THOMAS EDISON By Allen Wixted v Thomas Alva

THOMAS EDISON By Allen Wixted

v Thomas Alva Edison 1847. v He was one of the first inventors to apply the principles of mass production and large teamwork to the process of invention, and therefore is often credited with the creation of the first industrial research laboratory. (Alfred Whitehead) v Edison is the fourth most prolific inventor in history, holding 1, 093 US patents in his name

v working as a telegraph operator, he learned the basics of electricity. v stock ticker, the first electricity-based broadcast system. v patent for the motion picture camera or "Kinetograph"
 1892, Edison received a patent for a two-way telegraph. v 1902, agents of Thomas Edison bribed a theater owner in London for a copy of A Trip to the Moon by Georges Méliès



v Edison made improvements to the idea of incandescent light, and entered the public consciousness as "the inventor" of the lightbulb v George Westinghouse and Edison became adversaries because of Edison's promotion of direct current (DC) for electric power distribution instead of the more easily transmitted alternating current (AC) system invented by Nikola Tesla and promoted by Westinghouse. v First commercially available fluoroscope, a machine that uses X-rays to take radiographs

THOMAS EDISON AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF AUDIO RECORDING By Kieran D. O’ Sullivan

POINTS TO MAKE v ∙ Thomas Alva Edison's contributions to music recording and playback were not the first attempts at such a device, but by far the most successful. v ∙ Edison's phonograph was the first device to both record and playback sound. v ∙ The Phonautograph (Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville) and the Paleophone (Charles Cros) are two of the main predecessors to Edison's Phonograph.

v ∙ The machine consisted of a cylindrical disk which was covered in tinfoil, in which the sound had been inscribed by the stylus of the phonograph. v ∙ Edison used cylinders, as he considered the constant velocity they provided to the stylus more "Scientifically correct" than using a disc. Ultimately, the disc became the accepted norm, as they were much more convenient in many ways. Sound is still recorded onto discs of other forms even today (CDs).

ADVANCEMENTS v ∙ Although Edison had unlocked the secret of recording and playing sound, his design was impractical for many reasons. The tinfoil he used was only useable a small amount of times, and tore easily. v ∙ Alexander Graham Bell expanded upon Edison's design and modified it heavily until he was granted his patent for a machine which recorded sound into wax. v ∙ It is thought that Edison would have expanded upon his tinfoil design to make it even more efficient, however shortly after its invention, he was contracted to spend 5 years developing an electric light and power system for New York.

THOMAS EDISON AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF MOVING PICTURES By Conor Mc. Coy (11136995)

EDISON MOTION PICTURES

“THE SNEEZE” First Copyrighte d Film 1894

EDISON MOTION PICTURES v. Founded in 1892 v. Built at West Orange, New Jersey v. Studio name “Black Maria” as it resembled the police wagons of the time. v. Closed in 1901 when they moved to New York

FINALLY v Didn’t take out a patent v First Kinetoscope Parlour in 1894 owned by the Holland Brothers v Evolved into Nickelodeons

THOMAS EDISON’S CONTRIBUTION TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF MODERN DAY TELEVISION By Tiernan Morrisey

v Thomas Edison was born on the 11 th February 1847 and didn't actually talk until he was 4 years old and when he was in school, he was presumed mentally slow by his teachers. v This is slightly ironic seeing as he helped to pave the way for the modern television that we all know today.

v Thomas Edison first started working on the very first motion picture camera in 1888 and in 1891, the Kinetoscope and the Kinetograph were conceived by Edison and two of his lab assistants, William Kennedy and Laurie Dickson.

THE KINETOSCOPE • Invented 1888 • William Dickson 1. Peep Hole 2. Image Reel

v The Kinetoscope gave the illusion of movement by having multiple still images on a strip of perferated film that were moved over a light source with a high speed shutter. v Many images were put on multiple strips called reels. These were used in cinemas all around the world for decades. v The Kinetoscope also lead to one of Edisons other inventions that was one of the othersigns of modern day television, the Kinetograph.

v The Kinetograph was the first hand held video camera. It used rapid intermitant or stop-and-go film movement to document what was happening in front of the camera lens. v This method of filming involved the use of a rotating shutter which would cut off the supply of light to the perferated film and thus the image was embeded onto the film. The film would then be run through the Kinetoscope(which I talked about earlier). v Both the Kinetoscope and the Kinetograph helped to make television what it is today.

REFERENCES v K. D. Pavate. . (1885). Thomas Alva Edison. American Association for the Advancement of Science. 6 (133), p 145148. v K. D. Pavate. . (1885). Thomas Alva Edison, Contributions to Entertainment and Communications. American Association for the Advancement of Science. 5 (1), p 71 -75.

REFERENCES v Adams (1934). W. S. Edison: His Life, His Work, His Genius. Indianapolis, IN: Bobbs Merrill. 50. v Denis Condon (2008). Early Irish Cinema 1895 - 1921. Dublin: Irish Academic Press. 28 -30.

REFERENCES v Encyclopedia Britannica. inc. (2012). History of motion picture: Thomas Edison and the Lumier Brothers. Available: http: //www. britannica. com/EBchecked/topic/394161/history-ofthe-motion-picture/52136/Edison-and-the-Lumiere-brothers. Last accessed 05 March 2012 v Mary Bellis. (2011). The History Of the Kinetograph. Available: http: //inventors. about. com/od/kstartinventions/a/Kinetoscope_2. h tm. Last accessed 05 March 2012

REFERENCES v Colombia Encyclopedia. (2004). Edison, Thomas Alva. Available: http: //www. questia. com/library/encyclopedia/edison-thomasalva. jsp. Last accessed 05 March 2012. v Paul Gray Friday. (1999). 19 th century: Thomas Edison (1847 – 1931). Available: Time Magazine. Last accessed 5 th Mar 2012.

FINALLY v Edison was active in business right up to the end
 v Lackawanna Railroad implemented electric trains in suburban service