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Thomas Edison inventions

By Derek on April 12, 2010

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The light bulb everyone has heard of but Thomas Edison inventions far exceed just the light bulb. However, even more fascinating than some of his inventions is the story of his life. This post will highlight on some of the great moments (and not so great) in the life of Thomas Edison. In addition a brief description of some of his inventions are included. Here are just a few of Thomas Edison’s inventions:

  • Telegraphy
  • Telephony
  • Phonograph
  • Light bulb
  • Power System
  • Electric Generator
  • Motion Picture Camera

Regarding Thomas Edison’s life there are plenty of website dedications and most are written with passion and “awe”. I’m no different except I’m not a writer so I’m going to just list some interesting timeline facts that stood out to me when reading these great stories. A really great source of reading “from the heart” is at www.ThomasEdison.com.

Date Fact
February 1, 1847 Born in the United States from Milan, Ohio. He was from a working class middle family & was the last of seven children. He didn’t talk till he was 4 yrs old.
1854

Had trouble in school because of his ADD like symptoms but his mom always kept him grounded with her religious beliefs and believed in him. His dad encouraged him to read the classic novels. He greatly enjoyed reading and eventually found Isaac Newton’s  ”Principia”.
1860 He had always had trouble hearing and this limitation forced him to learn on a more individual basis. So combined with his readings, his love to “question everything”  and his unique way of “learning” he began deriving his own opinions on just about everything even Newton’s laws.
1861 Had several different jobs and little businesses such as fruit and vegetable stand and selling newspapers and items for a local railroad. This led him to start his own newspaper business where he gathered news from various sources and published them into “The Weekly Herald” where he had 300 subscribers. This was the first publication to be done via a train.
1862 With his resources as a “publisher” and his love for his recently Presidential nominated hero, Abraham Lincoln, Edison distributed campaign promotional materials to everyone in arm’s reach.
Around 1862 Thomas earned enough money selling newspapers to create his own chemical experiments laboratory in his home basement. But after his mom got tired of the “smells” coming form the basement he moved them to a locked room in his basement and a locker room on the train he worked on. One day the train hit a bumpy section and a stick of phosphorous ignited. It set the rail car on fire but no one was hurt. The conductor sentenced him to only selling newspapers at the station and not on the train.
1863 Thomas was working around the train station and noticed a young boy on the tracks. In a brave act of heroism Thomas saved the boy from being hit by a train. Out of gratitude the boy’s father taught Thomas how to use a telegraph machine. That is the equivalent today of getting a phD in computers. Very rare and he took advantage of it and appreciated the opportunity.
1863 to 1868 His knowledge of the telegraph machine allowed him to work as a brass pounder and replace a person who went off to the Civil War. This provided him the chance to travel and also work in various offices. Through this experience he created the “automatic repeater,” it transmitted telegraph signals between unmanned stations, allowing virtually anyone to easily and accurately translate code at their own speed and convenience. He never patented the initial version of this idea.
1868 to 1874 When Tom traveled back home he noticed his parents had been living in very poor circumstances while he was a traveling telegrapher. He realized quickly he needed to mature  and do something for his parents and for himself. He took a job with western Union in Boston.  Around this time he also got his his 1st patent for the voting machine. However, nobody wanted it and this is when he decided he would only invent things from now on that people would buy. Thomas also affiliated himself with popular folks such as Benjamin Bredding and Alexander Graham Bell.
1874 to 1891 These were the years where his patents really took to life. He was in constant competition with Alexander Graham Bell to create the first phone. However, Bell beat him to it. So not to be out done, Edison invented the incandescent light bulb. He also created some of the first research and development centers.
1892 to 1931 This was when General Electric was founded. Around this time frame Edison also worked with government on military inventions that worked with navy ships and submarines. When his health started to fade around 1920 he mostly worked at home but had visitors often stop by such as Charles Lindbergh, Herbert Hoover and Henry Ford. He passed away in 1931 but not before having a “spiritual moment” with his wife who so lovingly took care of him.

This post is currently being written but is posted so others can see the topic and add to it if they would like. To receive an update on this invention subscribe to the RSS feed for this post. For Feedburner click here.

Did you know this about Thomas Edison?

