Thomas+Edison



** The Birth of a Legend: ** Thomas Alva Edison was born to on February 11, 1847, in Milan, Ohio. He was the youngest of 7 children to Sam and Nancy Edison. ** Early Life: ** As a young boy he was never in good health. He was was sick with fever and developed scarlet fever while he was young. This is atributed to his poor hearing as an adult. He was never a good student. His headmaster called Edison "addled" or slow. His mother was furious and pulled him out of school to teach him herself. She though little Al, his youth nickname, was brilliant. Later in his life Edison said of his mother, "My mother was the making of me. She was so true, so sure of me, and I felt I had some one to live for, some one I must not disappoint."

** First Job: ** In 1859, Edison took a job selling newspapers and candy on the Grand Trunk Railroad to Detroit. He discovered he could make a profit by buying candy for a cheap price from vendors and then sell them for more then twice the amount to the people going to and from work. He also managed to convince the train owner to let him set up a little lab in an unused cars. He spent most of the time here after he sold all his candy in here tinkering with chemicals. One day he set the car on fire so he had to quit this job.

** The event that changed his life: ** In 1862, Edison rescued a three year old from a track where a boxcar was about to hit him. The father, a station agent, taught Edison railroad telegraphy as a reward. Edison learned how translate and send messages and soon became fluent at both. That winter, he took a job as a telegraph operator in Port Huron. He also continued his scientific experiments on the side. Between 1863 and 1867, Edison migrated from city to city in the United States including; Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Memphis, Louisville and a few others, taking available telegraph jobs.

=
** The Newark Telegraph Works: ** Edison helped to better the stock printer of the time and called it "Universal Stock Printer". For this and other similar inventions Edison was paid over $40,000. This gave him the money he needed to start his first laboratory and manufacturing facility in Newark, New Jersey in 1871. He opened up the __Newark Telegraph Works__ with William Unger. During the next five years, Edison worked in Newark inventing and selling devices that improved the speed and efficiency of the telegraph. ======

**Marriage:** In the fall of 1871 Edison hired Mary Stilwell, the 16 year old daughter of a lawyer, as well as several other women. One day Edison stood in the shop watching them work. He began to stare at Mary until she became so nervous under his stare that she simply stopped typing. It was said that a genuine smile spread across his face as he asked her "What do you think of me little girl?" "Do you like me?" To she responded, "Why, Mr. Edison, you frighten me. I-- that is--I" He simply responded "Don’t be in any hurry about telling me. It doesn’t matter much, unless you would like to marry me." They were married the same Christmas of that year. They had three children, Marion (born 1872), Thomas Alva Junior (born 1876), William (born 1898)

**Edison’s Inventions: ** Though Edison invented and patented over 1000 creations in his life time he is mainly know for his work on, and perfection of the Incandescent light bulb. His inventions ranged from very practical to specific for one use only. Some of them included the phonograph, cabinet designs, telegraph printers, electronic vote recorder, the duplex telegraph, and many others. For a full list visit, []

=
Charles F. Brush of the United States invented the carbon arc street lamp in 1879. It was widely used in many cities to light streets at night. The problem with them was that the light emitted was much too harsh to use in an indoor setting. Edison’s incandescent bulb was just the fix. It had the power to light up the city streets, and could also be used in the home without hurting your eyes. Many people also thought the light was a more natural looking color so they were more attracted to it then arc lights.
 * The incandescent light bulb: ** At the turn of the century there was a revolution occurring across the world. With the widespread use of electricity people wanted to be able to use it for something helpful. ======

"How Incandescent Lamps Work. Incandescent lightbulbs work in this way: electricity flows through the filament that is inside the bulb; the filament has resistance to the electricity; the resistance makes the filament heat to a high temperature; the heated filament then radiates light. All incandescent lamps work by using a physical filament." []

Edison began his work on the incandescent light bulb with the idea of improving it enough that it could be mass produced. The problem with light bulbs of that time was that the filaments would burn out within 10 minutes. Edison decided that if he was going to sell them they would have to last much longer. He started by testing hundreds of metals in it. A large majority fizzled out after a few minutes but some stayed for longer. He eventually decided on platinum as his filament. He had many struggles while he worked. Many times the bulbs didnt light or would burn out even when he thought he got it right. Edison also focused alot on pressure and tempurature in the bulb which made him very angry because no matter what he did he couldnt get it right. Finally he figured out that it should be vaccum sealed. Also he perfected the filaments correct size and wieght. Below is a scene from the movie Edison the man, where Edison is played by Spencer Tracy. This is when Edison perfects the lightbulb and it is used in cities. Though his lab is not actually downtown, and his wife is alot younger then him the idea of the scene is acurate.

media type="youtube" key="_3akmjrrDD8" width="425" height="350" align="center"

 ** Works Cited **

Josephson, Matthew. //Edison ; a Biography//. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1959. Print. Stross, Randall E. //The Wizard of Menlo Park: How Thomas Alva Edison Invented the Modern World//. New York: Crown, 2007. Print  Osborn, Mr. //Thomas Eddison//. Digital image. //4 Teachers//. 2010. Web. 2 Feb. 2011. . //Thomas Edison Logo//. Digital image. //Online Logo Design//. 2011. Web. 11 Feb. 2011. [].

//Stock Ticker//. Digital image. //Rutgers//. Web. 31 Mar. 2010. []

//Edison the Man//. Jazzforall, 20 July 2007. Youtube. A video of Edisons lightbulb

//Edison//. Digital image. //Robert Paterson//. 8 June 2009. Web. Feb. 2011. [].