Thomas Alva Edison (Thomas Alva Edison) is a world-famous American electrologist and inventor, who, in addition to his inventions and contributions to the phonograph, electric light, telephone, telegraph, and motion picture, also made a number of notable creations and insightful contributions in the fields of mining and construction. Edison's life*** has about two thousand creations and inventions, which have made great contributions to the civilization and progress of mankind.
Invention Achievements
Edison
Edison (20)
Edison (1847.2.11~1931.10.18) American, he was from a poor family, and he dropped out of elementary school after only three months of study. But he was diligent in self-study, good at thinking, as fascinated by scientific experiments, he made 1093 invention patents in his life, which are famous for phonograph, electric light, movie camera, alkaline battery and so on.
Edison
Edison (3 photos)
Merged Atlas
Merged Atlas (2 photos)
Menlo Parker's Laboratory
Menlo Parker's Laboratory (4 photos)
On Oct. 21, 1879, he succeeded in making the world's first electric bulb by using carbon-cored, coiled cotton thread as a filament. It took him nearly three days to put the filament into a vacuum glass bulb, energize it, and emit a gentle glow equivalent to that of 10 gas lamps that lasted for about 40 hours. He experimented with 1,600 heat-resistant materials and 6,000 types of plant fibers that he found from all over the world. He decided to use carbonized bamboo filament as the filament. This filament provided 1,200 hours of continuous illumination, and in 1908, William Creech, an employee of the Edison Electric Company, invented the tungsten filament, which ultimately made the filament durable.
Edison in addition to the phonograph, electric light, telephone, telegraph, film and other aspects of the invention and contribution, in the mining industry, construction industry, chemical industry and other fields have a lot of creativity and insight, with perseverance and hardworking spirit, with personal struggle, become the most accomplished inventor in the history of mankind, known as the "King of Invention", put the "King", the "King of Invention", the "King of Invention", and the "King of Invention". "and the messenger of spreading the gospel of electricity to the world. He has made great contributions to the civilization and progress of mankind and greatly improved the quality of life in human society. Edison was said to have an IQ of 160, and some people have estimated that he invented a new invention every 15 days on average.
Edison is also an entrepreneur, 1879 founded the "Edison Electric Lighting Company", 1880, incandescent lamps on the market for sale, 1890, Edison has been its various businesses into Edison General Electric Company. 1891, Edison's fine filament, high vacuum incandescent bulb was patented. 1892, Tom Edison's incandescent bulb was patented in 1892. was patented.In 1892, the Tom Houston Company merged with the Edison Electric Lighting Company to form General Electric, beginning General Electric's century-long dominance in the electrical field.
Side note: 1,093 inventions were actually made by a team of scientists assembled by Edison, but the reputation went to Edison alone, which was actually a mistake.
Growth
Edison was born on February 11, 1847, in the small town of Milan, Ohio, in the Midwestern United States. His father was of Dutch descent and his mother, a former elementary school teacher, was of Scottish descent. When Edison was seven years old, his father lost money in the shingle business and moved the family to Fort Gratiot, a northern suburb of Huron, Michigan. Soon after moving here, Edison contracted scarlet fever and was ill for a long time. Edison attended school at the age of eight, but after only three months of schooling, he was dismissed by his teachers as "an imbecile" and "dull and stupid". From then on, his mother was his tutor, teaching her son to read and write. Edison had a keen interest in reading, and at the age of 8 he read the writings of Shakespeare, the most important playwright of the English Renaissance, Dickens, and many important history books, and by the age of 9 he was able to read and understand difficult books quickly, such as Parker's Natural and Experimental Philosophy.
Edison's earliest interest in the natural sciences was in chemistry, which he loved at age 10. He collected two hundred or so bottles and saved every penny to buy chemicals to fill them. at age 11, he experimented with his first telegraph. To earn money to buy chemicals and equipment, he began working, and at age 12, he got a job selling newspapers on trains, traveling between Port Huron and Detroit, Michigan. He sold newspapers while doing fruit and vegetable business, as long as he had time he went to the library to read. 1861 the United States broke out in the Civil War, just turned 14 years old Edison bought an old printing press, the use of the train's convenience, set up a small newspaper (weekly) - "Herald", to pass the war and news along the way, the first issue of the weekly was printed on the train, the first issue was printed on the train. The first issue was printed on the train. He was the reporter, editor, typesetter, proofreader, printer and distributor. The tabloid was well received, and he grew in talent, knowledge and experience from the intense work, and earned enough money to continue his chemical experiments. With the money he earned he set up a chemical laboratory in the baggage car. Unfortunately, however, once when he was doing his experiments on the train, the train suddenly lurched, causing a piece of phosphorus to fall on a wooden board and cause it to burn. The conductor rushed to extinguish the flames, but also gave him a hard slap on the face, deafening his right ear, and he was thrown off the train, when Edison was only 15 years old. (Another story is that on one unfortunate occasion a chemical caught fire and he was thrown out of the car with his equipment. On another occasion, when Edison was trying to board a freight train, a conductor grabbed him by both ears and helped him on board. This resulted in Edison becoming deaf for life.)