  • He had a total of 1,093 patents.
  • He enjoyed birds so much that he actually had a aviary of 5,000 flying creatures.
  • Could have fixed his hearing problem at an early age but was afraid of changing the way his mind worked that had allowed him to adapt to his situation.
  • Felt that Isaac Newton’s “Principia” was too complicated for the average person. He always respected the “great ones” that came before him but had a problem with the complexities of how they often explained theories for everyone else.
  • He didn’t learn to talk till he was 4.
  • His last patent was obtained at age 83.
  • He created the largest research and development center in the world.






Be courageous. I have seen many depressions in business. Always America has emerged from these stronger and more prosperous. Be brave as your fathers before you. Have faith! Go forward!
~Thomas Edison

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Chinese Inventions

By Derek on March 28, 2010

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This page is dedicated to all of the fascinating Chinese inventions that have been created. China is a country rich in culture and tradition and the inventions are no different. When researching this topic the only thing I was certain of was that the Chinese invented fireworks sometime around the Han Dynasty (206-220 BC). While that is true this great country invented so much more. Here are some of the more popular Chinese inventions:

Paper and paper currency –  Some say the Egyptians used paper as far back as 3500 BC. However, conventional paper as we know it, made from wood pulp, was devised around early 80 AD by the Chinese. Older forms of paper were expensive and inefficient to be used by the masses but this invention of paper allowed everyone to have access to the benefits of paper.

Gun powder – The invention of gun powder was sometime around 300 AD. The primary reasons for gun powder were for wartime efforts but the more popular reason was to mix the gun powder with other materials like strontium (red) and bromium (green) for the awesome release of fireworks into the air.

Wheelbarrow - The useful invention of the wheelbarrow was sometime around late BC and early AD. Different Chinese people claim the invention but the primary reason for the invention of the wheel barrow was to transport goods to injured soldiers in wartimes. It proved to be a very useful tool in dangerous times and it was actually kept secret for some time.

Parachute – The 1st known parachute documentation was in 90 BC by China and they had working parachutes as early as the 12 Century. Later, Sebastian Lenormand created a parachute in 1783. However, the infamous sketches are the work of Leonardo Da Vinci a few centuries earlier. Also, rumor has it that sometime around 850 AD a Arab man, Armen Firman, jumped from a tower in Spain and his device used for his landing malfunctioned and actually acted like a parachute. He only had minor injuries :-)

Gas deep drilling - Around the 1st Century, the Chinese developed a method of drilling boreholes up to 4,800 feet.  These devices were extremely large stones with doughnut centers stretching from the surface to the drilling depths.  They would use hemp ropes and bamboo cables to extract brine from water for salt. The natural gas was transferred using bamboo tubes.

Compass - The invention of the compass by the Chinese actually began around the Qin dynasty (221-206 B.C.). as a fortune teller tool. They would use lodestones, which contained iron oxide mineral that naturally aligned to a north-south direction, to build their fortune teller boards. Someone figured out they were better for marking directions and created a slab with help from the constellations for markings.

Crop rows for farming – Sometime around the 6th Century BC the Chinese developed a more improved method of farming. By aligning the crop fields in straight rows and “in tune” with the natural wind patterns crops grew better and faster. Why? When the wind blows the crops aren’t damaged because there is a nice straight path for the wind to roll through.

Origami - Origami by definition is folding paper to create a piece of art. So if the Chinese invented paper then they probably had a hand in inventing origami. However, it is mostly understood that the Japanese took the invention of origami to the level it is now. This was done around 6th Century AD and later popularized by a book in 1797, “How To Fold One Thousand Cranes”. Then again in the 1950′s, Master Yoshizawa Akira brought it to the mainstream we know of today.

If you know of any Chinese inventions you would like listed here please leave a comment below or register on this site and make a post. I’ll make sure to incorporate it into this post.

 

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To forget one’s ancestor’s is to be a brook without a source, a tree without root.
~ Chinese Proverb

 

 

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Invention of the light bulb

By Derek on March 14, 2010

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Thomas Edison


The invention of the light bulb is one of the most popular and “talked about” inventions in society. This is mainly due to the association it has with electricity and the many inventors associated with it such as Thomas Edison.

First off let it be known that Thomas Edison did not invent the light bulb but rather improved upon the invention of others to a more efficient and useful working technological model.  There are around 20 to 30 inventors involved with the invention of the light bulb.


Sir Humphry Davy


Common research states that the first to come up with the light bulb idea was Sir Humphry Davy (Great Britain) around the early 1800′s. Davy had a principle for his light bulb invention, that any object when heated to a certain point have objects contained within  it that put off radiation and light. Today this is known as incandescence. His early work used platinum but it was found to not put off alot of light but it did pave the way for other inventors to improve upon.

