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Thomas Al “GENIUS” T Edison’s early years shaped his inventiveness and career homas Alva Edison is given accolades as a genius and more than most geniuses. Thomas was born in Milan (Ohio) ‘the man who made the future’. Certainly much of the to a middle-class family in 1847. In just a short time it was technology we use today evolved from his research apparent he was extremely inquisitive, visiting shipyards for and products – technology like electric light and even the Great Lakes shipping and asking endless questions. If you DVD disc. are at a distance, why could you see a hammer hit a board, Few have left such a footprint on the world as Edison, before you heard it? Why make the joints so tight? What is demonstrated by his inventions, products and millions of pitch made of? ephemera held in museums, libraries and private collections Thomas was always getting into trouble. One day he fell – engravings, photographs, notes, stories and books. while scrambling on a grain elevator and nearly suffocated as Edison’s modus operandi was simple. So simple, anyone the wheat covered him. A few days later, investigating a bee’s can be inspired to be as successful. All that’s needed is nest, an angry ram butted him. Another time, he chopped off passion, drive, study, endless experiments, comprehensive the tip of his middle finger using an axe to shorten a belt. notes, a team of the best inventors and craftsmen, the best Still not at school, Al (his nickname) patent lawyers money can buy, almost was testing theories. He decided birds no sleep (as you work around the clock), Part 1 – could fly because they ate worms. plus making and losing your fortune By Kevin Poulter Mashing worms into a drink, he many times. 22  Silicon Chip siliconchip.com.au lva Edison charged a poor girl with drinking it. She got sick but didn’t fly. When Al burnt a neighbour’s barn down while experimenting with matches, the owner took him to the town square and publicly punished him over his knee. If all this sounds a bit dramatic, most Aussie country boys did much the same in their childhood (well, most didn’t burn down the neighbour’s barn)! His public schooling at seven years old was just a short time, after his teacher told Al’s mother he was ‘addled’, essentially meaning he was confused and not very bright. After this news, his angry mother took him from class to home-schooling. Fortunately Mrs Edison had been a teacher and young Thomas was hungry to learn from every book he could find. He devoured facts and history and rarely forgot anything, possessing a remarkable memory. He read Sir Isaac Newton’s two volume ‘Mathematical siliconchip.com.au Principles of Natural History’ but didn’t understand much of it. Years later he said “I can always hire mathematicians but they cannot hire me”. Al decided he now had the answer to flying but this time was again very careful in the experiment. Instead of trying it out himself, he got the chore boy to take triple the dose of Seidlitz Powders, figuring it would create copious gas and the hapless ‘volunteer’ would float like a balloon. Unfortunately, all that happened is the boy became very sick and Al was punished. At age eleven, Thomas finally found a scientific book he could understand, ‘A School Compendium of Natural and Experimental Philosophy’. Soon he set up a laboratory in the basement at home, eager to try the experiments. On the back of his home-made table, Al had two hundred bottles, gathered from every home discard he could find. Each one was labelled ‘Poison’, with a skull and crossbones, September 2006  23 On these and the following pages are just a few of the myriad of patents awarded to Edison, covering the period 1869 through 1881. So prolific was Edison and his team in applying for patents that the US Government Patent Office set up a special “Edison” office to handle them all! to keep family and friends from meddling. In reality, the bottles contained items like mercury, feathers, sulphur, beeswax and acids. Al completed every experiment in the book during his eleventh year. Some years later, another boy who was to become his lifelong friend, learnt much from the same book. That boy was Henry Ford. Thomas kept notes on all his experiments and pasted them in scrap-books. He continued this throughout his life, graduating to notebooks when in business. Three pages of rough sketches from one of his notebooks sold recently for US $1000.00 Considering Al made chlorine and oxygen gas in the basement and exploded a toy house with hydrogen gas, it’s a wonder the family home wasn’t destroyed. At this stage, there were two ways he made electricity, both from the book – by friction of rubber against glass and by moving a magnet. The latter was the forerunner of the giant dynamos