The inventor Edison came up with it. All the great inventions of Thomas Alva Edison

Thomas Edison said: “Discontent is the first condition of progress.” The degree of “dissatisfaction” of the great inventor is evidenced by 1093 patents for inventions, which were issued to him by the Patent Office. No person in the United States has ever received such an amount. To make the world more comfortable, Thomas Edison invented the phonograph, built the world's first public power plant, improved the telegraph and telephone, the incandescent light bulb... Thanks to his discontent, the world became more comfortable.

Thomas Edison was born on February 11, 1847, the son of a carpentry store owner. However, when Thomas was 7 years old, his father went bankrupt, and the future inventor tasted all the inconveniences of the world of poverty. Nose early years Edison showed himself to be an inexorable fighter against circumstances, not wanting to come to terms with the fall of his family. Edison threw himself into his studies. True, he had to say goodbye to school at the age of 8 - the school environment turned out to be too restrictive for him. His mother, a former school teacher, continued his education at home. At the age of 10, Thomas became immersed in chemical experiments and created his first laboratory in the basement of the house.

At the age of 12, Edison went to earn money. He sold newspapers, fruits and candy on trains. In order not to waste time, he moved the chemical laboratory to the baggage car at his disposal and carried out experiments on the train. At the age of 15, Thomas bought a printing press and began to publish his own newspaper right in the baggage car of the train in which he worked, and sell it to passengers.

However, Edison was attracted to everything innovative, so in 1861 he changed railway to a more progressive telegraph. From the very first days of working as a telegraph operator, he thought about how to improve the telegraph apparatus. In 1868, Edison's inventive genius was born with an electric vote recorder. True, there were no buyers for the invention patent, and then Thomas decided for himself that he would only work on inventions with guaranteed demand.

The next invention provided a welcome boost for Edison. Thomas expanded the capabilities of the telegraph apparatus: now it could transmit not only SOS signals, but also information about stock exchange rates. Edison earned 40 thousand dollars from this invention and soon organized a workshop where he manufactured automatic telegraph devices and other electrical equipment.

In 1877, Thomas Edison patented his new invention - the phonograph. Until the end of his life, he will consider this his favorite invention and the main achievement in his own inventive career. He was inspired to think about a phonograph by sounds similar to unintelligible speech that once came from a telegraph repeater. The press called the phonograph " greatest discovery century,” and Edison himself proposed many ways to use it: dictating letters and documents without the help of a stenographer, playing music, recording conversations (in combination with a telephone), etc.

In 1891, Edison shocked the world with a new breakthrough invention, without which modern civilization cannot be imagined. He created a device for demonstrating sequential photographs of moving objects - a kinescope. On April 23, 1896, Edison held the first public screening of a film in New York, and in 1913 he demonstrated a film with synchronized sound.

Until the end of his life, Thomas Edison was engaged in improving this world. At the age of 85, dying, he told his wife: “If there is anything after death, it is good. If not, that's fine too. I lived my life and did the best I could...”

Incredible facts

Without a doubt, our lives would be completely different without the inventions of Thomas Edison. This amazing creator has changed our culture in countless ways. Edison was born in the USA, in Ohio in 1847, and he received his first patent at the age of 22. The last patent in his name was issued two years after his death in 1933. Throughout his life, he received 1,033 patents in the United States alone and 1,200 patents in other countries. Biographers estimate that, on average, Edison received a new patent every two weeks of his working life. Although many of his inventions were not unique, and he often sued other inventors from whom he "borrowed" ideas, his marketing skills and his influence often helped him.

Most of Edison's inventions fall into eight categories: batteries, electric lighting, phonographs and sound recording, cement, mining, moving pictures (movies), telegraphs, and telephones. However, although he is remembered for his major inventions - the motion picture, the incandescent light bulb and the phonograph, his tireless imagination produced several other ideas that are not so well known and which were not welcomed by the public.

10. Electrographic voting recorder

Edison was a 22-year-old telegraph operator when he received his first patent for a machine he called an electrographic voting recorder. He was one of several inventors during his time developing methods to improve the functioning of legislative bodies, such as the US Congress, who tried to improve the process of counting the votes of congressmen on a given bill.

In Edison's recorder, a device was connected to each employee's desk. On the table was a sign with the name of each legislator, and two metal columns with the inscriptions "yes" and "no". Congressmen turned on the device by moving the handle in the appropriate direction (yes or no), thereby sending an electrical signal to the desk clerk, who spoke about their opinion. After voting was completed, the clerk placed a sheet of paper treated with a special chemical solution on top of the metal device and pressed it with a roller. Then all the pros and cons were revealed on paper, and the votes were counted without delay.

