a carbonized bamboo filament that could last over 1,200 hours (50 days).

In 1878, Edison formed the Edison Electric Light Company in New York City. He made the first demonstration of his incandescent light bulb on December 31, 1879, in Menlo Park and declared: “We will make electricity so cheap that only the rich will burn candles.”

Edison’s bulb patent was not without its challenges though as on October 8, 1883, the US patent office ruled that Edison’s patent was based on the work of William Sawyer and was therefore in valid. Litigation continued for almost 6 years, until October 6, 1889, when a judge ruled that Edison’s Electric-light improvement claim for “a filament of carbon of high resistance” was valid.

Edison founded the Edison Illuminating Company on December 17, 1880. This led to the establishment of the first investor-owned electric utility in 1882 on Pearl Street Station, New York City. He switched on the Pearl Street generating station’s electrical power distribution system on the 4th of September, 1882. It provided 110 volts direct current (DC) to 59 customers in lower Manhattan.

Earlier in January that year, he switched on the first steam-generating power station at Holborn Viaduct in London that was used to power street lights and private dwellings close to the station.

Alternating current (AC) however came to replace Edison’s direct current (DC) over time due to its advantage of transmission over long distances at low loss and with thinner wires. Edison didn’t succumb without fight as he tried to prove AC was dangerous for use. This initiated what was popularly called the ‘war of currents’. It led to him producing the electric chair which was using AC.

Despite AC replacing DC for transmission purposes, there were still 1,600 DC customers in downtown New York City as of 2005, and service was finally discontinued on November 14, 2007.

Thomas Edison’s favourite movie was The Birth of a Nation. In 1923, The American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE later IEEE) created the Edison Medal and he was its first recipient. He became the first honorary fellow of the Acoustical Society of America which was founded in 1929. Life magazine (USA) in a special double issue in 1997, placed Edison first in the list of the “100 Most Important People in the Last 1000 Years”, noting that the light bulb he promoted “lit up the world”.

At 9pm on the 18th of October, 1931, Thomas Edison died of complications of diabetes in his home, in Llewellyn Park in West Orange, New Jersey. He was buried behind the home. Edison’s last breath is reportedly contained in a test tube at the Henry Ford Museum as a memento.

Thomas Alva Edison remains an inspiration due to his impeccable achievements; indeed, Thomas Alva Edison was the wizard of Menlo Park.

Posted in people, Specials