Thomas Alva Edison: inventing the electric age

145 Pages·1996·0.399 MB·English

by  Gene Adair

Thomas Alva Edison:
Inventing the Electric Age
Gene Adair
Oxford University Press
Thomas Alva Edison
Inventing the Electric Age
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Owen Gingerich
General Editor
Thomas Alva Edison
Inventing the Electric Age
Gene Adair
Oxford University Press
New York • Oxford
To Leslie
Oxford University Press
Oxford New York
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Berlin Ibadan
Copyright © 1996 by Gene Adair
First published in 1996 by Oxford University Press, Inc.,
198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016
First issued as an Oxford University Press paperback in 1997
Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press
All rights reserved. No part of this publication
may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted,
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior
permission of Oxford University Press.
Design: Design Oasis
Layout: Leonard Levitsky
Picture research: Lisa Kirchner
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Adair, Gene.
Thomas Alva Edison / Gene Adair.
P. cm. — (Oxford Portraits in Science)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-19-508799-2 (library edition)
ISBN 0-19-511981-9 (paperback)
1. Edison, Thomas A. (Thomas Alva), 1847–1931—Juvenile literature.
2. Inventors—United States—Biography—Juvenile literature.
3. Electric engineers—United States—Biography—Juvenile literature.
[1. Edison, Thomas A. (Thomas Alva), 1847–1931. 2. Inventors.]
I. Title. II. Series.
TK140.E3A62 1996
621.3’092—dc20 95-37499
CIP
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
Frontispiece:Edison at work in the chemical department of his West Orange
laboratory about 1890.
Contents
Chapter 1.A Festival of Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
Chapter 2.Curiosity and Imagination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
Chapter 3.The Tinkering Telegrapher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25
Sidebar: Electricity: A Few Key Facts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27
Chapter 4.The Budding Inventor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39
Chapter 5.The Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54
Sidebar: The Phonograph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64
Chapter 6.The Electric Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66
Sidebar: The Electric Light Then and Now . . . . . . . . . . . . .78
Chapter 7.Building a System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .83
Sidebar: Mysterious Discoveries: Etheric Force
and the Edison Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .94
Chapter 8.West Orange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .98
Sidebar: Motion Pictures: The Kinetograph and Beyond . . .108
Chapter 9.Into the 20th Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .115
Chronology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .129
Museums and Historic Sites Related to Thomas Edison . . .134
Further Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .136
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .139
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On December 21, 1879, the New York Herald dedicated an entire page to the astonishing news of Edison’s success
with gasless lighting. A public demonstration of the lighting system took place on New Year’s Eve, 10 days later.
CHAPTER
1
A Festival of Light
On the evening of December 31, 1879, the tiny village of
Menlo Park, New Jersey, became the site of a New Year’s party
unlike any the world had ever seen. People were arriving by
the trainload to gaze in awe at the latest wonder to emerge
from the laboratory of the inventor Thomas Alva Edison.
Just two years before, Edison had astounded the world
with the phonograph—a machine that talked. To the
crowds that were swarming to Menlo Park that evening, he
had promised something even more amazing. It was an
electric light that could be used in homes, offices, and
schools—a remarkable technical innovation that promised
to make gas lighting and oil lamps obsolete. The product of
months of intensive labor, the invention was now ready for
display to the general public.
As the visitors arrived at the little Menlo Park station,
they were greeted with a series of glowing glass bulbs
mounted on posts along the street leading toward Edison’s
laboratory. Bulbs burned as well in six nearby houses. Two
lights shone above the gate at the entrance to the laboratory
grounds, while several more illuminated the yard surround-
ing the lab.
9