The setback didn't discourage Edison; he became fascinated with the telegraph again, and after much study, in 1868 he invented an automatic electric recorder, his first invention. Later he invented two new types of telegraphs, and in 1877 he invented the carbon-based telephone transmitter, which made the original telephone sound clearer; in addition, he also invented the phonograph.
Edison was 31 years old in September 1878 when he began working on the electric light. At that time, the gas lamp has replaced the kerosene lamp, but the flame flickers, and in the extinction of harmful gases; arc lamps have also been invented, and in the public **** place to use, but due to the burning hissing sound and the light is too bright, not suitable for indoor. At that time, many European and American scientists have been exploring the manufacture of a new stable luminous body.
Edison, who had studied arc lamps, announced that he could invent a light that would satisfy people, but needed money. By then he was a man who had patented 170 inventions, and his inventions were so profitable to capitalists that a consortium was willing to offer him grants. After thousands of failures, in April 1879 he improved on the rod and tube lamps of his predecessors, and made a glass globe; and on October 21, 1879, he fastened a carbon-treated cotton thread inside a glass bulb, drew out the air, sealed the mouth, and turned on the electric current, and it glowed, and a new kind of illumination appeared.
Between 1880 and 1882, Edison designed electric light sockets, electric knobs, fuses, current cutoffs, meters, hanging lamps, but also designed the main line and branch system, and made the world's largest capacity generator at the time, and the establishment of the first power plant in New York, opened up the first civilian lighting system. Later he invented the movie camera with George Eastman. Edison's three major inventions: the phonograph, the electric light and power system, and the motion picture camera, enriched and improved the civilized life of mankind.
Edison died on October 18, 1931, at the age of 84 in West Orange, U.S.A. He was buried in the same city. No one has yet been able to break his record of holding 1,093 patents for his inventions, and people call him the King of Inventions.
Edison died of uremia. on August 1, 1931, Edison felt ill and was diagnosed by doctors as suffering from a combination of illnesses including chronic nephritis, uremia and diabetes. a medical bulletin published in The New York Times on August 4, 1931, said, "Mr. Edison is like a small boat sailing in a dangerous channel that may be safe to sail through, or may run aground. "On October 13, Edison hit the "reef" and fell into a coma, and on October 18, 1931, Edison died at the age of 84 years.
Reasons for inventing the electric light Editor
Edison's family was very poor when he was a child, and at that time, candles and kerosene were very expensive items, Edison thought hard every day, and finally came up with a very good way to do it, and at that time, the cheapest thing was electricity, so Edison connected the luminescent device to the power supply to produce light for lighting, which benefited the poor people all over the world.
Biography - Inventions - Science Journey Edit
In August 1862, Edison rescued a boy who was about to be killed on train tracks. The boy's father was grateful for this, but with no money to pay him, was willing to teach him telegraphy. From then on Edison became involved with the mysterious new world of electricity and embarked on a journey of science.
In 1863, Edison worked as a telecommunication telegraph operator at Stratford Junction station of the Grand Trunk Railway. From 1864 to 1867, he lived a nomadic life as a telegraph operator throughout the Midwest. His travels included Stratford, Adrian, Fort Wayne, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Nashville, Tennessee, Memphis, Louisville and Huron.
In 1868, Edison came to Boston as a newspaper clerk. That same year, he received his first patent for an invention. This is an automatic device to record the number of votes, this automatic voting machine is a machine with green and red buttons, as long as the green button is pressed to indicate "yes", the red button indicates "no", the machine is completed, he went to Washington to show the machine, Edison thought that the machine was a good idea. After the machine was completed, he went to Washington to show it off. Edison thought the device would speed up the work of Congress and thought it would be well received, but a congressman told him that they had no intention of speeding up the agenda, and that sometimes it was politically necessary to vote slowly. From then on, Edison decided that he would never again make an invention that people didn't need.
In early June 1869, he traveled to New York to look for work. While he was waiting to be summoned at an agent's office, a telegraph broke down. Edison was the only one there who could fix it, so he got a better job than he expected, and in October he joined with Pope to form the Pope-Edison Company, which specialized in scientific instruments for electrical engineering. Here he invented the "Edison Universal Press". He offered this printing press to the manager of a large Wall Street firm, and wanted to ask for 5,000 dollars, but lacked the courage to say it. So he asked the manager to give him a price, and he gave him $40,000 dollars.