Edison was to yet to invent to power towns. Batteries were already in use in this era (1850s), especially to power the Telegraph, but they couldn’t compete with steam or water for power. His experiments continued, so Edison became a very proficient chemist, but he wanted more than just some pocket-money from his parents. The railroad was built right up to his town and officials visited to promote rail’s benefits to the town. Young Edison overheard two train officials saying they needed to hire a boy to sell newspapers and sweets on the train. After a family conference, at the age of 12 , Edison started in commerce on the railroad. He sold newspapers, novels, sandwiches and sweets. On arrival at Detroit, Edison had an 8-hour stopover each time, so he explored. Soon he found the Detroit Free Library and looking at all the rows of books, decided if he read them Young Edison experimenting with his phonograph. His partial deafness encouraged him to produce equipment that was loud and clear. His ‘headphones’ resemble a stethoscope. Colour images of Edison are rare, as the process of colour photography and printing was not common in Edison’s time. April 18, 1878 was a memorable day for Edison. He was photographed at Mathew Brady’s world-famous Washington studio, then demonstrated his phonograph to the Academy of Sciences and later to President Rutherford B Hayes (ending up after 3AM!). Not bad for a lad that never completed any more than a few years schooling! 24  Silicon Chip siliconchip.com.au all, soon he would know almost everything in the world. As the library kept buying books, it became too much to read them all, so Thomas began to concentrate on scientific texts. When tired or bored he went to the locomotive works and watched the boilers being made and tested. At 13, he also sold his wares in the towns where the train stopped. The profits went toward more chemicals. And profits were good, up to $40 a month. With so many enterprises, Thomas hired three helpers, to run his magazine and newspaper outlet in Port Huron, plus a greengrocer store selling fruit and vegetables he shipped from Detroit and from farmers along the rail route. Each station his train visited had a telegraph. Thomas wanted to know how electricity was used to send Morse in an instant between towns. So he made a crude set-up in his basement, connected by stovepipe wire to his friend, half a mile away. Bottles were nailed to trees as cable insulators and at one point, a cable salvaged from the river became a conduit to carry the wire under a road. Batteries were very expensive, so Thomas looked at alternatives. He grabbed a tomcat, connecting the fore and hind feet into the circuit as electrodes. By furiously stroking its fur the wrong way, a huge electrical arc was produced but the cat was not impressed and escaped. With the experiment unsuccessful, there was no alternative but to save for batteries. On making the system operational, Thomas and his friend learnt Morse-code and got in at least half an hours practice each evening. After a while, he convinced his parents he could practice longer and only get six hours sleep, then do an 18-hour day. This was the beginning of his career pattern of long hours and little or no sleep. One third of the baggage car was allocated to the train boy for his supplies and base, however Thomas was now able to afford chemicals and materials for experiments but had little time. So he turned ‘his’ area in the car into a mobile laboratory. As a brilliant 14-year-old, his reference book at this time was Fresenius’ ‘Qualitative Chemical Analysis’, a book still After inventing the phonograph in 1878, Edison was distracted by other projects and made few improvements. When Bell made an electric gramophone with wax cylinders, Bell offered to manufacture it under both names. Edison was shocked plus annoyed and flatly refused, privately calling his competitors ‘a bunch of pirates’. Soon he released his own electric phonograph, with solid wax cylinders, so they could be shaved and used more than once. siliconchip.com.au September 2006  25 used by colleges and universities in the 1930s. At every opportunity, Thomas rode up front with the fireman and engineer. One evening, the crew were too tired after attending the trainmen’s ball, so Thomas took charge. The train limped to its destination, as Thomas overfilled the boilers with water. Differences between the North and South states were not only political but cultural, with the North being industrial and the South growers with black slaves. When Lincoln won the election, the southern states started seceding from the Union. Little over a month later, the war between the states began and Thomas no longer had to hawk his newspapers – they sold as people boarded the train. Thomas figured he would make more profit if he printed his own newspaper. After all, there was plenty of gossip in the city and he picked up the latest news from telegraph operators, so he could publish much later breaking news than the traditional press. He purchased a hand-press, previously used to print menus at a hotel, plus a bag of metal type and enlisted the services of another boy as a ‘news hound’. Edison made an improvement to the telephone in 1876 – the Carbon microphone. This microphone had such good performance, it was used extensively for about 80 years. The receiver (earpiece) shown above relied on clockwork and three chemicals, which had to be moist! 