Show r EDISON CENTENNIAL II Early Efforts Backfired but d I Lessons Brou Brought Lasting Fame Features 1 t 4 During his lifetime Thomas A. A Edison found time to root around in about everybody's backyard doping out a gadget or a machine or a formula that would help his neighbor He was crammed with ideas about many things some of which as everybody knows brought him enduring fame There were I some however that his 84 years did not give him time to perfect As the lOath anniversary of his birth on February 11 1847 approaches approaches ap aIr ap- ap there are probably very few people who know that Edison once won a patent on a flying ma ma- chine Back in 1910 he doped out an idea on a helicopter in which field he thought the future of aviation aviation aviation avi avi- lay On another occasion he was granted a patent on a method of preserving fruit and when he died he was working on a formula for extract extraction on of rubber from the lowly goldenrod Wizard Was Vas Human Edison once even worked on an insecticide and this experience shows a human side that belies any suggestion that he had a magic thumb in the inventive business He was just coming into fame as the Wizard of Menlo X Park when he was approached by a neighboring neighbor neighbor- ing farmer whose principal crop was threatened with destruction by byan byan byan an invasion of potato bugs The year was 1878 Tom was 31 and he already had to his credit such inventions inventions inventions in in- as the phonograph and a score of telegraph patents The farmer allowed as how an up-and- up coming young inventor ought to be beable beable beable able to find a way to kill off the potato bugs Accepting the challenge although he knew relatively nothing about bugs and plants Edison collected a aquart aquart aquart quart bottle full fun of potato bugs and andset andset andset set forth to compound a lethal po po- tion Testing every chemical in his laboratory he hit upon of carbon as a sure-fire sure potato bug killer Jubilantly he and the farmer farm- farm farmer er sprinkled the infested potato vines and waited to tabulate the re re- The bugs died like flies flies but but so 80 did the potato vines ines and Edison Edison Edison Edi Edi- son had to pay the farmer damages es for as he put it not experimenting properly He never again made the mistake mistake mistake mis mis- take of not experimenting enough Consequently some of his inventions took him years to perfect and because because bet be be- t cause of his patience the world has become a much better place in which to live His invention of the electric light made necessary a system system system tem of electrical distribution which brought not only light but also scores of electrical gadgets to the farm home as well weIl as city resi resi- dence His phonograph put the best music into the home and his numerous numerous numerous numer numer- ous other inventions including the motion picture made life easier more comfortable and entertaining Worked Too Well Veil There was one other of Edison's creations which backfired but it wasn't because he hadn't perfected it this one on the contrary worked too well At one time he was working as night telegraph operator operator operator op op- in the Grand Truck railroad station at Stratford Junction Can Can- ada One of the requirements of the job was that Edison then 17 must check in on the wire every half hour by sending the signal 6 in ini i Morse code to the train dispatcher at a nearby station Edison deplored this arrangement because it prevented him from catching up on the sleep he wasn't getting during the daytime which he spent in study and 1 tion So he rigged up a device for automatically sending out the signal signal signal sig sig- sig- sig nal 6 He hooked up the instrument instrument instrument ment to the office clock so that every every every ev ev- ev- ev I ery 30 minutes the signal went out over the wire thus reassuring the dispatcher that Edison was on the job whereas in fact he was sound asleep t l This ruse was successful until one night the train dispatcher dispatcher dispatcher dis- dis tried vainly to contact Edison on the wire during one of his catnaps Alarmed by the prospect that the Stratford June June- Hon telegraph office was unmanned unmanned unmanned un un- manned the dispatcher er made his way to Edison's office on a handcar He arrived just in time timeto to find Edison blissfully sleepIng sleeping sleeping sleep sleep- ing while the young inventors inventor's machine obediently dotted-and- dotted dashed the prescribed signal I The next day Edison started looking for another job but the exPeriment experiment experiment ex ex- ex- ex proved of incalculable value because it started him on a I Two vo highlights in Thomas A. A Edison's Edi Edi- I sons son's amazing career are shown in y these pictures Top Edison is shown 9 I I demonstrating his first phonograph at the White House on April 18 1878 i Lower the inventor is shown oPerating operating operating oper oper- an early and crude model of his first motion picture machine s dv yf ry rs pv V ry 1 1 train of thought that led him first to the invention of a stock ticker and an automatic telegraph thence to the phonograph and later to the motion picture camera Earns Fi First st Money With the idea planted in his mind I of constructing telegraph apparatus that would automatically send and record messages Edison invented and patented an improved stock ticker It was so much better than the crude tickers which antedated his that a telegraph company paid him for it the it-the the first money Edison ever received for an tion With the Edison established established established a shop in Newark N. N J. J in 1870 and