The Electric Man - Thomas Alva Edison

Thomas Alva Edison

The Electric Man

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Thomas A. Edison was born on february 11, 1847 in Milan, Ohio. He was the seventh and last child born to Samuel edison jr. and Nancy Elliott Edison, and would be one of four to survive to adulthood. Thomas Edison received little formal education, and left school in 1859 to being working on the railroad between Detroit and port Huron, Michigan where his family then lived. 

By the time, He died on October 18, 1931, Thomas Edison had amassed a record 1,093 patents : 389 for electric light and power, 195 for the phonograph, 150 for the telegraph, 141 for storage batteries and 34 for the telephone.

Thomas invention of electric light

In 1878, Edison focused on inventing a safe, inexpensive electric light to replace the Gaslight- a challenge that scientists had been grappling with for the last 50 years. With the help of prominent financial backers like J.P Morgan and the Vanderbilt family. Edison set up the Edison Electric Light company and began research and development. 

He made a breakthrough in October 1879 with a bulb that used a platinum filament, and in the summer of 1880 hit on carbonized bamboo as a viable alternative for the filament, which proved to be the key to a long-lasting and affordable light bulb. In 1881, he set up an electric light company in Newark, and the following year moved his family to New York.

Thomas Edison's early incandescent lighting systems had their problems, they were used in such acclaimed events as the Paris Lighting Exhibition in 1881 and the crystal palace in London in 1882. Competitors soon emerged, notably George Washingtonhouse, a proponent of alternating or AC, current. By 1889, AC current would come to dominate the field, and the Edison General Electric Co. Merged with another company in 1892 to become General Electric Co.

Edison later years invention

He built a large estate and research laboratory in West Orange, New Jersey, with facilities including a machine shop, a library and buildings for metallurgy, chemistry and woodworking. Spurred on by others’ work on improving the phonograph, he began working toward producing a commercial model. He also had the idea of linking the phonograph to a zoetrope, a device that strung together a series of photographs in such a way that the images appeared to be moving. Working with William K.L. Dickson, Edison succeeded in constructing a working motion picture camera, the Kinetograph, and a viewing instrument, the Kinetoscope, which he patented in 1891.

After years of heated legal battles with his competitors in the fledgling motion-picture industry, Edison had stopped working with moving film by 1918. In the interim, he had had success developing an alkaline storage battery, which he originally worked on as a power source for the phonograph but later supplied for submarines and electric vehicles. In 1912, automaker Henry Ford asked Edison to design a battery for the self-starter, which would be introduced on the iconic Model T. The collaboration began a continuing relationship between the two great American entrepreneurs. More than any other individual, he was credited with building the framework for modern technology and society in the age of electricity.

Conclusion 

Thomas Alva Edison was a pivotal inventor whose creations, including the phonograph, incandescent light bulb, and motion picture camera, revolutionized modern life. Born in 1847, he founded General Electric and established the first industrial research lab. Edison's systematic approach to invention and focus on practical applications left a lasting impact on technology and industry, securing his legacy as a major figure in history.

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