Edison's friend, another telegraph operator named Dewitt Roberts, showed interest in Thomas's apparatus, bought it for $100 and took it to Washington. However, Congress was reluctant to adopt any device that could speed up the voting process, since it would eliminate time for political manipulation. Thus, Edison's device was consigned to the political graveyard.

9. Pneumatic stencil pen

Edison invented the prototype of a device that is currently used to make tattoos - a pneumatic stencil pen. This machine, which Edison patented in 1876, used a steel tip to perforate paper for the printing process. This invention was important in its own right as one of the first devices that could effectively copy documents.

In 1891, tattoo artist Samuel O'Reilly received the first patent for a tattoo machine, a device that was allegedly based on Edison's invention. O'Reilly appears to have made only one machine for his own personal use, since no records of the marketing system survive.

O'Reilly immigrated to New York from Ireland in 1875. After he created his machine, a lot of people began to visit his shop, since the process of tattooing was much faster with the help of the machine. After O'Reilly's death in 1908 , one student took possession of his machine and continued to work with it until the 1950s.

8. Magnetic iron ore separator

Probably one of Edison's biggest financial failures was the magnetic iron ore separator. The idea that Edison experimented with in his laboratory in the 1880s and 1890s was to use magnets to isolate iron ore from unsuitable low-grade ores. This meant that abandoned mines could be very profitable business, since ore can still be extracted from them, since at that time, the price of iron ore increased very much.

Edison's laboratory was busy creating the separator and putting it into practice. Thomas purchased the rights to 145 abandoned mines and created a pilot project at the Ogden Mine in New Jersey. Edison invested a lot of money in the implementation of his idea. However, technical problems were never settled, and iron ore prices fell, eventually Edison had to abandon the idea.

7. Electric meter

All sorts of questions begin to arise when you do something that no one has done before, such as controlling an electrical device that calculates the energy consumption of businesses and homes. You need a way to know how much energy is being consumed in order to bill accordingly.

Edison solved this problem by patenting his device, the webermeter, in 1881. It contained two or four electrolytic cells with zinc-coated electrodes. The zinc electrodes transmitted information to each other at a certain rate when electricity was used. However, the zinc electrodes had to be replaced with new ones after each reading of the amount of energy consumed.

6. Fruit preservation method

Another invention of Edison saw the light of day while experimenting with glass vacuum tubes during the development of incandescent lamps. In 1881, Edison applied for a patent on the storage of fruits, vegetables and other organic products in a glass container. The essence of his idea was that air was sucked out of the container in which fruits and vegetables were stored using a special pump through a special glass tube that was attached to the container.

Another invention related to food products, wax paper, is also credited to Edison, however, it was created in France in 1851, when Edison was still just a child. The inventor used wax paper in his work on a sound recording device, which is probably where this kind of speculation originated.

5. Electric car

Edison believed that cars would be powered by electricity, and in 1899 he began developing an alkaline battery that he believed would power them. As a result, by 1900, about 28 percent of the more than 4,000 automobiles produced in America were powered by electricity. His goal was to create a battery that could drive a car 100 miles on a single charge. Edison abandoned his idea 10 years later, because gasoline appeared, which was much more profitable to use.

However, Edison's work was not in vain - rechargeable batteries became his most profitable invention and were used in miners' helmets, railway signals, etc. His friend Henry Ford also used Edison's batteries in his Model Ts automobile.

4. Concrete house

Not content with the fact that he had already improved the lives of the average American by creating electric lighting, films and phonographs, Edison decided in the early 20th century that the time of urban slums was over, and every working person's family should have a strong fireproof home that could be built according to relatively inexpensive prices and in bulk. What will these houses be made of? Concrete, of course, a material from the Edison Cement Company in Portland. Edison emphasized, recalling his working-class upbringing, that if something good came out of his idea, he would not even think about profiting from it.

Edison's plan involved pouring concrete into large wooden beams of specific shapes and sizes. The end result was a detached house, with plumbing, a bathtub and many other perks, that sold for $1,200, about a third of what people had to shell out to buy a house at the time.

But despite Edison's cement being used in the construction of many structures around New York City during the building boom of the early 1900s, concrete homes never caught on. The molds and special equipment needed to build houses required large financial resources, and only a few construction companies could afford it. However, there was another problem: few families wanted to move into houses that were advertised as new housing for those living in the slums. Another reason: the houses were simply ugly. In 1917, 11 such houses were built, but they were not well received and understood, so no more such houses were built.

