The Wizard of Menlo Park: How Thomas Alva Edison Invented the Modern World

Product Information

Thomas Edison's Children". IEEE Global History Network. IEEE. December 16, 2010. Archived from the original on October 16, 2011 . Retrieved June 30, 2011. Invention Geek – Edison Spirit Phone?". Archived from the original on September 24, 2015 . Retrieved November 11, 2013. Jill Jonnes: So there was a great deal you had to do and I actually would like to read you something Edison himself said: "Everything is so new that each step is in the dark. I have to make the dynamos, the lamps, the conductors, and attend to a thousand details the world never hears of." Thomas Edison's Greatest Invention". atlantic.com. October 13, 2019. Archived from the original on October 17, 2019 . Retrieved October 17, 2019. Mary Edison died at age 29 on August 9, 1884, of unknown causes: possibly from a brain tumor [123] or a morphine overdose. Doctors frequently prescribed morphine to women in those years to treat a variety of causes, and researchers believe that her symptoms could have been from morphine poisoning. [124]

Edison became concerned with America's reliance on foreign supply of rubber and was determined to find a native supply of rubber. Edison's work on rubber took place largely at his research laboratory in Fort Myers, which has been designated as a National Historic Chemical Landmark. [84] Charles Edison, 78, Ex-Governor of Jersey and U.S. Aide, Is Dead". The New York Times. August 1969. Gabriela: "Edison made your work interesting. He made me feel that I was making something with him. I wasn't just a workman. Then in those days, we all hoped to get rich with him." Hammes, David L. (2012). Harvesting Gold: Thomas Edison's Experiment to Re-Invent American Money. Mahler Publishing.Kautonen, Mika (November 18, 2015). "A history of continuous change and innovation". Smart Tampere Ecosystem. Archived from the original on December 9, 2021 . Retrieved December 9, 2021. Edison was said to have been influenced by a popular fad diet in his last few years; "the only liquid he consumed was a pint of milk every three hours". [53] He is reported to have believed this diet would restore his health. However, this tale is doubtful. In 1930, the year before Edison died, Mina said in an interview about him, "Correct eating is one of his greatest hobbies." [113] She also said that during one of his periodic "great scientific adventures", Edison would be up at 7:00, have breakfast at 8:00, and be rarely home for lunch or dinner, implying that he continued to have all three. [101] On October 8, 1883, the US patent office ruled that Edison's patent was based on the work of William E. Sawyer and was, therefore, invalid. Litigation continued for nearly six years. In 1885, Latimer switched camps and started working with Edison. [64] On October 6, 1889, a judge ruled that Edison's electric light improvement claim for "a filament of carbon of high resistance" was valid. [65] To avoid a possible court battle with yet another competitor, Joseph Swan, who held an 1880 British patent on a similar incandescent electric lamp, [66] he and Swan formed a joint company called Ediswan to manufacture and market the invention in Britain. On February 24, 1886, at the age of 39, Edison married the 20-year-old Mina Miller (1865–1947) in Akron, Ohio. [125] She was the daughter of the inventor Lewis Miller, co-founder of the Chautauqua Institution, and a benefactor of Methodist charities. They also had three children together:

Henry Villard, president of the Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company, attended Edison's 1879 demonstration. Villard was impressed and requested Edison install his electric lighting system aboard Villard's company's new steamer, the Columbia. Although hesitant at first, Edison agreed to Villard's request. Most of the work was completed in May 1880, and the Columbia went to New York City, where Edison and his personnel installed Columbia 's new lighting system. The Columbia was Edison's first commercial application for his incandescent light bulb. The Edison equipment was removed from Columbia in 1895. [59] [60] [61] [62]

Edison’s later life

Baron, David (June 6, 2017). American Eclipse: A Nation's Epic Race to Catch the Shadow of the Moon and Win the Glory of the World. Liveright. p.223. ISBN 978-1631490163. Archived from the original on January 26, 2021 . Retrieved October 7, 2020.

Gabriela: In exchange, the competitive Edison gave his team a challenge by stating in a number of newspapers that he would light up a square mile of Manhattan with incandescent light. Any day now. But progress had been slow. There was mounting pressure and a growing sense of frustration from the public at large and especially from Edison's investors. Gabriela: Okay, David just debunked a couple of myths I totally believed in. Not only did Edison not invent the light bulb, he wasn't this lone inventor who was dreaming up endless patents. He had a team. As David said, the way that team came together to solve problems might be Edison's greatest achievement, especially considering that what they did laid the groundwork, not only for how we light our homes and offices, but for almost every aspect of our wired world. Wilson, Wendell E. "Thomas Alva Edison (1847–1931)". The Mineralogical Record. Archived from the original on April 15, 2013 . Retrieved February 24, 2013.Edison responded by undertaking production of phenol at his Silver Lake facility using processes developed by his chemists. [108] He built two plants with a capacity of six tons of phenol per day. Production began the first week of September, one month after hostilities began in Europe. He built two plants to produce raw material benzene at Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and Bessemer, Alabama, replacing supplies previously from Germany. Edison also manufactured aniline dyes, which previously had been supplied by the German dye trust. Other wartime products include xylene, p-phenylenediamine, shellac, and pyrax. Wartime shortages made these ventures profitable. In 1915, his production capacity was fully committed by midyear. The following is an incomplete list of awards given to Edison during his lifetime and posthumously: a b Holland, Kevin J. (2001). Classic American Railroad Terminals. Osceola, WI: MBI. ISBN 9780760308325. OCLC 45908903.