26  Silicon Chip siliconchip.com.au The travellers and public were impressed and within a month, his single-sided ‘Weekly Herald’ had four hundred subscribers, at eight cents a month. With his newspaper, vegetable store and train concession, Thomas was clearing $60-$80 a month, a huge sum for a young lad. George Stephenson, the famous British engineer, inspected the railway and was so impressed with the Weekly Herald, he sent a copy to the London Times, declaring it was the first newspaper in the world to be published on a moving train. In 1862, the battle of Shiloh was rumoured to have claimed 60,000 lives and was continuing. Edison saw the crowds milling around bulletin boards, so he asked the Detroit operator to telegraph the towns on the route and place bulletins on their wall that newspapers were coming. In return, he offered the operators subscriptions to journals and a daily evening paper for six months. Thomas decided to purchase one thousand copies of the Detroit Free Press, (instead of his usual two hundred) but could only pay for three hundred. The superintendent of despatch refused to give Thomas credit, so he went upstairs to the Editor, now asking for one thousand five hundred papers. This was beyond the Editor’s charge, so he took Thomas to the owner’s office. After some deliberation, he was given the papers and loaded them onto the train with three other boys. At the first town, he normally had a couple of customers, but was mobbed by a crowd, selling about one hundred and fifty newspapers at five cents each. Raising the price to 10 cents each, he sold so many on the way, by the destination at Port Huron, he only had a few copies left, now at 25 cents each. This clever enterprise made Edison over one hundred dollars in one day. Five months later, in 1862, the temperature was over the century (F) in the shade, as Thomas waited beside the line at Mt Clemens station. He was shocked to see the son of the station agent collecting pebbles on the track, with a train approaching. Thomas leapt to save the child, a very close shave – so close, part of his shoe was torn off. The agent was immensely grateful, offering to teach 15-yearold Edison how to become a railway telegraphist. Nothing could be better for Edison, as he was interested in the technology, noticed the operators were well-paid and they had considerable spare time. Thomas engaged his friend to do the paper run on the rest of the line, so he had eight hours a day to study telegraphy at Mt Clemens. During his 18-hour days, Thomas still printed Home to over 170,000 products Where all the leading brands live GO TO siliconchip.com.au www.rsaustralia.com RS203SC International Rectifier 100%C, 50%M. Panasonic 4col. Reliable • Simple September 2006  27 his newspaper and carried out experiments in his mobile laboratory. Luck was about to take a turn for the worse. Selling papers at Fraser station, he missed the “all aboard” call and hurtled after the moving train. At last he grabbed the handrail, but out of breath and with hands so cold, he couldn’t haul himself on board. A brake-man grabbed him by the scruff but when that didn’t work, reached for his ears. As his ears were pulled, Edison felt something snap. From then on, he began to go deaf. After initial dismay, Edison used his impairment to advantage, finding he could operate a telegraph with less distraction from surrounding chatter and noise. It also encouraged him to make the phonograph and telephone loud and clear, so he could hear them. His career as a train boy came to an end when the mobile laboratory jolted over a rough rail section, spilling a stick of phosphorus and setting fire to the baggage car. The conductor put out the fire and ejected Edison, his lab and press from the train at the next station. In time, Edison decided the ‘Weekly Herald’ was not profitable, so he opened a new local newspaper, ‘Paul Pry’. It contained gossip about the town and even exposed shady business dealings. Soon after being tossed in the river by an angry reader, Edison ceased publication. The lure of the telegraph beckoned and Edison installed a Part of Edison’s lab in Menlo Park. Note the pipe organ at the rear, the vertical post with apparatus to create a vacuum and the bank of batteries behind it (both on the left). Edison’s early labs were moved and recreated at the Ford Museum in USA and can still be seen today. 