Thomas Alva Edison's Life
| Thomas Alva Edison was born in Milan, Ohio, to Samuel and Nancy Elliott Edison. | |||||||||||
| Family moved to Port Huron, Michigan. | |||||||||||
| Attended school for three months. | |||||||||||
| Began selling newspapers, candy and food on the Grand Trunk Railway between Port Huron and Detroit. | |||||||||||
| Employed as a telegraph operator traveling through the South and Midwest. | |||||||||||
| Returned to Port Huron. | |||||||||||
| Moved to Boston. Patented his first invention -- the Electrical Vote Recorder. | |||||||||||
| Moved to New York City. Started a business manufacturing telegraph equipment. Invented the Universal Stock Ticker. | |||||||||||
| Married Mary Stilwell. Received a patent for paper ticker tape. | |||||||||||
| Developed a quadruplex system which changed the telegraph industry. | |||||||||||
| Established a laboratory at Menlo Park, New Jersey. Received patents for the mimeograph machine and electric pen. | |||||||||||
| Invented the phonograph. Invented a carbon button transmitter, for use in telephones and phonographs, which he believed to be his most original invention. | |||||||||||
| Founded the Edison Electric Light Company. | |||||||||||
| Invented the first practical incandescent electric light bulb. Demonstrated it to the public by lighting the town of Menlo Park. | |||||||||||
| Discovered the Edison Effect which would become the foundation of the field of electronics. | |||||||||||
| Began mass production of light bulbs and electric parts. | |||||||||||
| Established the Pearl Street Central Power Station in New York, the first commercial electric power plant. | |||||||||||
| Edison Illuminating Company began building municipal power plants. | |||||||||||
| Edison's wife, Mary Stillwell, died at 29. | |||||||||||
| Married Mina Miller. | |||||||||||
| Moved into West Orange Laboratory | |||||||||||
| Consolidated many of his separate companies into the Edison General Electric Company. Invented the kinetograph, forerunner of today's motion picture camera. | |||||||||||
| Edison General Electric Company merged with Thomson-Houston Company to become the General Electric Company. | |||||||||||
| Introduced the Kinetoscope to the public by hosting the first commercial showing of a motion picture. | |||||||||||
| Invented the fluoroscope but decided not to patent it because of its tremendous usefulness in medicine. | |||||||||||
| Invented the nickel-iron-alkaline storage battery. | |||||||||||
| Began construction of the Edison Cement Plant. | |||||||||||
| Made improvements in cement so that it could be used in major construction. | |||||||||||
| Perfected the nickel-iron-alkaline storage battery. | |||||||||||
| Formed Thomas A. Edison, Inc. | |||||||||||
| Produced the first talking motion picture. | |||||||||||
| Named President of the Naval Consulting Board. Produced several military-related inventions during World War One. | |||||||||||
| Received the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal for career achievements. | |||||||||||
| Re-enacted the invention of the incandescent light bulb to celebrate its 50th anniversary. | |||||||||||
| Died on October 18th at age 84.
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