Considered one of the most proli c and EDISON creative inventors in history, patented 1093 inventions. Although perhaps most widely known as the inventor of the electric light, Edison was interested in every- thing. He experimented in chemistry and medicine, developed a program for farm relief, came close to inventing radio and even predicted the use of atomic energy.

Edison sought to develop devices that worked under ordinary conditions, did not easily break down and were easy to repair. One of Edison’s rst patented devices was an automatic vote recorder, which he then tried to sell to the U.S. Congress. The device was turned down since it recorded the votes too quickly, not At this lab he continued to make improvements to giving the congressmen time to switch their stock tickers, made signi cant improvements to the votes during the process. He vowed never and telephone. In 1877 he invented the again to invent any thing that no one wanted. , his own favorite of all his inventions.

At the age of 12, Edison was selling candy and newspapers on the train. He spent his spare “Genius is one percent time publishing a newspaper in the caboose and doing chemical experiments in the baggage inspiration and ninety-nine car. Later, he maintained that as he was percent perspiration.” running to catch a moving train, a conductor - Thomas Alva Edison tried to help him up by the ears and “something in my ears snapped.” This may have been a Edison had the principle for the electric light by 1879 partial cause of Edison’s later hearing loss. By but spent 2 more years searching for a workable the age of 16 he was employed by as a night lament. In this search, he sent agents to the Amazon operator for . It was at this job jungle and forests in Japan looking for materials to that he invented a device to automatically send try. He also tried every thing else he could get his telegraph messages. hands on including a friend’s red hair. Such persistence was typical of Edison’s working process. In 1869, Edison was living in New York on Wall Although he generally ignored scienti c and

Street. He was made a supervisor of the telegraphic mathematical studies, which might have saved time, The Lightbulb gold price indicator because he repaired the he was never discouraged by failure. When a friend machine after several others had tried and failed. attempted to console him after 10,000 experiments He continued to make a number of improvements with a storage battery did not produce the desired Disc Phonograph to stock tickers and stock . results, Edison replied that he had not failed he had “just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” Eventually One of the company owners grew interested in he succeeded. He succeeded in inventing or Edison’s inventions and asked if he might buy the improving storage batteries, , a motion patents from Edison. Edison was reportedly picture camera, the Dictaphone, a duplicating willing to take as little as $3,000 for the rights, machine, a vote recorder, ticker tape machines, Kinetophone but asked the owner to make him an offer. The electric light bulbs, a process for making synthetic owner offered $40,000. With this money, Edison rubber from golden rod plants, and over a thousand opened his rst research lab. other patentable inventions.

i n v e t o s

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER | PR Publications