Edison used the money to build a factory on Ward Street in Newark, New Jersey, specializing in all kinds of electrical machinery. He worked through the night. He developed many capable assistants, and at the same time, also coincidentally met the industrious Mary (Mary Stilwell), his first bride. In Newark, he made inventions such as waxed paper and the mimeograph, and from 1872 to 1875, Edison invented the two- and four-weight telegraph, as well as assisting others in getting the world's first English-language typewriter.
In the spring of 1876, Edison moved again, this time to New Jersey (New Jersey) "Monroe Park". Here he built the first "invention factory", which marked the beginning of collective research. 1877, Edison improved the early invention of the telephone by Bell, and put it into practical use. He also invented one of his beloved projects, the phonograph. The telephone and telegraph "were a revolution in the extension of the functions of the human senses"; the phonograph was one of the three major inventions that changed people's lives, and "from the point of view of the imagination of the invention, it was his most significant inventive achievement." By this time, people were calling him "the magician of Menlo Park".
Edison in the invention of the phonograph at the same time, after countless failures finally made a breakthrough in the study of electric light, October 22, 1879, Edison lit the first really have a wide range of practical value of electric light. In order to extend the life of the filament, he re-examined, about tried more than 6000 kinds of fiber materials, only to find a new luminescent body - Japanese bamboo filament, which can last for more than 1,000 hours, to achieve the purpose of durability. In one respect, this invention was the crowning achievement of Edison's life. Next, he created a power supply system that allowed distant lamps to distribute electricity from a central power station, a major craft achievement.
His first discovery in pure science came in 1883. Experimenting with electric lamps, he observed what he called the Edison effect: a charge traveling from a hot filament through space to a cold plate inside a lit bulb. Edison patented this discovery in 1884, but did not study it further. Instead, scientists next to him used the Edison effect to develop the electronics industry, especially radio and television.
Edison attempted to do for the eye what the phonograph did for the ear, and the movie camera was born. Using a strip of George Eastman's newly invented celluloid film, he took a series of photographs and projected them rapidly and continuously onto a curtain, creating the illusion of motion. He first experimented with motion pictures in his laboratory in 1889 and applied for a patent in 1891, and in 1903 his company produced its first feature film, "Train Robbery." Edison did much to organize and standardize the film industry.
After Edison moved his laboratory to West Orange in 1887, he founded a number of commercial companies to manufacture and market his many inventions; these companies were later merged into the Edison General Electric Company, later known as the General Electric Company.
In 1888, a magical character, Nikola Tesla invented the world's first alternating current (AC) generator, a serious blow to Edison's direct current industry, the most famous invention in the history of the "war of the currents" began, as a capitalist, Edison began to discredit Tesla's alternating current (AC), he used AC to kill elephants and the electric chair to electrocute people. As a capitalist, Edison began to discredit Tesla's alternating current (AC), using AC to kill elephants and the electric chair to prove that AC was dangerous, but then Tesla proved that AC was safe under normal circumstances, and the battle reached its dramatic climax in 1893, when the Columbia Exposition was held in Chicago, and AC won the victory over DC. The war also ended with Edison's defeat.
Since then, his interests have turned to fluoroscopy, ore pounders, the magnetic separation of iron, storage batteries and railroad signaling.
During World War I, he developed a torpedo mechanism, a flamethrower and an underwater periscope.
On October 21, 1929, on the 50th anniversary of the invention of the electric light, a great celebration was held for Edison, with famous scientists such as Albert Einstein of Germany and Madame Curie of France congratulating him. Unfortunately, in this celebration, when Edison made a speech, due to excessive excitement, suddenly fainted. Since then, his health has been deteriorating.
Edison had received little formal education, but his contribution to mankind was so great, what was the secret? In addition to a curious heart, an instinct for personal experimentation, he had the boundless energy and boldness to work hard beyond the ordinary. When some people called Edison a "genius", he explained: "Genius is 1% inspiration plus 99% perspiration." He was in the "invention factory", many different professional organization, which has scientists, engineers, technicians, workers *** more than 100 people, Edison's many major inventions is to rely on the collective strength to achieve success. In addition, his wife had also played a fairly important role.
Edison's success should also be attributed to his mother's understanding of him since childhood and patient teaching, so that the original was considered to be an imbecile Edison, grew up to become a world-famous "King of Invention".
Edison's inventions in his life, in the U.S. Patent Office officially registered 1,093 kinds of. 1881 is his invention of the highest record year. In that year, he applied for the filing of 141 kinds of inventions, an average of every three days there is a new invention.
Edison's life tells us that great achievements come out of hard labor.
