Elsevier

Journal of Power Sources

Volume 136, Issue 2, 1 October 2004, Pages 356-365
Journal of Power Sources

Thomas Alva Edison—battery and device innovation in response to application’s needs

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2004.03.016Get rights and content

Abstract

Thomas Alva Edison, the most prolific inventor in North America, with over 1000 patents, was the descendant of early settlers from the Netherlands to the Hudson Valley region of New York/New Jersey. However, his genealogical trail encompasses many cities, provinces, states, and countries, including Holland, France, Scotland, New Amsterdam, New York, New Jersey, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Ohio, and Michigan. He was motivated to develop and invent in response to perceived needs of commercial devices and was the creator of the concept of an industrial research laboratory. His activities covered a wide-range of chemical, electrical, medical, metallurgical, entertainment, and communication devices and led to the creation of major worldwide industries. However, his expressed underlying concern was the “service it might give others”. This presentation reviews commercial developments in comparison with the technologies and motivations of the time and is illustrated by material from the Rutgers University ‘Edison Papers Project’, Edison’s personal notes found in the Edison Battery Factory and preserved by Professor Salkind, and records of The Electrochemical Society.

Section snippets

Genealogy of Thomas A. Edison

The genealogy of Thomas Alva Edison, as shown in Table 1, can be traced to John Edeson, his great grandfather, who was born in The Netherlands in 1727. John Edeson who came over from Holland in 1730 with his widowed mother, as nearly as can be determined, were descendants of extensive millers on the Zuyder Zee and took up patents of land along the Passaic River in New Jersey. Some graves of the family can still be found in the hamlet of Caldwell.

John Edeson settled in North America, along the

Thomas A. Edison—boyhood and early career

As shown in the family tree, Table 2, T.A.E. was born in 1847 in Milan, Ohio. He was taught to read at a very early age by his mother and throughout his life was an avid reader. The family moved to Port Huron, Michigan, a shipping town, when T.A.E. was 7 years old.

He had many childhood illnesses and his formal education was delayed. When he was enrolled in a regular school at the age of 8, his intense curiosity made him incompatible with the educational methods used at the time and he quickly

Thomas A. Edison—marriages and descendants

Thomas Edison married twice. First, to a local girl from Newark, New Jersey, Mary Stillwell. After her very early death at the age of 29, he was left to raise three young children. He subsequently married again (when he was 39) to Mina Miller, a considerably younger woman. At the age of 21, she became a stepmother to Mary’s three children. It was not an easy task as she was less than 10 years older than her stepdaughter Marion.

Descendants of Thomas A. Edison

Although several of the six children of Thomas Edison had distinguished careers, only one, his daughter Madeleine, produced a succeeding generation of offspring. These descendants are shown in Table 3.

Technical overviews and motivations

When Edison was 21, while living in Boston, his first patent (US Patent 90,646), covering an electrographic vote recorder, was issued. A model was exhibited before congressional and state legislatures, but it was turned down on the basis that it would ‘interfere with filibusturing’ [1]. He also developed his ideas for a duplex telegraph and carried chemical experiments including a modification of Nobel’s work on taming nitroglycerine. However, a sample stored behind a stove exploded and Edison

Societal activities and recognitions

In his lifetime, Thomas Edison received many awards and recognitions from technical societies, universities, and governments.

The first academic institution to recognize his scientific achievements was Rutgers College of New Brunswick, New Jersey, which awarded him a Doctorate (Hon.) of Philosophy in 1879 (Fig. 21), when Edison was 32 years old and living in nearby Menlo Park. This was subsequently followed by degrees from other colleges, including Princeton University.

He was a founding member

Origin and status of Edison’s companies

Edison’s strategies, business organizations, and management styles changed over the years. In a 60-year-period starting in 1870, he was involved in the affairs of one or more commercial activities he created from his inventions; including telephone and telegraph, lighting and power, sound recording, motion pictures, ore milling, Portland cement, primary and storage batteries, and rubber.

A number of dominant worldwide companies evolved, mainly through mergers. In 1892, the Edison General

Quotations and philosophy

The motivations and philosophy of Edison can be understood by a review of his quotations. Samples of these are shown below:

“I never perfected an invention that I did not think about in terms of the service it might give others… I want to save and advance human life, not destroy it…I am proud of the fact that I have never invented weapons to kill...The dove is my emblem…

I find out what the world needs, then I proceed to invent… My main purpose in life is simply to make money so that I can afford

References (1)

  • M. Byron. Vanderbilt, Thomas Edison, Chemist, American Chemical Society, Washington, DC,...

Cited by (0)

1

Dr. Paul Bryan Israel, Director and General Editor, Thomas A. Edison Papers, Rutgers University.

View full text