Beatrice Lang
Thomas Edison was an American inventor and businessman who developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. Edison did not invent electricity, nor did he create the first electric lighting, but he did pioneer a way to implement electric lighting in homes and offices on a grand scale. He also patented over a thousand inventions, including the incandescent light bulb, the phonograph, the carbon transmitter, and the motion picture projector.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Invented with electricity | Electric light bulb, motion picture camera, microphone, telephone receiver, universal stock ticker, phonograph, kinetoscope, storage battery, electric pen, mimeograph, carbon transmitter, motion picture projector |
| First to invent | No, but he did invent the first industrial research laboratory |
| Number of patents | 1,093 |
| Electricity distribution | Edison Electric Light Co. |
| Electricity range | 1 mile (1.6 km) |
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What You'll Learn
The incandescent light bulb
Thomas Alva Edison, born in Ohio on 11 February 1847, is known for his work on early versions of the electric light bulb. He did not, however, invent electricity or create the first electric lighting. Instead, he found a way to put electric lighting in homes and offices on a grand scale.
Edison's work on the incandescent lamp began in 1878, when he started working on a system of electrical illumination to compete with gas and oil-based lighting. He wanted to create a long-lasting incandescent lamp that would be suitable for indoor use. To do this, he needed to use electricity to produce a glow that would burn for a long time. This required a filament (a thin strip of material that would glow without burning up) and a vacuum tube to house the filament.
Edison and his associates experimented with thousands of different theories and materials for the filament. They tried platinum, but it was unsuccessful and expensive. They then returned to carbon, carbonizing various substances, including celluloid, cedar, coconut hair, fishing line, and cotton soaked in boiling tar. On 22 October 1879, Edison and his assistants successfully tested a bulb with a carbonized cotton thread filament, which burned for about 13 and a half hours.
Edison's incandescent lamp consisted of a filament housed in a glass vacuum bulb. This design allowed him to create a high-resistance system that required less electrical power than the existing arc lamps, making it suitable for home use.
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The motion picture camera
Thomas Edison is credited with inventing the motion picture camera, which he named the "Kinetograph". The Kinetograph was a motion picture camera with rapid intermittent, or stop-and-go, film movement, used to photograph movies for in-house experiments and, eventually, commercial Kinetoscope presentations.
The Kinetograph was largely developed by Edison's employee, William Kennedy Laurie Dickson, between 1889 and 1892. Dickson was a photographer and had joined Menlo Park in 1883, where he worked on the motion picture camera. Charles A. Brown was Dickson's assistant, and together they developed a machine that exposed a strip of film in a horizontal-feed mechanism.
Edison filed a patent caveat in 1888, describing his ideas for a device which would "do for the eye what the phonograph does for the ear" – record and reproduce objects in motion. He called this invention a "Kinetoscope", using the Greek words "kineto", meaning "movement", and "scopos", meaning "to watch".
The Kinetoscope was first publicly exhibited on May 20, 1891, and was an early motion picture exhibition device, designed for films to be viewed by one person at a time through a peephole viewer window. It was not a movie projector, but it introduced the basic approach that would become the standard for all cinematic projection before the advent of video. The Kinetoscope created the illusion of movement by conveying a strip of perforated film bearing sequential images over a light source with a high-speed shutter.
In 1895, Edison introduced the Kinetophone, which joined the Kinetoscope with a cylinder phonograph.
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The microphone
Thomas Edison is known for his work in electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. In 1877, Edison used the carbon microphone concept to create an improved telephone for Western Union. He also developed a more straightforward "mechanical" microphone that would engrave foil or wax to record voice and music.
Edison's work on the microphone was concurrent with Emile Berliner's loose-contact carbon transmitter. Berliner filed a patent for a carbon microphone in 1877, and Alexander Graham Bell, who had invented the telephone a year earlier, bought the patent for $50,000, a substantial sum at the time. However, Edison had also filed a microphone patent, and a legal battle between Berliner and Edison ensued, lasting over a decade.
In 1892, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favour of Edison, stating that the carbon microphone was "beyond controversy, the invention of Edison". However, this decision was not without controversy, as some believed that Edison had stolen ideas from Berliner, who had demonstrated his microphone before any patents were filed.
Edison also faced competition from David Edward Hughes, who claimed to have invented the microphone in 1878 but did not patent his invention. Hughes believed that his work had been stolen by a friend of Edison's, and Edison publicly accused Hughes and his friend of piracy, plagiarism, and abuse of confidence. Despite this, Hughes is considered the inventor of the microphone in many circles.
In 1886, Edison improved upon a Bell Telephone microphone, discovering that it worked better if the loose-contact ground carbon was roasted. This type of microphone was put into use in 1890 and was used in all telephones along with the Bell receiver until the 1980s.
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The telephone receiver
Thomas Edison is known for his work in electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. He is often credited with inventing electricity, but this is not entirely true. While he did not invent electricity, Edison found a way to implement electric lighting in homes and offices on a large scale.
One of Edison's notable contributions to the field of electricity is the invention of the light bulb. In his quest for the right filament, Edison experimented with various materials, eventually succeeding with carbonized cotton thread. This led to the creation of a working electric light bulb that burned for about 13 and a half hours.
Edison also worked on improving the telephone. In 1877, he created an improved telephone for Western Union using the carbon microphone concept. He also enhanced a Bell Telephone microphone by discovering that roasting the loose-contact ground carbon improved its performance. This type of microphone was used in all telephones along with the Bell receiver until the 1980s.
Edison's work with the telephone receiver contributed to his broader impact on the modern industrialized world. His inventions, including improvements to the telephone and the development of the light bulb, revolutionized everyday life and paved the way for further advancements in technology.
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The phonograph
Thomas Edison is credited with inventing the first phonograph in 1877, although the only other recorded evidence of such an invention was in a paper by French scientist Charles Cros, written on April 18, 1877. Cros did not produce a working model of his invention, however, and Edison was the first to patent the phonograph on February 19, 1878.
The Edison Speaking Phonograph Company was established on January 24, 1878, to exhibit and exploit the new machine. Edison received $10,000 for the manufacturing and sales rights and 20% of the profits. The phonograph was an instant success as a novelty, although it was difficult to operate. Edison himself offered several possible future uses for the phonograph in the North American Review in June 1878, including letter writing and dictation without a stenographer, phonographic books for blind people, the teaching of elocution, and the reproduction of music.
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Frequently asked questions
Thomas Edison did not invent electricity, but he did invent the first incandescent electric lamp, which was powered by electricity. He also improved upon the telephone, creating the first microphone, and made advancements in the field of mass communication with inventions such as the phonograph, kinetoscope, and storage battery.
In 1878, Edison joined a scientific expedition to Wyoming to watch a total solar eclipse. During this trip, he became inspired by conversations with fellow scientists and decided to invent a safe and inexpensive electric light that could replace the dirty and dangerous gas and kerosene lamps commonly used in homes and offices.
Edison's lightbulb used electricity to heat a thin strip of carbonized cotton thread (the filament) inside a glass vacuum bulb until it glowed. This design delayed the filament from melting, but Edison continued to experiment with other materials for the filament, including tungsten.