began the manufacture of stock tickers He was 23 and for forthe forthe forthe the first time in his l life e he had enough money to experiment with the hundred and one ideas that coursed through his agile mind One of a score of telegraphic patents patents pat pat- he took out as a result of his experiments in Newark was on an automatic telegraph which could send and record messages on a strip of paper tape at a rate far beyond the speed possible in sending sending sending send send- ing and receiving by hand In seeking seeking seeking seek seek- ing to improve his first automatic telegraph Edison experimented with a machine employing a turntable turntable turntable turn turn- table covered with a paper disc Perforations in the paper disc sent 1 out dots and dashes when the turntable turntable turntable turn turn- table was rotated One day however however however how how- ever the turntable was operated at an excessive speed and instead of dots and dashes the result was wasa a musical hum Edison was quick to sense the possibilities of his discovery discovery dis dis- dis- dis covery and on July 18 1877 he made the following entry in one of the 2500 notebooks he filled with scientific data and reports reports' before his death at 84 on October 18 1931 Just tried experiment with a diaphragm having an embossed point and held against paraffin paper moving rapidly The speaking vibrations are indented indent indent- ed nicely and there is no doubt that I shall be able to store up and reproduce automatically at any future time the human voice p perfectly Less than a month later he did just that First Movie Was Talkie Ten years later in 1887 Edison set out as he later commented to Uto todo do dp for the eye what the phonograph did for the ear The result was the birth of what today is probably the most glamorous industry in the world world the the motion picture industry Thus it was that the germ of an idea which took look root in Edi Edison's ons on's mind when he was fired as a telegraph telegraph telegraph tele tele- graph operator ultimately led to i Invention invention in In- 1 of the stock ticker the automatic automatic automatic au au- au- au telegraph the phonograph and the motion picture camera Edison probably is best remembered remembered as the inventor of the first practical incandescent lamp The lamp was a handy symbol of achievement seized upon by the public public pub pub- lic lie but actually it constituted only a small portion of his work in the field of electric lighting and power I distribution From 1868 when he received his first patent for an electrically electrical electrical- ly energized voting machine until until until un un- til his death 63 years later Edison Edison Edison Edi Edi- son created 1097 inventions in inventions inventions in- in by far the greatest number of patents ever issued to any anyone one individual by the United States Patent office The wide range of his accomplishments accomplishments accomplishments is almost un un- un- un believable The carbon transmitter that made Alexander Graham Bells Bell's telephone I a commercial success ss was an Edison Edison Edi Edi- son invention and for many years the names of both Bell and Edison appeared on telephone instruments This same transmitter later was i adapted to radio and served as the I first broadcasting microphone Perfects Telegraphy I Edison patented a system of telegraphy telegraphy raphy through space six years before before before be be- I fore Guglielmo Gughelmo Marconi X made the instrument that earned him the title of Father of Wireless raphy Edison invented built and operated operated operated oper oper- the first electric railroad In I America Some of his patents caused revolutionary changes in the I cement industry and as early as 1908 he was building cement houses i with prefabricated molds I He invented an electric automobile automobile automo- automo t bile a helicopter a method of making mak- mak f f ing plate glass He patented a ai i 1 method of preserving fresh fruits and vegetables in glass containers I he he devised a machine called the micro taximeter for measuring I minute heat fractions and another j I the for registering the presence of odors however slight I Indefatigable Worker Before introduction of the typewriter typewriter typewriter type type- writer Edison invented an electric pen which cut stencils of handwriting ing so that one letter could be reproduced reproduced reproduced re re- re- re produced in illimitable quantities Its modern counterpart is the mimeograph machine These and scores of other creations creations creations cre cre- some of great importance importance im im- im and some like his talking talking talk talk- ing doll hardly more than novelties novelties novelties nov nov- came out of Edison's mind He rued the fact that the day contained contained contained con con- only 24 hours because it did not give him enough time to do I everything he wanted to do His favorite favorite favorite fa fa- fa- fa motto and one which he I displayed prominently on the walls of his laboratory and offices was offices was a aI I quotation which said There is no expedient to which a man will wilI not I resort to avoid the serious labor oi of thinking Although Edison lived to be 84 he I continued to put in long hours of study and work right up until a few I weeks before his death When friends chided him about not retiring retiring retiring re re- re- re I tiring to a life llie of ease his reply was that Therell be plenty of timeto time tune I to think about retiring when hen I II reach I Tom Edison has reached and he hey has retired but his I memory memory mem mem- ory lives on in a thousand creations that have mankind |