After Davy many more inventors made improvements upon the original idea. Here are just a few of the great minds who were instrumental in bringing us light:

  • Warren de la Rue (Great Britain) - used another type of platinum with a special evacuated bulb. However, platinum costs were too pricey to allow any commercial models to be developed.
  • Fredrick de Moleyns (Great Britain) In 1841 successfully received the first patent for his version of the incandescent lamp.
  • John Starr (United States) -In 1845 he received a patent for his carbon filament incandescent lamp.
  • Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin (France) - Created his own unique version in the mid 1800′s.
  • Henry Woodward & Matthew Evans (Canada) – This pair created the first Nitrogen gas filled bulb in 1875.
  • Joseph Wilson Swan (Great Britain) – He started his own company and was fundamental in creating more efficient carbon filaments. It is widely known that his house was the first to have a light bulb inside.

Thomas Edison’s (United States) efforts were noticeable around 1878 when his version of the incandescent bulb contained a carbonized bamboo filament. When people say Edison invented the light bulb more often than not they are referring to him because he made the most advancements with the incandescent technology such as better material, lower pressure vacuum and a lamp with higher resistance. He also invented the lighting system which included a generator, mains, feeders and the distribution systems for the electricity.


Firefly - Do you think Edison was in awe of nature the way da Vinci was? Probably so & I bet he is really happy about GE's eco ideas. :-)


All of these inventions helped become the foundation for his company he started in 1890, General Electric (GE). As of 2009, Forbes ranked it the largest corporation with 323,000 employees worldwide. All from a simple light bulb. Gotta love it  :-)

After Edison, many improvements were made to try and increase the quality of the incandescent lamp. The version most commonly settled on was the  Tungsten filament which generates light when heated in a bulb filled with rare gases. As you can see there were lots of great minds at work from many different parts of the world all driven around the common goal of “lighting up the world.”


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I found 2,000 ways how not to make a light bulb. 
~ Thomas Edison

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Invention of the wheel

By Derek on March 10, 2010

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The invention of the wheel has probably had more conversations & debates than any other invention. Think about it! How many things do you know evolved from the wheel? Carriages, cars, planes, cogs, etc……With all of the different applications of the wheel and for the length of time from it’s “perceived” origination there is no doubt controversy behind it. However, according to the paleoanthropologists the wheel was not invented by the caveman. As posted on Answers.com, the wheel was invented in the 5th millennium BC in Mesopotamia (Neolithic era and close to modern day Iraq) and the cavemen lived during the Paleolithic era, before the 10th millennium BC.

From Wikipedia, looking back even further, it is of some interest that although paleoanthropologists now date the emergence of anatomically modern humans to ca.150,000 years ago, 143,000 of those years were “wheel-less”. That people with capacities fully equal to our own walked the earth for so long before conceiving of the wheel may be initially surprising, but populations were extremely small through most of this period and the wheel, which requires an axle and socket, and must be made round to actually be useful, is not as simple a device as it may seem.

So now that the Geico stereotypes have been resolved here is a simple yet effective definition of the wheel from Wikipedia:

A wheel is a circular device that is capable of rotating on its axis, facilitating movement or transportation while supporting a load (mass), or performing labour in machines. Common examples are found in transport applications. A wheel, together with an axle overcomes friction by facilitating motion by rolling. In order for wheels to rotate, a moment needs to be applied to the wheel about its axis, either by way of gravity, or by application of another external force. More generally the term is also used for other circular objects that rotate or turn, such as a ship’s wheel, steering wheel and flywheel.

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Without question, the greatest invention in the history of mankind is beer. Oh, I grant you that the wheel was also a fine invention, but the wheel does not go nearly as well with pizza.
~ Dave Barry

 

 

 

 

 

 


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Invention of television

By Derek on February 19, 2010

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The invention of television has had a huge impact on almost every single person in the world. Many people think the invention of television was in the early 1900′s. While most of the achievements were in the early 1900′s strides were made in the late 1800′s as well. In addition to the interesting timeline for the invention of television, it should be noted that there were many great minds involved in bringing real images and sound into the living rooms of billions of people.

Click on each category for more details on the invention of television.

