T homasEdison
Amcricans have alwaysbeenproud o f their abilit y
to find practicalso lutions topractical p roblems.
Dunng the nineteenth century th ey d eveloped
thOUS:U Il,h.ofproduetstom akelifeeasie r.saferor
moreenj oyable fo r people. Barbed Win.' ISone
examp le.rhesewing machineisanothe r.
Up[ 0 till' midd leofth enineteenthcClUury the
inventors of su ch prod uctsoftenhadlit tlescientific
knowledge.Their inventionswere basedO ilp rac-
ti cal "know- h ow." So long- as the inventions
worked.evcryonewas satisfied.
M an ytundevelop me nts,however.calledfo rall
understandingofbasic scientificprinciplesin,lor
exam ple. clccrric irv. magn et ism and che mis try.
Onemanaboveall o the rsshowedJ.llabilityto usc
such kno wledgetoso lveeverydayproblems. H is
nameW;IST ho masAlva Ed iso n.
Edisonwas bornin IlH7and diedin 193 1. He
made 111 0re th ana tho usan do rigi nalinvcnrions.
Edison'slabora to rycontainedcverym aterial and
che mica l thatwasthenkno wn .\Vcarin galong,
wh itt,che m ist' scoat, his finger sstain edbychcrm-
cals and his h airdittyw ith oil andd ust,hewould
workfordayswithoutcaringo r sleepingwhen he
wasclosetosolving aproblem.
SomeofEdison'ssaying s becamealmost aswell
knownashisinventions."Thereis no subs titute
fo rhardwork" wasoneo f them .Somcnmcshe
took thisp rinciple to o far. On th e d ay he go t
m arried. for exam p le, he forgot his b ride and
spen tthenightworkinginh is laboratory.
Ediso nhad hisgreatestsuccessin makingp racti cal
useofelectricit y ,In 1 878 heformed the Edison
Electric LightCompan y.lieh ada dear co m mer-
cialaim -tocaptu re fromg astheh ugemark etfor
lightin ghomes, streetsandplaceso fwork.By lHlJOth e in du stri esoftheU n itedStateswer e
earningrbccoun trymarl ' thanits farmla nd s. I n the
t\Vl'lHyyears that followed. industri al outpu twent
0 11growmg,faster and faster,By 1913 m o reth ana nt'
thirdofth ewholeworld's mdusrrialp ro d uct ion was
pouringfromthe min es andfactoriesoftheUnited
Stares.
TI" .",.!!
EJiH'"i"I,j,
la"'-".ll"')'.Todo this,o nething Ediso nh adtodevelo pwas a
lo n g-last ing. glowing electric light b ulb , The
problemwas tofind ;1su itab le m ateria l for the
filamento f the bulb. \Vh;u w as needed was a
fi lame n t that would ~Jow brightly when th e
cur rentofclccrrici rvpassedth ro u ghit. butw ith -
outburning o m. Edi so n tried plat inum, papa,
leather,wood.cotton.SOffit"glowedform inutes,
so me fo r ho u rs. but nonefo r longeno ug h to
satisfyhim.Theilhe found the answcr-cbam bo o!
Whenhegaveapublicdcmonsrrarionofhislight
b ulb the value o f shares in the Edison Electric
Lig h tCom panyrosefrom $1 00 to$3.000e ach.
Edison th enbuiltcomple teelectrical gene rati ng
systems to provide his bulbs with powcr. HI,'
developed d ynam o s to pro d uce the ctccrriciry.
undergroundca blestocarryit tow here it was
needed,fuse boxestom akeitSJrCtousc.
T he AgeofElectricityhadbeg u n.Soonelectricity
would nor only lig ht'srr ee rs. bu t heat h ou ses,
powerm achi nes .d ri verailroadengines.Itwould
become w hat it has rem ained ever sinccc-thc
w orld'schiefsourceo f l'n erg y.Thegrow thofA mc ricanindu st rywaso rga niz ed an d
controlledbybusin essmenwho found th em Ollc yto
P;IYtorit.Mmvofrhcvcmenbeganthe irlivesin
poveny.Hvamixtu re of hardworkand ability, and
hyigno rin gtherightsofothers, th eym ade
themselves ,..-ea lrh yand powerful. T heiradmirers73