Thomas Edison

[getitdone1]

In these times with so much negative news--was it ever this bad?--I read an uplifting article about Thomas Edison. The author is doing legalities with someone at this time over copyright infringment or I'd post the link. I know links are not supposed to be a problem with copyright law but there's a lot of things the lawyers have yet to do regarding internet rights.

I know there's many good articles on the internet about Edison you can find for yourself. Wikipedia--and other sights--are shut-down today in protest of possible laws being looked-at by congress relating to free speech. I'm sure tomorrow Wikipedia will be available and sure they have a great article about Edison. I'll be giving it a look.

Edison:

3 months of formal education. His teacher called him 'addled.'
lightbulb, phonograph, movies, helped with the telegraph, stock ticker, etc. At one time in his career he was getting a patent on something about every two weeks. He had over 1000 patents. Considered by most to be the greatest inventor of all time.

I dabbled with some ideas. Even received a patent on one. Some gun-related, another farm-hitch pin related.

If you want to be a successful inventor--you do not dabble or tinker. You dig-in and persist. Persistence is a mighty thing. Both hard and rare.

Thomas Edison. One of the greats of all time.

Don

[piller]

Yep, the man was a true genius, and very persistent. Look at all the effort he spent to perfect the lightbulb. I would have never thought to do all he did, and probably would have given up before he did.

[Bill in Oregon]

Don, Edison typifies what made America great: imagination, innovation and the grit to turn dreams into reality.
Here's an interesting tidbit: My wife's grandfather, a Scotsman, built an estate here in Southern Oregon before World War I. In the basement, in the wood room, was one of those big Edison bulbs, about 4 inches around, tapering to the socket and about nine or 10 inches long. When I saw that bulb in 2007, it was still burning. No stunt.

[Marlin32]

Too bad he was jealous of Tesla, the real electrical genius.

[2571]

Edison killed cats

[getitdone1]

Too bad he was jealous of Tesla, the real electrical genius.

Marlin32:

Tesla. Interesting fellow, great inventor. You motivated me to check him out. Never heard of him before and that's just one of many black marks against our educational system. This guy is one of the greats. Eccentric, they say--with examples, but maybe most people would be somewhat eccentric if they spent long hours and even many years trying to solve difficult problems.

Edison's stand against Tesla's AC current was unwarranted and does not speak well for Edison. As you know, Tesla won this debate. The result was Edison and friends lost a bunch of money they would otherwise have realized. Old story, isn't it? One would prefer that superior people would recognize a superior product and say so immediately--regardless of the financial consequences. So we have to say Edison, like the rest of us, was not ideal in all ways. I have read that Edison could be hard to work with.

One article said engineers today still study the things Tesla worked on, looking for projects and answers for themselves. Of course I'm sure the same could be said about several other great inventors. I paused here to read another article about him and find he even worked for and with Edison at one time.

Tesla makes for very interesting reading. A great inventor without question. He came from what is now Croatia and his mother was even an inventor of household electrical appliances. Appears he had a good start!

Every student in our educational system should be told about all of the great inventors and made to understand their greatness. I believe this would result in our having a lot more innovators, some probably achieving greatness.

Marlin32. Are you an engineer?

Don

[Griff]

Our public education system is our "low bid" system on steroids. While better than nothing... it certainly leaves much to be desired.

[adirondakjack]

Edison was quite a kook in his own right, but also "crafty" at making himself appear eccentric. When he was working on the 1200+ failed experiments leading up to the light bulb, he had a trap door in his office so he could make good his escape while his clerk delayed creditors demanding to see him. Without that trap door, he would have been served papers forcing his lab to liquidate. With it, they couldn't personally serve him...

He was a "gentleman hunter" also. There is a famous photograph of him and two of his friends, Henry Ford and Theodore Roosevelt, taken in late summer deer camp only days before President McKinley was shot, making Teddy President.

Edison was maniacally frugal. Henry Ford sold him a car at cost, and some 10 or more years later, when Ford visited Edison at his Florida estate, he noted the by then aging car had not been "upgraded" with the popular options including electric start and improved lights. Edison said there was nothing wrong with the car as it was, but Ford, embarrassed that the great man, some years his elder, was driving a "basic" car, and arranged for the upgrades to be done at no cost. I think Tom knew exactly what he was doing when he refused them initially

It may well have been his narrow, penny pinching ways that cost him the most. He was severely in debt and unable to grasp the numbers involved in any leap to solvency when the board of his company essentially sold it out from under him, and changed the name from Edison Electric to General Electric. Though he had scouted and drawn plans for the workshops in Schenectady that eventually became GE's mammoth plant, when they changed the name of the company he refused to even visit the mahogany-panelled offices they built for him there, instead staying at Menlo Park..

[Pisgah]

Few people realize that once Edison made his initial fortune, he actually did little inventing of his own; rather, he had a staff of hired researchers who did the work, an "invention factory" -- and, as with many large corporations today, whatever they invented became his patent. He rarely gave credit where it was due.

[adirondakjack]

Few people realize that once Edison made his initial fortune, he actually did little inventing of his own; rather, he had a staff of hired researchers who did the work, an "invention factory" -- and, as with many large corporations today, whatever they invented became his patent. He rarely gave credit where it was due.

My take is that although some inventions were the legitimate brain children of his help, in most instances he would scribble broad ideas and order a series of experiments that led his underlings to wade through the actual science. Even the light bulb, which involved 1200+ failed combinations of filament and surrounding gas or vacuum, was completed successfully when he wasn't even there. When they got a light to burn a while, they went and got him at home....

[FatJackDurham]

Edison was Bill Gates. He had good inventions, but then he used the system to harass and smear competitors, and tried to drive them out of business.