28  Silicon Chip siliconchip.com.au telegraph between Port Huron station and the Chemist, a mile away. Stovepipe wire was nailed along the top of a rail fence. Messages were clear on fine days but poor in the rain. As few messages were sent, he served in the Chemist store. When the station telegraph operator left to join the military telegraph corps, 16-year-old Edison applied for the position and got it. The telegraph office was inside the jeweller’s store, which also stocked books, guns, organs, dominoes and china. Ever the convincing salesman, it didn’t take long for Edison to move his lab into the store. In time there seemed no future in this position, so he applied for and got a telegraph operator’s job up the line, in Ontario, Canada. The shift was 7 to 7 in the evening, but Edison researched and worked on his own ideas during much of the day as well. Most night telegraphists fell asleep during their night shifts, so the railroad company devised a system where operators had to telegraph their number to the other end every hour, to show they were awake. Edison’s was number 6. To catch some sleep, Edison had the night watchman wake him every hour, then came up with a better plan – a device connected to the station clock. Every hour a notched wheel would close the electrical circuit, sending number 6. This became undone when the assistant chief telegraphist (Left): Edison tried many filaments in his lamps, to gain longest life and brightness.This pre-1890s type used a high resistance carbon filament, created from a process of carbonising bamboo. Edison searched the world for materials like this bamboo. (Above) The Edison electric lamp evolved with constant improvements. This example still had the evacuation nipple on top, however the brass Edison screw fitting has reached its final shape by this time. siliconchip.com.au September 2006  29 stopped off at the station one night, finding Edison asleep and witnessing the contraption in action on the hour. Edison’s idea of a notched wheel setting off a switch is nearly identical to the mechanical automatic school bell system, still in use in Australian schools a hundred years later in the 1970s. In fact, timer power outlets with this concept are still sold in stores today. He was forced to discard the device but remembered the principles of operation that would one day make him a fortune. A number of telegraph jobs ensued and Edison studied how repeaters functioned, setting up two where he worked. He also considered “if Morse can be stored on paper tape, sound should be recordable too”. All these experiences would shape Edison’s career. Al Edison still spent his money on chemicals and books. In Louisville, he went to an auction and won 20 copies of the North American Review, for $2. At three the next morning, he was travelling to his lodgings with the bundle, when a bullet whizzed past his head. Turning around, a policeman asked why he didn’t stop when commanded, as he looked like a thief with possessions from someone’s home. 19-year-old Edison explained he was deaf and the policeman apologised. Edison continued to have a series of telegraphic jobs, some- The most important part of the Phonograph is called the spectacle frame. (top right) On one side is the recorder, on the other, the reproducer. 30  Silicon Chip times causing his own downfall, like when he spilt sulphuric acid in another makeshift lab, ruining the desk and carpet in the manager’s office below. He was invited to leave. One of the biggest difficulties with telegraphy was that the lines would get clogged in busy times, with queues of unsolved messages. Edison worked on this for years and at age 26, he sold the Quadruplex – a system for sending four messages at once – for thirty thousand dollars. This stunning Idelia, an extremely rare and exceptional phonograph made by Edison, features a mottled metal finish. It is a 2 and 4-minute phonograph with model O reproducer and an 11-panel Cygnet horn with original wood grain paint. All parts have the special metal finish. It recently sold for $54,000! Photo by Guido Severijns, Netherlands siliconchip.com.au To give an idea of the lifestyle of the man at the time, picture a scientific mind and a scruffy dresser whose home was a single room with a folding cot, lab, books, oil stove and surplus telegraphic equipment – a room full of ambition. His hobby was doing chemical experiments. With his obsessed scientific mind, poor dress and anti-social due to shyness and poor hearing, he was not yet married. His first employer, the Grand Trunk Railroad, was in trouble. One of the two cables across