Inventors & their countries | Timeline of television invention | Various pictures
Invention of Color TV | Invention of Cable Television

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Here is a list of inventors who were involved with the television invention.

Paul Nipkow (Germany): Created a rotating disk that acted as a mechanical scanner which was the primary method for mechanical television’s at that time. He had the idea to use a scanning device (his rotating disk) to scan images and then project them onto a TV. Every full rotation equaled one frame on the TV. It is unclear whether or not Paul Nipkow developed a working model for the masses but he is credited with the rotating disk which set the stage for others to expand upon the idea.

Philo Farnsworth (America): Philo had a interest in TV ever since high school. His primary addition to the television movement was the dissector tube and to this day is the main component for electronic televisions. Philo had a total of 300 patents some of which assisted with the inventions of radar, infrared night light & electron microscope.

Charles Jenkins (America): He is widely recognized as the premier inventor of mechanical television in America. He first gained fame in 1894 when when he created a method to electronically transmit images. Around 1920, he invented a device called a prismatic ring which was the primary component of his Radiovisor TV kits. This kit primarily was a radio but had visual functions and displayed pictures up to a 48 line resolution. His tv station in Maryland was also the first one of it’s kind.

John Logie Baird (Britain, Scotland): Baird used the Nipkow disk mentioned above to derive a slightly different but more useful model of the mechanical television. The first successful transmission of live TV images is his other claim to fame. This happened in 1925 (via a human face projection) and this made him the British equivalent to Charles Jenkins for the US regarding the invention of television. He is also credited with the invention of color tv.

Invention of color TV – : In 1939, John Logie Baird revolved a fitted disc with color filters behind a cathode ray tube. This method was later adopted by CBS & RCA in the US. Later in in 1941 he created a 3 dimensional TV at a 500 line definition. He patented this and this helped him in demonstrating the world’s first full electronic color TV display on August 16, 1944.

Alan A. Campbell-Swinton (Britain): Cathode tubes were another invention of television. Swinton is credited with this technology even though he couldn’t quite develop a model. His efforts though helped inventors, Vladimir K. Zworykin and Philo T. Farnsworth in creating more effective electronic televisions.

 

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Timeline of  television invention

There are several important moments for the timeline of television invention. Matter of fact, too many to mention. Some of the more popular highlights were:
  • TVs were available commercially from 1928 to 1934 in the United kingdom, United States and Russia. The first models were made by Baird and these models were radios that utilized the Nipkow disk. This Baird model was the first massed produced tv set ever and sold about 1,000 units.
  • TVs with cathode rays were first produced by Telefunken in German in 1934.
  • Many years followed where different countries adopted various technical standards.
  • Europe transitioned to the 625-line PAL standard
  • The United States standard NTSC 525-line remained in place until June 12, 2009. At that time, Digital terrestrial television or digital-only broadcasting was adopted.

The timeline of television invention has had some awesome moments. Surely, future additions to the TV will only add to the story of the TV.

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Invention of cable television

Cable TV or Community Antenna Television or CATV. What would we do without it? Seriously. Not being sarcastic. It is an amazing piece of technology. So where did it come from?

The invention of cable television was actually created in the upper mountains of Pennsylvania sometime in the late 1940′s. John Walson and Margaret Walson founded the Service Electric Company in the mid 1940′s to be a full service General Electric (GE) appliance company. Around 1947 they added TV sets to their inventory list. But nearby residents of the Pennsylvania town in Mahanoy City were having reception problems in the mountains because of the mountainous region. John Walson built a antenna pole on a nearby mountain top to demonstrate the good reception that was available to other Pennsylvania stations.

Walson took a cable and connected the mountain antennae to his GE store and used modified signal boosters. He then connected several of his customers together who were along the cable path of his store. This became the first cable tv system.

His awesome idea has been recognized by many including the National Cable Television Association  as well as the U.S. Congress as the founder of cable television. Walson was also the first cable operator to utilize coaxial cable for better quality, pay services like HBO and microwaves to import distant tv stations.

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Various pictures of the TV. Some old and some new.

digital-tv
invention-of-television-old-50s-tv-set-from-wikipoedia
invention-of-television-wall-mounted-hdtv
invention-of-television-old-tv
invention-of-television-rabbit-ears-old-tv
invention-of-television
old fashioned tv

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If it weren’t for Philo T. Farnsworth, inventor of television, we’d still be eating frozen radio dinners.
~Johnny Carson

 

 

 

 


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