“I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.” -Thomas Edison
Top 4 Inventions
The Electronic Vote Recorder: Thomas Edison was issued a U. S. Patent 90,646 on 1 June 1869 for his Electronic Vote Recorder. It was used by congress to quickly record the votes of the legislators. In this machine, legislators transmitted a signal by moving a switch on the machine to the yes or no position. This would send a signal to the central recorder on the clerks desk. The central recorder would then list the names of the legislators in the yes or no column, depending on where they voted.
Phonograph: On August 12, 1877, Thomas Edison made a life changing invention. Thomas Edison invented the phonograph, the first sound recorder ever. Edison created the phonograph while experimenting with the telephone and telegraph. Edison found that using a diaphragm and needle, he could record movements of sound.
Light Bulb: Probably his most famous invention, Thomas Edison invented the incandescent light bulb in 1879. After trying and failing over 3,000 times to create the incandescent light bulb. However, Edison was not the first to create a light bulb. There were electric lights at the time, but they were very unreliable and had short life spans. Edison's goal was to create a bright, long lasting bulb. Edison used a carbon filament in an oxygen free bulb to create a light that originally would burn for forty hours. After making modifications, Thomas Edison eventually produced a light bulb that would glow for up to 1500 hours.
Kinetoscope: The Kinetoscope was the culmination of Thomas Edison's work in motion pictures. Before this invention, Edison had a device that looked similar to his phonograph, with 1/16 inch spiral arrangements of photographs which were made on a cylinder. This crude machine was viewed through a microscope and was difficult to focus. Wanting to improve this design, in 1891, Edison created the Kinetoscope. It used 35mm strips of film that were cut into continuos strips and run together in a stop-start sequence. This invention was a major breakthrough for the film industry because it presented a clearer and smoother picture for audiences.