Life in West Orange
Edison lived longer and longer in New York and shorter and shorter relative to his time in Menlo Park beginning in the winter of 1881. His wife and children lived in New York, and his old home, Menlo Park, became a place reserved for summer escapes. Edison's family spent several summers in Menlo Park.
In 1884, Edison was 37 years old. It was a sad year for Edison: in the summer, Mary Edison came down with typhoid fever, a dangerous disease. At first it was thought that she had merely caught a cold and would recover with a few doses of medicine, so Edison, who was fighting in New York, did not visit her. Mary's sister Alice and the doctors did their best to watch over her every day and stayed by her bedside.
Soon, the lady's condition worsened, and Edison did not go to the Institute for several days. Edison was known as a "workaholic" and it was rare for him not to come to the Institute, so his colleagues were worried. In the early morning hours of August 9, 1884, Mary Edison died. After the funeral services were held at the residence, the casket was taken to a small station and sent by train to her childhood home of New Yorkk. News of her death was sent out on August 16: "The wife of the celebrated inventor Edison died suddenly at Monroe Park, New Jersey, on Saturday, the 9th of this month." The funeral service was held on the afternoon of the twelfth, with more than 400 guests in attendance. Among them were Eden, manager of the Edison Company; Johnson, assistant manager; Laurey, De Navarro and Roosevelt. There were many floral tributes from the mourners. She was buried in the cemetery at Mount Pleasant, New York.
Mrs. Edison's death left him with three young children, Dot, 11, Thomas Alva Jr. and William L. Rice, age 6. The death of his wife made him feel a loneliness he had never known before. Yet he had to keep working. He rented his lodging house to William ) and Alice h olzer, and sent the children to New York, entrusting them to their grandmother, Stilwell.
Monroe Park offered the inventor nothing but sad memories, so he moved the machinery, medicines, instruments, etc. and abandoned it. A few years later the old house was burned down by a lightning strike, and the old electric light plant by the Pennsylvania Railroad also burned down. After Edison moved out it was the farmers who moved in.
The large room above the laboratory was rented out for dances. L.m. Hussey used it as the headquarters for his pipe band and set up a stage behind the room. The first floor downstairs was used for a time as a barn. The old building gradually fell apart, and the wood was given away to build a near-by house, which eventually collapsed.
The east end of the brick machine shop was converted into a storage room for miscellaneous items for the Monroe Park Fire Department. The other end was also used for a time as a barn. A farmer named Thomas j. McConnell lived in that glassed-in room and raised many hogs in that pasture. Then a family named Willcox moved into the former office house and raised a lot of chickens in the house.
In the years between 1884 and 1885 Edison's life was lonely and monotonous. When Mary was alive she didn't ask much of Tom, she loved him and understood the importance of his career, Edison didn't have as much time for family life but Mary was always waiting for him. Edison was very lonely and monotonous and he may have apologized to her for not spending a lot of time.
Edison began an experiment to reform the arc lamp in 1877, proposing to engage in splitting the current and changing the arc lamp into a white light lamp. This experiment was to be satisfactory. Must find a substance that can burn to white-hot as a filament, this filament to withstand the heat in two thousand degrees for more than a thousand hours of combustion. At the same time the use should be simple, can withstand the daily use of the impact, the price should be cheap, but also so that the light and extinction of a lamp does not affect the light and extinction of any other lamp, to maintain the relative independence of each lamp in order to choose this kind of do lamp. This was an extremely bold idea at the time, requiring great effort to explore, to test. Silk with the material, Edison first with carbonized material to do the test, after the failure of the metal platinum and iridium high melting point alloy to do the filament test, but also did on the quality of ores and minerals seedling **** one thousand six hundred different tests, the results have failed. But at this time he and his assistants have made great progress, already know the white hot filament must be sealed in a high degree of vacuum glass globe, and not easy to melt off the reason. Thus, his experiments returned to the charcoal filament. He worked around the clock until the first half of 1880, Edison's white-hot lamp experiments were still fruitless. His full attention in the charcoal on the work, only plant-based charcoal test reached more than six thousand kinds. The related test notebooks amounted to more than two hundred books, *** counting more than 40,000 pages, after three years of time. He worked eighteen or nine hours a day. Only at three or four o'clock in the morning did he sleep with his head resting on two or three books, lying under the table used for experiments. Sometimes he slept on the stool three or four times a day for only half an hour each time.
To the first half of 1880, Edison's white-hot lamp test is still no result, even his assistant was discouraged. One day, he put the laboratory of a banana fan tied to the side of a bamboo filament torn into a thin wire, charcoal made into a filament, the results of this time than before all kinds of experiments are excellent, this is the earliest invention of Edison's white-hot lamp - bamboo filament lamp. This bamboo filament lamp continued for many years.