The Wizard of Menlo Park

Kevin Lipinski

Mr. Annarelli

US History II

October 26, 2005

"The Wizard of Menlo Park"

Thomas Alva Edison or Al as he was usually called was the seventh and last child born to Sam and Nancy Edison in 1847 in Milan, Ohio. Edison's father dabbled in a number of things from lumber to real estate, none of them proved very profitable. As a result, the family's financial state was very shaky.

Young Al was a sickly child and when combined with his talent for mischief which got him into constant trouble, he probably only attended school for a few months. His mother was very protective and took over his education. By the time he was twelve Edison had absorbed such classics as Gibbons Decline of the Roman Empire, the Dictionary of Sciences and other technical work. Reading prompted experimenting and before he was in his teens Al arranged a shelf of boxes and bottles in his cellar - his "laboratory", where he conducted "tests", and "research".

Edison found work as a newsboy on a train in the early 1860's. He was struck by the value of the telegraph in transmitting news of the Civil War. News would fly between stops on the rail line. He became friendly with the stationmaster and telegrapher in Detroit who taught him Morse Code and other essentials of telegraph operations. Edison made a living as a telegrapher from Canada to Boston. He was restless and changed jobs frequently. J.B. Stearns had invented the duplex telegraph but Edison thought he could improve on it. "His work paid off, he invented a quadruplex telegraph that could send two messages in one." (Greene 47) "Edison is a utilitarian to his fingertips. He never yet invented a machine that could not be employed in everyday life." (Annals 231) Profits from the "quad" telegraph allowed him to open a combined workshop and laboratory in Menlo Park, NJ where he was "incessantly engaged in various forms of invention for more than 50 years and took out 1,033 patents." (Annals 50)

The impact of the phonograph in 1877, with the suddenness of its accomplishment was spectacular. Edison considered the phonograph his greatest invention, "he spent years improving the recording as well as the reproducing apparatus. (Untermeyer 224) Edison demonstrated the phonograph before the United States Congress and then to the president of the United States, Rutherford B. Hayes. It was at this time that he began to be called "the Wizard of Menlo Park. "The phonograph would, of course become the foundation of the multi-billion dollar musical recording industry."(Adair 63)

No sooner was the phonograph invented than Edison decided to answer the challenge of the electric light. In October, 1878, Edison and his financial backers introduced the Edison Electric Light Company. On November 1, 1879 "The incandescent electric light and systems of distribution of electric light, heat and power, which may justly be considered as the crowning inventions of Mr. Edison's life." (Annals 233) "His designing and developing of a generating and distribution system for electricity was what made the incandescent light practical."(Andrist 138)

On September 4, 1882 Edison was ready to begin operation of the Pearl Street Power Station in New York City. The plant was wired to 800 lights in 25 buildings, including the offices of the New York Times. At 3:00 P.M. Edison threw the switch. Describing the event the New York Herald remarked on the "steady flare, bright and mellow which illuminated interiors and shone through windows fixed and unwavering." (Adair 97) "Today in the United States there are more than 41 million of these lamps connected to existing central station circuits in active operation. Besides these lamps there are about 500,000 arc lamps and 150,000 motors, using 750,000 horse power, besides countless fan motors and heating and cooking appliances." (Annals 233)

After the phonograph and the electric light became commonplace, Edison turned to another invention which was to have an enormous influence. This was the motion picture camera that he hoped would have a great influence on education. Edison became fascinated with the work of an English scientist named Eadweard Muybridge who mounted photographs inside a rotating device called a zoetrope which when spinning gave the appearance of movement. Edison worked on producing a photographic device that would, as Edison explained it, "do for the eye what the phonograph does for the ear."(Adair 107) Late in 1889 Edison had decided on the basic design of a motion picture camera, called a kinetograph (motion recorder). To display the motion pictures Edison created a kinetoscope. In 1893 a strange-looking wooden building covered with black tar paper was erected on the grounds of the West Orange lab - the world's first motion picture studio. "Motion pictures would prove to be, in the years ahead, one of the most profitable ventures pursued by the West Orange laboratory." (Adair 111)

In 1908 the Motion Picture Patents Company was formed linking Edison and eight other companies in a monopoly that for nearly 10 years controlled the production, distribution and exhibition of all motion pictures in the U.S." Edison knew that the kinetoscope was only a small model of progress.

Edison foresaw the time when motion pictures would become much more than merely entertainment. "He realized that nonfiction would appeal to audiences in