3. Concrete furniture

Why should a young couple go into debt to buy furniture that will only last them a few decades? Edison offered to fill the house with timeless concrete furniture for half the price. Edison's concrete furniture, covered with a special air-filled foam and capable of supporting several times the weight of wooden furniture, had to be carefully sanded and painted or trimmed with mirrors. He claimed that he could furnish an entire house for less than $200.

In 1911, Edison's company allegedly produced several pieces of furniture to be displayed in New York at the annual cement industry show, but Edison did not appear, and neither did his furniture. It is suspected that the cabinets did not survive the journey.

2. Phonograph for dolls and other toys

Once Edison patented his phonograph, he began to develop ways to use it. One idea, first proposed in 1877 but not patented until 1890, was to miniaturize the phonograph for dolls or other toys, giving a previously voiceless creature a voice. The phonograph was placed in the body of a doll, which from the outside looked like an ordinary doll, but now cost $10. Little girls wrote down nursery rhymes and songs, which then formed the basis of what the doll said or sang.

Unfortunately, the idea talking doll was far ahead of the technologies needed for its implementation that were present on the market at that time. Sound recording was in its infancy, so when the cute dolls spoke in hissing and whistling voices, it looked very awkward. “The voices of these little monsters are very unpleasant to listen to,” said one of the clients. Most of the dolls barely played or played too weakly to be heard. And the mere fact that this thing was intended for a child to play with already indicated that it obviously would not receive the delicate treatment that the phonograph required.

1. Brass telephone

Coming to the idea of ​​the telephone and telegraph a little later, Edison announced in October 1920 that he was working on a machine that would take communication to new level. In the aftermath of the First World War, spiritualism experienced a revival, and many people hoped that science could provide a way to contact the souls of the recently deceased. An inventor who considered himself an agnostic, which implies a lack of belief in the existence of spiritual world, spoke about his desire to create a machine that would read, in his words, “vital units” with which the Universe is filled after the death of people.

Edison communicated with British inventor Sir William Cooke, who claimed to have captured spirits in photographs. These photographs allegedly inspired Edison, however, he never presented to the general public any machine that he said could communicate with the dead, and even after his death in 1931, no machine was found. Many people believe that they were just joking with reporters when they talked about their "spirit phone."

Some Edison followers claim that during a session with the spirit of the inventor in 1941, he told them the secret and plan for building the machine. The machine was reportedly built but never worked. Later, in another session, Edison allegedly suggested making some changes and improvements. Inventor J. Gilbert Wright attended the session and later worked on the machine until his death in 1959, but as far as is known he never used it to communicate with spirits.

Contribution outstanding people into life modern society undeniably huge. Without the inventions and discoveries of the “strong” minds of humanity, perhaps today’s life would look different. These discoveries and inventions represent a huge evolutionary step forward, making modern life more comfortable. Without a doubt, the American inventor Thomas Alva Edison, whose life spanned two centuries: he was born on February 11, 1847, and died on October 18, 1931, can be considered one of the outstanding minds of the past and the centuries before. For my long life T. Edison received more than 1000 patents in the USA and more than 1000 patents in other countries European countries peace. Not a single American inventor in his long life received such large quantity patents from the Patent Office. Thanks to the inventions of Thomas Edison, such areas as telephony and telegraphy were improved, and thanks to his efforts, the world's first public power plant appeared. These discoveries are truly large-scale and irreplaceable, and it can be called with capital letters The Great Mind of Humanity.

It is worth emphasizing that even as a child, the future inventor was very inquisitive and had a naturally bright mind and excellent memory, despite all the hardships of life and the rather harsh childhood years, when he was often sick and worked hard to help his mother earn money.

We can highlight the main significant inventions of Thomas Edison that really changed life for the better:

1. Edison received his first patent at the age of 22 in 1869, while he was working as a telegraph operator. Perhaps that is why his first invention was related to the telegraph industry. He invented and developed a device that automatically counted the number of votes “for” and “against” in voting, without using the paper method of counting that was common at that time, when everything was recorded on paper. This invented electric vote-counter allowed one to simply press a certain button corresponding to "yes" or "no" and was located on the desk of each voter. Thanks to corruption political authorities At that time, this invention of Edison did not receive due publicity and distribution, since it did not allow the authorities to rig votes, as could be done before using the “paper” voting method. The young inventor called his first creation an electrographic voting recorder. After his first failure, he decided to adhere strictly to the rule - to invent only what is really needed and will be in demand;

1. The creator patented his next invention in 1876; it was a prototype of a modern tattoo machine. This device was called a pneumatic stencil pen, which was used at that time for copying documents. In 1891, the famous tattoo artist of the time, Samuel O'Reilly, patented the world's first tattoo machine, developed on the basis of Edison's pneumatic pen;