Tesla was Steve Jobs. Far, far, more brilliant that Edison. But hot tempered, unstable. But when you think of the times, Teslas insight and understanding of what we now call quantum physics, wave theory and EM radiation is nothing short of astounding. Some of the UFO crowd believe he was an alien or a time traveller from even beyond our current time.

[getitdone1]

Check-out, if you haven't already, the video about Nikola Tesla on YouTube. Parts 1 thru 5. Very interesting!

I have become less of a Thomas Edison fan,due to his character rather than his inventions, after reading about his relationship with Tesla.

When you have all the money you could possibly need and another person comes-up with a superior idea, you should admit it immediately. You should admit it immediately, once convinced, regardless of the money.

There are also other videos on YouTube about Tesla.

While into Tesla's inventions I came across this web site address where they are praising a special generator you can build yourself.

http://www.MagEnergy.us

I do believe we will one day no longer need fossil fuels. Don't think this will be too many years into the future.

Don

[Pisgah]

I have become less of a Thomas Edison fan,due to his character rather than his inventions, after reading about his relationship with Tesla.

There is little doubt -- most of us would not have liked him personally.

[Bosco]

If this history still interest you, I recommend the book "Uncommon Friends". It is, perhaps, a little rosy, but interesting non the less.

[bdhold]

Edison was the D in R&D.

The movie was not invented by Edison, though he patented it. It was invented to win a bet about whether horses always had one foot touching the ground when running. Muybridge proved they did not, and won the bet.

In 1878 Eadweard Muybridge photographed a horse named "Occident" in fast motion using a series of 12 stereoscopic cameras. The first experience successfully took place on June 11 at the Palo Alto farm in California. The cameras were arranged along a track parallel to the horse's, and each of the camera shutters was controlled by a trip wire which was triggered by the horse's hooves.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrRUDS1xbNs

Though he also pursued his invention and could have taken Edison to task on the patent if he chose.

[Bill in Oregon]

Odd though that Europe runs on DC eh?

[bdhold]

Odd though that Europe runs on DC eh?

no, 50Hz AC
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AC_power_plugs_and_sockets

transmission losses make DC prohibitively expensive.

[stickfred]

IIRC, Europe also runs on about 220v as opposed to 120v.

Tesla was a great one what with inventing the radio, developing his Tesla Coil, and wireless energy transmission. His theoretical works are nearly innumerable and has been mentioned are still being used today to solve and advance technological issues.

Edison brought him in and after Tesla had worked his way up was offered to redesign Edison's DC generators. Tesla quit even after being offered a raise from $18 to $25 a week. Edison obviously saw greatness there and tried to take unfair advantage of him.

[Rusty]

Growing up in Ft.Myers, Fla the winter home of Edison was right there in town. I was a great place with botanical gardens on the grounds. His friends would travel the world and bring him samples of all kinds of plants. He would plant them outside then try the fibers the plants for his light bulb filaments. He found the best to be bamboo. As far as I know there is still a light bulb burning with a bamboo filament to this day in his home.

He also did work with portland Cement. using bamboo for rebar. There is a swiming pool there today built in this manner;

[getitdone1]

Just read an article that said DC current is making inroads. Too, it said DC was best for long distances. I'm confused about this. When Tesla and Edison were having their DC/AC battle they said AC was best for long distance. I'm guessing improvements have been made to DC. ???

Came back to this to add: See 'List of prolific inventors' at Wikipedia. Also, as I mentioned before: Edison, Tesla, etc.

Although Wikipedia may sometimes be inaccurate, it's the most up-to-date. I use it all the time. I'm a 'question guy.'

Don

[stickfred]

+1 for Wikipedia. It can usually give you at least basic information to start you off. Oftentimes it will have links to send you further.

[Catshooter]

Edison killed cats

You say that like it's a bad thing . . .


Catshooter

[getitdone1]

I read he had an elephant electrocuted. Not a bad thing since it had killed one or more people. Electrocuted a few dogs. Never read anything about cats.

He was trying to show 'the world' how deadly/dangerous AC current was as an aid in beating Tesla and Westinghouse in the DC vs. AC battle--for a trememdous amount of money--to the winner. He lost.

About cats. Never cared much about'em until I was around'em for awhile. Lots of different personalities in the cat world, just like with all other animals. Some have great personalities, some don't. We had one that was special. Female. Always remember the very young kitten that climbed-up my pants leg. The others, at that age wouldn't dare, but this one was special.

My brother now has a big stray dog--showed her picture here not long ago--and it too has a special personality. Listens and obeys, likes to play 'fetch,' and play 'tug-a-war' with the thing she 'fetches.' Is kind and easy with smaller dogs--except a momma dog with a sour personality. She's received more than one 'lesson' from this big dog. My brother jumps into the middle of it to save the smaller dog and says the big dog is a 'hand-full' at such time. Wish I could have gotten that on video.

Rambling and off the subject, but what the heck.

Don

[2571]

Edison thought cat hair would function as a filament material.

[piller]

Physics. Direct Current has an Aura effect by which it loses power to the atmosphere over long distances. In the years during the ac/dc debate, many people reported seeing the transmission lines glowing with St. Elmo's fire, or Witchlight, when the air was humid. Alternating current does not lose the power this way, but I don't know enough to explain that. Alternating current does behave in ways that appear to defy the standard equations about how much power can be obtained when the alternating frequency is very high. That is probably just a lack of understanding in some areas of physics, and the need to update Planck's constant. Again, I am not an expert in this. Finally, does anyone remember who used to be credited with inventing the radio, until it was proven that he stole the device from his former employer? And, who is now given official credit?