the St. Clair river had broken. Edison set up a device to make one cable do the work and the grateful railway company gave him an unlimited pass. Apparently they had forgotten this was the same lad who was literally tossed out of their employ four years earlier! The rail pass was great for getting to his next opportunity, Western Union in Boston. Edison was soon known as one of the best operators in Boston. By reading Faraday’s electrical books and trying his experiments, it was like Faraday himself was teaching Edison. One experiment was adapted to combat the swarms of cockroaches. At night, the cockroaches would come into his office, looking for food. Edison invented a cockroach ‘exterminator’. As they walked to planted food between two strips of tinfoil, the battery was turned on. Scientists believed producing papers, magazine articles and books was prestigious, plus a way to attract funding and sales. Patents were also essential to protect ideas, so much was published by leading scientists, or authors who approached them. This was used to advantage by others eager to learn, copy and improve on electrical inventions. This pattern was employed with great success and at great expense, through Edison’s working career. Boston was a centre of electronics inventions and production, so Edison visited and lurked around many of these stores, making notes on the equipment. He was becoming noticed, through his product, the double transmitter, which enabled two messages to be sent in opposite directions on the one wire, by regulating the strength of the current. His invention was written up in Telegrapher, the magazine of the National Telegraphic Union, in April 1868. Next month his combination repeater was in the magazine and the month after, the double transmitter was mentioned again. But Edison wanted income more than fame. His first really great invention was a vote counter for Congress. Counting of votes was very time-consuming, so Edison’s invention would save these important people many siliconchip.com.au hours a week. Problem was, they looked at his beautifully constructed invention and declared they actually liked the time out for minorities to stall bills, plus networking, relaxing and other distractions. So his great project was brushed aside, with hardly a consideration. Throwing himself back into inventing, Thomas made Edison originally manufactured and sold his Phonograph through the National Phonograph Co. When they went bankrupt, he acquired the company and the Edison brand commenced. September 2006  31 an improved Stock Ticker that only worked on two wires, instead of the usual three. A stock ticker is like a telegraph that reports the share-market figures to brokers and buyers, anyone who can have a ticker installed. Sales went well in Boston but his sales representative kept all profits himself, while Edison was trying to sell the unit in New York, where they were not interested. About the same time, 21-year-old Edison set up a private telegraph system between businesses in Boston. The key to his equipment was Morse Code printed onto paper tape, a system very similar to telex machines still in use 100 years later. Despite many set-backs, Edison decided to be a full-time inventor, arriving in New York in raggy clothes with ten cents in his pocket, in 1869. This was an inspired young man, living on a dream. He slept on the floor of the Gold Indicator Company. Three days after arriving, the chatter of the transmitter went silent. The mechanics didn’t know what to do and three hundred messenger boys from brokerage offices were sent to ask for the rapid restoration of the service. Edison calmly found and fixed the problem. Within two hours the entire network was ‘on air’. The next day Edison was made superintendent of the plant, at a salary of three hundred dollars a month. Buoyed with this success, he joined two mates to open a new company, the Pope Edison company. This electrical engineering and telegraphic agency, ran on essentially three young men’s dreams and ambition. They offered telegraphic instruments, construction and maintenance contracts, devices like fire-alarms, obtaining telegraphic patents, designing and constructing experimental apparatus, wood engravings and a purchasing agency. After his job and daily conference with his partner, Edison slept for 3-4 hours. Soon his previous employer bought out the fledgling business and put him to work on the stock ticker. After making good progress with variants, like a simple and less fault-prone version, his boss asked him for the price to buy all his existing patents. Edison thought $5000 would be fair, but was offered $40,000! With no experience in banking and accounts, he asked for the amount, which was paid by the bank in low denomination bills. Young Edison stuffed his clothes