1. In 1877, Edison invented a device that truly made him famous for centuries in many countries around the world. He called this device a phonograph. It appeared thanks to his work on combining the telegraph and telephone. The principle of operation of the telegraphic apparatus was to record a message on paper, which could subsequently be sent repeatedly via telegraphy. He planned to do the same with the telephone. As a result of his work, a conversation transmitted through a telephone was recorded in the form of prints on paper automatically, without human intervention;

1. Few people ask the question: “Who invented the dolls that make various sounds?. This idea was actually Thomas's. He continued to develop the idea of ​​a phonograph and, having reduced it by several times, placed it in children's toys, thereby “revitalizing” them by giving them a voice. As a rule, such toys “spoke” in children’s voices; they read poetry and told fairy tales. But this idea had both supporters and detractors, which prevented the widespread development of this direction;
2. But there were also unsuccessful discoveries in the inventor’s career. He conceived the idea of ​​isolating iron components from low-grade ore using magnetic influence. The inventor acquired about 145 abandoned mines in American state New Jersey, but all the funds he spent did not bring a positive result, as a result he discarded the idea of ​​​​creating a magnetic iron ore separator;
3. In 1881, a device was patented that allowed him to control and accurately count the energy spent, in other words, he came up with an electric meter - a webermeter;

1. During his experimental activities, Thomas came up with an innovative new method storing food, in particular fruits and vegetables, by creating glass flasks in which a vacuum was created thanks to evacuated air;
2. By using an alkaline battery solution based on iron and nickel, he obtained an analogue of the modern alkaline battery, which formed the basis for the creation of electric vehicles running on electricity. Thus, thanks to the method he invented for creating an alkaline battery, by 1900, about 30% of cars produced in the United States ran on electricity. But, unfortunately, after 10 years this idea exhausted itself, and gasoline took its place. Nevertheless, this discovery of his became one of the largest, due to which he became significantly enriched;
3. Trying to simplify the lives of Americans as much as possible, Edison improved the concrete production process through the use of a special method of rotation in kilns. As a result, the cost of the material dropped significantly and became available different layers population. But the improver did not stop there and began to use this cement in the production of concrete furniture, which lasted many times longer than the usual wooden one. In addition, he became the founder of the construction of concrete-based houses. On average, finished houses with a full communication system cost an American about $1,200, which was a third cheaper than similar houses made from other materials. But, unfortunately, concrete houses did not become widespread, since the production of concrete structures required special expensive forms that not everyone could afford to use. construction company of that time. However, by 1917, about 11 houses were put into operation, but they did not receive a corresponding positive response, so the construction of these houses was first suspended, and subsequently completely stopped;
4. Few people know, but Edison became interested in the occult and afterlife. He tried to record the voices and sounds of people who had just died, this formed the basis for the creation of the wind telephone in 1920, in other words, he developed the necrophone device. Unfortunately, to this day this device has not survived, nor have the drawings, so whether Thomas really succeeded in realizing his idea, no one knows for sure to this day;
5. The bright mind and ingenuity of this man led to significant improvements in telephones. In particular, he improved the telephone microphone by replacing the carbon rod with a carbon battery;
6. By adding carbon filament to incandescent lamps, he significantly reduced the cost finished products, and also increased its service life to 40 hours, allowing its mass use. Today, Edison's improved light bulb is compared to the name Svetlana, which is just as light and bright. But Edison did not stop dabbling with light, continuing to work on the topic of lighting. He went even further, creating a transformer that controlled the supply of electricity to electrical appliances, and subsequently, in 1882, an entire electrical distribution system. Initially this system functioned only in 2 quarters, but it managed to short period time to prove yourself with a purely positive side. In the same year, under his leadership, the first power plant began operating in one of the major cities of America, New York. This invention is rightfully considered the best creation of his entire life;

1. Edison conducted experiments to create a special device that would operate on hydrogen and oxygen, releasing water. His experiments were very successful and formed the basis of many modern technologies.

Undoubtedly, the contribution of the inventor Thomas Alva Edison is enormous. His works formed the basis for the creation of many modern developments, in addition, he significantly simplified the lives of people of that time thanks to his discoveries and achievements. He tried to make them as affordable as possible in terms of price and developed truly necessary things in everyday life any person. Today there are many reviews about Edison: some call him a “patent thief,” and others call him a genius of his time. There are a lot of reviews about him, it’s worth paying tribute to, not all of them are laudatory and positive. But he was an honorary academician of science from the Soviet era, and also received America's highest award - the Congressional Gold Medal. And many printed publications At the time, he was called "America's greatest mind." However, Thomas Edison's contribution to modern science enormous, his bright mind is simply irreplaceable today. The likelihood of his success lay largely in the fact that he was doing what he loved.

