Thomas Alva Edison and his contributions to science and technology (Part 02)
# The invention of the electric bulb
Read about his early days.
In 1879, the first electric bulb with carbon filament lasted for thirteen hours. On 31 December 1879, a huge crowd surrounded the laboratory and celebrated the lighting event with this first-ever display. The laboratory lightened 25 bulbs with many reflecting glasses which demonstrated a fascinating view of the day during the night. It was a wonderful new year pleasant for people in America. J.P Morgan was one of his biggest investors who were ready to support his project of illuminating Manhattan. Morgan believed this project was the best futuristic investment.
The first-ever electric generation plant was installed in Pearl Street in Manhattan with tons of heavy machinery and an underground wiring network. September 04, 1882, was one the biggest in the history of mankind where a big zone of Lower Manhattan was electrified [4]. It was glaring light even during the night. As said, happy days don’t stay longer. Many other businessmen were striving to create a better and cheaper electric bulb along with an electricity distribution system. This group was searching for another genius who can help them to defenestrate Edison from this monopoly.
Edison was a genius of that time but had a problem of not watering his words. He had a bad image of being mean and not loyal to his contributors. This ethical problem provoked Nikola Tesla to a separate path. Tesla was an employee at Edison`s company. Once Thomas pledged to Tesla that he will reward him with fifty thousand dollars if he fixes all problems with his generators at the Edison Machine Works factory. Tesla tried day in and day out to fix it soon and get some money for his experiments [6]. Later, Thomas Edison did not agree to pay to reward and turned his statement into a joke.
Sooner a great contribution in the market appeared by Tesla as “Alternating Current (AC)” which was directed against the use of Edison’s direct current (DC). The problem with DC was its unsustainability to deliver power at large distances. It requires the installation of a power station at every one-mile distance and AC surpassed the performance in this regard. Undoubtedly, Tesla`s invention was a game-changer and could topple Edison`s business. Bigger rivals of J.P Morgan, the westing house, bought the rights of AC and started constructing its first powerhouse.
It was obvious from Edison`s technological mindset that he was stubborn about the efficacy of his technology. He was not ready to accept that AC was way better than what he had in his pocket. He started playing dirty tricks and incitements against Tesla to disrepute his power distribution. It is famously known as “War of the currents”. Edison wrote in this article “The most effective of these (capable of killing humans) are known ‘alternating current’ manufactured principally in this country by GE Westinghouse”, to promote the bricolage danger. Moreover, he circulated thousands of pamphlets with listings of demerits related to alternating current. The aim was to dispraise this new technological invention and stop people from adopting it.
This high time was marred by the death of his beloved wife in August 1884. Mary was 29 years old and died of an unknown cause. Morphine was a commonly prescribed drug for pregnancy complications at the time. She had apparent symptoms of morphine poisoning [5]. Edison started spending less time in Menlo Park after his electric business collapsed. He was living with his three children in New York City. Later in New England, He met Mina Miller while vacationing at his friend`s house. They married in February 1886 and moved back to New Jersey, where Edison gave a marriage gift of the estate, Glenmont to his bride. Later, he built a laboratory a mile away from his house. It was a three-story building, containing a metallurgy lab, chemical lab, physics lab, power plant, machine shops and patterns shops. This complex facility aided in his experimentation till the last days of his life.
At this point, Morgan realized the prospect behind alternating currents and asked Edison for embracement. Morgan, similar to Edison, looked down this long tie and opened his separate business as General Electric Company. Since he was the prime investor in Edison machine works, he absorbed the old company into his new company to avoid ruining his investment. After all, Edison wanted more business to prove himself so headed to get the electricity contract in the World Columbian Exhibition in Chicago. This exhibition in 1893 was a prime source of face-saving for Edison [5].
It was known by the time that DC power was more costly. When it came to bidding GE stated a price of $1 Million on the other hand Westinghouse went lowest at nearly half of it. This victory of AC was death to the usage of DC.
Read about the invention of the kinetoscope.
References:
1. Baldwin, Neal (1995). Edison: Inventing the Century. Hyperion. pp. 3–5. ISBN 978–0–7868–6041–8.
3. “Edison Biography”. National Park Service. Retrieved May 28, 2017.
4. The Near-Death Experience That Set Thomas Edison on the Road to Fame, Barbara Maranzani, March 5, 2020
5. “GE emerges the world’s largest company: Forbes”. The Indian Express. April 9, 2009. Archived from the original on March 28, 2010. Retrieved February 7, 2010.
6. “The Wizard of Menlo Park”. The Franklin Institute. Archived from the original on March 5, 2013. Retrieved February 24, 2013.
