10 Unheard Inventions of Thomas Edison by bad-apple 2012/01/29 08:48
Without question, our lives would be very different without the inventions of Thomas Alva Edison. This prodigious creator changed our culture in countless ways with the seemingly miraculous devices that flooded out of his New Jersey laboratory.
Edison, born in Ohio in 1847, obtained his first patent at the age of 22. The last patent in his name was granted two years after his death, in 1933. In between, he tallied 1,093 United States patents and 1,200 patents in other countries. Biographers have figured that Edison averaged a patent every two weeks during his working life. Even though many of his inventions were not unique . and he engaged in some well-publicized court battles with other inventors whose ideas he "borrowed" . Edison's skill at marketing and using his influence often got him the credit.
Most of Edison's inventions fall into eight main categories: batteries, electric lights and power, phonographs and sound recording, cement, mining, motion pictures, telegraphs and telephones. But while the Wizard of Menlo Park is remembered for his major inventions . the motion picture, the incandescent light bulb and the phonograph . his tireless mind also came up with some ideas that aren't so well known and some that weren't welcomed by the public. Keep reading to find out why members of Congress rejected a machine designed to make them more efficient and how another Edison invention frightened little girls and angered their parents. You'll also find out about a device that could have kept Edison's genius with us even today.
Without question, our lives would be very different without the inventions of Thomas Alva Edison. This prodigious creator changed our culture in countless ways with the seemingly miraculous devices that flooded out of his New Jersey laboratory.
Edison, born in Ohio in 1847, obtained his first patent at the age of 22. The last patent in his name was granted two years after his death, in 1933. In between, he tallied 1,093 United States patents and 1,200 patents in other countries. Biographers have figured that Edison averaged a patent every two weeks during his working life. Even though many of his inventions were not unique . and he engaged in some well-publicized court battles with other inventors whose ideas he "borrowed" . Edison's skill at marketing and using his influence often got him the credit.
Most of Edison's inventions fall into eight main categories: batteries, electric lights and power, phonographs and sound recording, cement, mining, motion pictures, telegraphs and telephones. But while the Wizard of Menlo Park is remembered for his major inventions . the motion picture, the incandescent light bulb and the phonograph . his tireless mind also came up with some ideas that aren't so well known and some that weren't welcomed by the public. Keep reading to find out why members of Congress rejected a machine designed to make them more efficient and how another Edison invention frightened little girls and angered their parents. You'll also find out about a device that could have kept Edison's genius with us even today.
bad-apple 2012/01/29 08:50
Electrographic Vote-Recorder
Edison was a 22-year-old telegraph operator when he received his first patent for a machine he called the electrographic vote-recorder. He was one of several inventors at the time developing methods for legislative bodies, such as the United States Congress, to record their votes in a more timely fashion than the time-honored voice vote system.
Pneumatic Stencil Pen
Edison invented the ancestor of the tattoo gun,the pneumatic stencil pen. This machine, which Edison patented in 1876, used a rod tipped with a steel needle to perforate paper for printing purposes. It's important on its own as one of the first devices that could efficiently copy documents.
Magnetic Iron ore Separator
Probably the biggest financial failure of Edison's career was the magnetic iron-ore separator. The idea, which Edison's laboratory experimented with during the 1880s and 1890s, was to use magnets to separate iron ore from unusable low-grade ores. This would mean that abandoned mines could be profitable once again through the extraction of iron from sand at the sites . at the time, iron ore prices had risen to unprecedented heights.
Electrographic Vote-Recorder
Edison was a 22-year-old telegraph operator when he received his first patent for a machine he called the electrographic vote-recorder. He was one of several inventors at the time developing methods for legislative bodies, such as the United States Congress, to record their votes in a more timely fashion than the time-honored voice vote system.
Pneumatic Stencil Pen
Edison invented the ancestor of the tattoo gun,the pneumatic stencil pen. This machine, which Edison patented in 1876, used a rod tipped with a steel needle to perforate paper for printing purposes. It's important on its own as one of the first devices that could efficiently copy documents.
Magnetic Iron ore Separator
Probably the biggest financial failure of Edison's career was the magnetic iron-ore separator. The idea, which Edison's laboratory experimented with during the 1880s and 1890s, was to use magnets to separate iron ore from unusable low-grade ores. This would mean that abandoned mines could be profitable once again through the extraction of iron from sand at the sites . at the time, iron ore prices had risen to unprecedented heights.
bad-apple 2012/01/29 08:51
The Electric Power Meter
All sorts of issues arise when you're doing something that has never been done before . like running electrical services to businesses and residences. You need a way to measure how much customers consume so you'll know what to bill them.Edison solved this problem by patenting the Webermeter in 1881. The Webermeter contained two or four electrolytic cells with zinc at both electrodes and a zinc sulfate solution. The zinc transferred from one electrode to the other at a set rate as electricity was used. The meter reader removed the electrolytic cells at each reading for weighing, replacing them with new ones.
Method of Preserving Fruit
Another Edison invention came about as a result of the laboratory's work with glass vacuum tubes in the development of the incandescent light bulb. In 1881, Edison filed for a patent for a method to preserve fruits, vegetables or other organic substances in a glass vessel. The vessel was filled with the items to be preserved, and then all the air was sucked from it with an air pump. The vessel tube was sealed with another piece of glass.
Electric Car
Edison believed cars would be powered by electricity, and in 1899 he began to develop an alkaline storage battery that would power them. He was on to something: In 1900, about 28 percent of the more than 4,000 cars produced in America did run on electricity. His goal was to create a battery that would run for 100 miles without recharging. Edison gave up the project after about 10 years because the ready abundance of gasoline made the electric car a moot point.