full of the king’s ransom and nervously kept the money overnight, until he was shown how to bank it. The money enabled the 23-year-old to open a store making stock-tickers, then a larger store, employing 18 men, in around-the-clock shifts. Edison worked 20 hours a day, supervising both shifts. In an acid-stained suit, dirty and dishevelled, he was often mistaken for one of the workers. Edison evoked employee loyalty, due to his diligence and respect they had for him, many staff later becoming leaders in utilities and electronics. It wasn’t long before Edison employed over 300 people. Women operated his automatic telegraph, which made perforations in paper, using a keyboard. In 1873 he watched 16 year old Mary Stillwell typing and asked her to marry him. They got married and on his wedding day, Edison worked until after midnight, until a friend helped him home. He must have spent some time at home, as two children arrived, nicknamed ‘dot’ and ‘dash’. Edison moved his business to a more tranquil location, Menlo Park, where he established factories, later known as the ‘invention factory’ and Edison himself was known as ‘the The phonograph bought entertainment and music to isolated families, especially farmers, across the globe. Three types were available: hand crank, then clockwork motor and battery electric. The wind-up type was popular, as it was maintenance free and cheaper than battery power. 32  Silicon Chip siliconchip.com.au The Microbric Viper is a perfect entry point into robotics and programming, or the ideal compliment to your existing robotics line up! All modules are fully assembled, meaning there is no need for a hot soldering iron to build your robot. This makes the Microbric Viper perfect in an educational environment. The Edison Standard Phonograph became available in 1898, the first phonograph to carry the Edison trademark design. Standard-sized cylinders were typically 11cm long and 55mm in diameter, played at 120 RPM and priced at 50 cents each. An early disadvantage was the cylinders were only two minutes long. There was no mass-production method, so performers had to record repeatedly, to make a saleable quantity. Wizard of Menlo Park’. Inventions didn’t just need inventors. Craftsmen produced beautiful metal, glass and wood engineering in workshops equipped with metal and wood lathes, drills, planers and milling machines, all driven by one of the finest steam engines in the country. Menlo Park was described in the book ‘Edison And His Inventions’, in 1898: ‘Far superior to any laboratory in the world. It is not an uncommon thing for Mr Edison to make an invention in the morning and before night receive a working model. In this stupendous and splendid laboratory, the great professional inventor is now at work, day and night, astonishing the civilised world by the character and number of discoveries.’ He took out about one patent every two weeks – so frequent the patent office even had a special department for Edison patents – eventually achieving nearly 1500 patents, from USA to Tasmania! Edison developed clean, efficient power for towns and countries, building dynamos with ninety percent efficiency and making the electric lamp commercially viable. Motion pictures, telephones, cement, electric railways and the gramophone owe much to Edison – a man for his time. He built empires of businesses around the world, worth ten to fifteen billion dollars by the 1930s – all from a boy who had a short time at school and described as ‘addled’. Next month in Part 2: The Microbric connection system means fully reusable modules can be put together and taken apart quickly. Microbric requires nothing more than the supplied screwdriver to assemble, making it possible to have an operating robot in less than one hour! The Viper is controlled by a BasicAtom.com microcontroller, which is programmed in ‘BASIC’, an easy language to learn the fundamentals of robotics programming. Remote Control Robot Available At LTW Harsh Environment Connectors www.ltw-tech.com siliconchip.com.au C-16 Line Multipin Circular Line D-Sub Multipin Multipin Circular C-16 Style RJ45 Miniature DIN Available in Australia from Altronic Distributors Agricultural • Industrial • Mining • Marine LTW connectors represent the ultimate in value and reliability for manufacturers of industrial equipment requiring waterproof connectivity. Available in IP66, 67 & 68 ratings for use in almost any environment. Altronic Distributors carry a range of products ex stock (see website for range available). Other LTW models available upon request. Minimum quantities apply. Sydney Melbourne Perth From rags to billions – winning the patent wars. References and further reading: www.aaa1.biz/sc.html Bump Robot DISTRIBUTORS PTY. LTD. Phone: 1300 780 999 Web: www.altronics.com.au September 2006  33