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Was born Thomas Alva EdisonFebruary 11, 1847 to a family of American immigrants in Ohio. He was the seventh child in the family and since he was the smallest, he became everyone's favorite.

His career began, perhaps, with an attempt to teach his neighbor to fly. The secret discovered by Thomas, who had not yet gone to school, was simple: birds fly because they eat worms. But the neighbor still did not fly away from the ground worms, and Thomas was punished.

One American company paid Edison fabulous money for improvements to the telegraph, and Thomas Edison gained popularity as a person accepting orders for inventions. He opened his own laboratory with a staff of one hundred people, in which he practically lived. He worked 20 hours a day, was never afraid to make mistakes and did not believe in the possibility of failure.

Edison invented the quadruplex telegraph, gramophone, kinetoscope (prototype of a movie camera), fluoroscope (x-ray machine) and much, much more. In total, during his life he received 1093 patents for his inventions.

The most famous of his inventions was the incandescent electric lamp. Inventing it, Edison conducted 2000 experiments, spending a whole year on it, burned half of his face with a bright flash of light and even received nervous breakdown. Nevertheless, Thomas achieved his goal both as an inventor and as a businessman: light bulb became so simple and cheap to use that lighting candles became simply a luxury in comparison.

Success stories never get old because the principles of success are essentially unchanged. Thomas Edison is a man who broke all the rules and canons. He did so poorly at school that his mother took him away from there and began teaching him herself. As an employee, he never showed excessive zeal at work. He stormed into interviews with his hands in his pockets and chewing gum. He made his first invention by accident.

The story of Thomas Edison is the story of a man who thought big, worked 20 hours a day and never betrayed himself.

Great words of Edison:

« I didn't fail. I just found 10,000 ways that don't work ».

"I had no working days or rest days. I just did it and enjoyed it ".

Interesting facts:

Thomas did not perform particularly well at school, if not worse - already in the first grade the teacher called him a brainless idiot and to this schooling The future inventor's life ended after only a few months.

At school, things went so poorly for the future genius that his mother was forced to teach him at home. Edison repeatedly stated that The secret of success is to allow yourself to be yourself, to study in the way that suits you, and not as the teachers impose.

Thomas had hearing problems due to a previous illness. But according to him, his ears “did not perceive the noise of the side electric charges, and this only helped me concentrate completely.”

Thomas Edison short biography presented in this article.

Thomas Edison short biography

Thomas Alva Edison- American inventor who received 1093 patents in the USA and about 3 thousand in other countries; creator of the phonograph; improved the telegraph, telephone, cinema equipment, developed one of the first commercially successful versions of the incandescent electric lamp. It was he who suggested using the word “hello” at the beginning of a telephone conversation.

Thomas Edison was born on February 11, 1847 in Milen, Ohio, into a family of carpentry store owners. When he was 7 years old, the family went bankrupt and moved to Michigan.

Little Thomas was completely fascinated by learning. He was especially interested in various experiments, and at the age of 10 he set up his own laboratory at home. The experiments required money, so at the age of 12 he got a job as a railway newspaperman. Over time, his laboratory is moved to the baggage car of a train, where he continues to conduct experiments. In 1863, he became interested in telegraphy, and over the next five years he worked as a telegraph operator. At this job he used his first invention - a telegraph answering machine, allowing young Thomas to sleep at night; At the age of 22 he founded his own company selling household electrical appliances.

Edison patented his first invention in 1869. It was an electronic recorder of votes during elections. There were no buyers for this patent. However, for the invention of the stock ticker (a telephone device that transmits stock quotes) in 1870, he received 40 thousand dollars. With the proceeds, he opened a workshop in New Jersey and began producing tickers. In 1873, Edison discovered duplex and then four-way telegraphy. In 1876 he created a new and improved laboratory for commercial purposes. This type of industrial laboratory is also considered to be Edison's invention. The carbon telephone microphone was invented here in the late 1870s. The next product of the laboratory was phonograph. At the same time, the scientist began to work hard on the implementation of his most important invention - incandescent lamps.

In 1882, Edison's first power plant was opened in New York. Moreover, he seriously thought about merging his companies into a single concern. In 1892, he managed to annex his largest rival in the field of electricity, forming the world's largest industrial concern, the General Electric Company. During his life, Edison was married twice and had three children from each marriage. The scientist’s deafness progressed due to scarlet fever suffered in childhood.