Thomas Edison is one of the first names that come to mind when we think of inventors in the modern world. We know the name Edison for inventing the light bulb, but he didn’t actually invent the light bulb, he was just part of the process. If we look at it from a wider perspective, the light bulb occupies a very small place among his inventions because there are more than a thousand patents registered in the name of Thomas Edison.
Thomas Edison worked as a team, not alone. This is perhaps one of his greatest contributions to the world of science. On the other hand, by commercializing the inventions he made, he actually removed it from being just an experiment and succeeded in putting it at the center of daily life. Let’s take a closer look at who Thomas Edison is and show a few examples for those who wonder what he invented.
Let’s talk about his life briefly: Who is Thomas Edison?
Thomas Alva Edison, with his full name, was born on February 11, 1847 in Ohio, USA. He learned Morse code by making a simple telegraph machine by himself at a young age. In the 1880s, he married Mina Miller, who would later become the mother of his three children, and moved to Florida, a home close to Henry Ford, with whom he would become lifelong friends.
He is fully committed to the industrial research laboratory he founded, Menlo Park. Thomas Edison wrote more than 4,000 invention notebook drafts here. Among them, 1093 of them were registered as patented inventions. He died at his home in New Jersey on October 18, 1931, at the age of 84.
What did Thomas Edison invent? Here are some of his hundreds of inventions patented in his name:
- Lightbulb
- automatic telegram
- Phonograph
- carbon donor
- Camera
- electric pen
- voting machine
- iron separator
Lightbulb:
As we have explained in detail in our article here before, the inventor of the light bulb is neither Edison nor Tesla. Like many inventions, the light bulb was actually invented thanks to the simultaneous work of different scientists. Edison’s right on the light bulb is greater than the others because he found the right filament for the bulbs that were unstable until that time and passed a low voltage through it, allowing it to last for hours. This system used later opened the door to many new inventions.
Automatic telegram:
During the early years of the 1870s, Thomas Edison worked on the telegraph and aimed to develop it further. The automatic telegraph he invented for this purpose was powered by a kind of electromagnet. The electromagnet-driven needle was placed on recesses in a special cardboard disc. Thus, recorded messages could be transmitted in this way without an operator. Later, this device was further developed and turned into a system that can send two messages at the same time and provide communication between ships.
Phonograph:
The phonograph is considered one of Thomas Edison’s most important inventions. Roughly speaking, a phonograph is a kind of sound recorder. During speaking, a needle creates indentations by penetrating the sound vibration into the foil on the drum. Although a temporary recording, Edison later invented cylinders and discs that provided permanent recording. The first sound recorded by the phonograph was Edison’s saying, ‘Mary had a little lamb.’ is the sentence.
Carbon donor:
The carbon emitter device is actually a small part of a long experimental process. Its purpose was to measure and increase the distance of the telephone system invented by Graham Bell. The heat in this device, which used a battery and carbon, was moving according to the carbon transmitter sound waves. Later, this device was further developed with charcoal granules and was actively used in telephone technologies until the 1980s.
Camera:
If we said camera, don’t think of a technology like today. The first device he invented recorded images using a method similar to that of the phonograph, but the images were terrible. Later he developed a system using 35mm celluloid film, which was much better. Developing the system further, Edison and his team started making short films. This system, where movies could be watched through a peephole, was powered by a battery-powered lamp and allowed 20 seconds of footage to be watched. In other words, it would not be wrong to say that Edison actually invented the cinema.
Electric pen:
Although it is called an electric pen, this device is actually a simple copier. Invented in 1876, this device works as a small motor moves the pen up and down. A cylinder passes over the ink flowing through the holes created by this machine, which works with 50 strokes per second, and thus the document is copied. The working system may sound familiar, because the electric pen is the ancestor of not only the copier, but also the tattoo pen used by tattoo artists.
Voting machine:
Edison had invented this voting machine, known as the Electrographic Vote Recorder, when he was just 22 years old as a young telegrapher. The machine’s purpose was to enable members of the US Congress to vote much faster than by voice voting. The working system of the machine was simple; one voting device on each member’s desk was connected to a different device on the clerk’s desk. The votes appeared on the clerk’s desk when the member flipped the yes or no button. A wheel-like system displayed the results as a table.
Iron separator:
In the last quarter of the 19th century, iron ore was much more valuable than it is today. To separate iron from lower grade unusable ore, Edison invented a magnetic system. It would be an extremely effective system, especially in iron mines, but when a new iron mine was discovered in the region while the works were in progress, the works were suspended. Instead, Edison found a special rock grinding system, and that’s how the iron began to separate.
Answering the question of who is Thomas Edison, who is considered one of the most important scientists and inventors of recent history, we shared some of the most interesting ones among more than a thousand inventions. Except for his tricks in business, he was actually a pretty good guy.
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