The Electric Power Meter
All sorts of issues arise when you're doing something that has never been done before . like running electrical services to businesses and residences. You need a way to measure how much customers consume so you'll know what to bill them.Edison solved this problem by patenting the Webermeter in 1881. The Webermeter contained two or four electrolytic cells with zinc at both electrodes and a zinc sulfate solution. The zinc transferred from one electrode to the other at a set rate as electricity was used. The meter reader removed the electrolytic cells at each reading for weighing, replacing them with new ones.
Method of Preserving Fruit
Another Edison invention came about as a result of the laboratory's work with glass vacuum tubes in the development of the incandescent light bulb. In 1881, Edison filed for a patent for a method to preserve fruits, vegetables or other organic substances in a glass vessel. The vessel was filled with the items to be preserved, and then all the air was sucked from it with an air pump. The vessel tube was sealed with another piece of glass.
Electric Car
Edison believed cars would be powered by electricity, and in 1899 he began to develop an alkaline storage battery that would power them. He was on to something: In 1900, about 28 percent of the more than 4,000 cars produced in America did run on electricity. His goal was to create a battery that would run for 100 miles without recharging. Edison gave up the project after about 10 years because the ready abundance of gasoline made the electric car a moot point.
bad-apple 2012/01/29 08:55
Concrete House
Not satisfied with having improved the average American's life with electric lights, movies and phonographs, the Wizard of Menlo Park decided in the early part of the 20th century to abolish city slums and get every working man's family into sturdy fire-proof homes that could be built inexpensively on a mass scale. And what would those homes be made of? Why, concrete, of course, using materials from the Edison Portland Cement company. Edison, recalling his own working-class upbringing, said he would take no profit if the venture succeeded.
Edison's plan was to pour the concrete into large wooden molds the size and shape of a house, let it cure, remove the framework and . voila! A concrete house, with decorative molding, plumbing pipes, even a bathtub, molded right in. Edison said these dwellings would sell for around *1,200, about one-third the price of a regularly constructed house at the time.
The Spirit Phone
Taking the idea of the telephone and the telegraph a bit further, Edison announced in October of 1920 that he was working on a machine to open the lines of communication with the spirit world. In the aftermath of World War I, spiritualism was undergoing a revival, and many people hoped science could provide a means to access the souls of the recently deceased. The inventor, himself an agnostic who admitted he had no idea if a spirit world even existed, spoke of his quest in several magazines and explained to The New York Times that his machine would measure what he described as the life units that scatter through the universe after death.
Concrete Furniture
Why should a young couple go into debt to purchase furniture that will last only a few decades? Edison proposed that for half the money, they could obtain a house full of concrete furniture that would endure for eternity. Made with air-impregnated foam to keep the weight at only one and a half times that of wooden furniture, Edison's line of concrete furnishings would be sanded and smoothed into a mirror-like finish or stained to look like wood grain. He claimed he could furnish an entire house for less than *200.
Phonograph For Dolls or Other Toys
Once Edison had patented his phonograph, he began to devise ways to use it. One idea, first mentioned in a laboratory note in 1877, but not patented until 1890, was to miniaturize the phonograph and insert it into a doll or other toy, giving the formerly inarticulate plaything a voice of its own. The phonograph was enclosed in a tin casing that composed the doll's chest, then pre-made arms and legs were attached, along with a bisque head made in Germany. The talking dollies sold for about *10. Little girls sat in factory stalls and recorded the songs and nursery rhymes that were inscribed on the wax cylinders for the phonographs to play.
Concrete House
Not satisfied with having improved the average American's life with electric lights, movies and phonographs, the Wizard of Menlo Park decided in the early part of the 20th century to abolish city slums and get every working man's family into sturdy fire-proof homes that could be built inexpensively on a mass scale. And what would those homes be made of? Why, concrete, of course, using materials from the Edison Portland Cement company. Edison, recalling his own working-class upbringing, said he would take no profit if the venture succeeded.
Edison's plan was to pour the concrete into large wooden molds the size and shape of a house, let it cure, remove the framework and . voila! A concrete house, with decorative molding, plumbing pipes, even a bathtub, molded right in. Edison said these dwellings would sell for around *1,200, about one-third the price of a regularly constructed house at the time.
The Spirit Phone
Taking the idea of the telephone and the telegraph a bit further, Edison announced in October of 1920 that he was working on a machine to open the lines of communication with the spirit world. In the aftermath of World War I, spiritualism was undergoing a revival, and many people hoped science could provide a means to access the souls of the recently deceased. The inventor, himself an agnostic who admitted he had no idea if a spirit world even existed, spoke of his quest in several magazines and explained to The New York Times that his machine would measure what he described as the life units that scatter through the universe after death.
Concrete Furniture
Why should a young couple go into debt to purchase furniture that will last only a few decades? Edison proposed that for half the money, they could obtain a house full of concrete furniture that would endure for eternity. Made with air-impregnated foam to keep the weight at only one and a half times that of wooden furniture, Edison's line of concrete furnishings would be sanded and smoothed into a mirror-like finish or stained to look like wood grain. He claimed he could furnish an entire house for less than *200.
Phonograph For Dolls or Other Toys
Once Edison had patented his phonograph, he began to devise ways to use it. One idea, first mentioned in a laboratory note in 1877, but not patented until 1890, was to miniaturize the phonograph and insert it into a doll or other toy, giving the formerly inarticulate plaything a voice of its own. The phonograph was enclosed in a tin casing that composed the doll's chest, then pre-made arms and legs were attached, along with a bisque head made in Germany. The talking dollies sold for about *10. Little girls sat in factory stalls and recorded the songs and nursery rhymes that were inscribed on the wax cylinders for the phonographs to play.
Male1974 2012/03/09 22:53
edison was a very smart,and talented person..we need people like him today..
edison was a very smart,and talented person..we need people like him today..
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