Thomas Alva Edison and his contributions to science and technology (Part 04)
# Edison`s services to the nation and formation of the modern General Electric
Read about Edison`s inventions.
By 1911, Edison bought all the companies and merged them into one corporation (Thomas A Edison Inc). This vast industrial complex helped him to manage manufacturing operations. Edison was president and chairman by the age of 64 years. Edison was asked to lead the Naval Consulting Board in 1915. This board comprised of top talents of leading technologists, involved in world war I. He wanted to make naval forces more receptive to submarine detection. Although there were not significant contributions made to the American armed forces, it became a precedent for future co-operations. He was a more industrial icon than a scientist by far.
Thomas Edison was getting older now and he had achieved all his dreams by and large. In 1914, a horrible event occurred at the new plant. The factory in west orange caught glaring fire. Edison was there and citing his entire wealth burning down to ashes. In a moment, thirteen units of his factory were devastated completely. According to an article reader digest in 1961 by Edison`s son Charles, Edison calmly walked over to him as he watched the fire destroy his dad`s work. In a childlike voice, Edison told his 24-year old son, “Go get your mother and all her friends. They will never see a fire like this again.” It looked like he was speaking farrago of words, but he was penning down things, necessary to build his factory again. The gross loss was around 3–5$ million, which was an enormous wealth at that time [7].
Edison knew that once he would restart his factory, he would cover his losses and accumulate more wealth. He was a workaholic and proactive in participating in factory related issues. Senectitude adapted to more illnesses, Edison started facing problems with his digestion at the age of 67 which left him unfit for eating. In 1920, he started spending time at home along with his wife, though his relationship with children was distant.
In late 1920, Edison did the last research experiment of his life at the request of his nearest friend Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone. They requested Edison to find alternative materials for use of automobile tires. The material used prior came from rubber trees which not harvested commonly in the United States. It increases the price demand due to booming imports. Edison tried out various plants and concluded Goldenrod weed as a feasible substitute. He was working on this still till his death.
In 1926, he retired from his company and kept his son in charge of the factory [8]. He used to spend most of his time with his friend Henry Ford. Their friend bond started when Henry was employed at Edison’s Factory. According to Ford Century, Ford Invested $1.5 million (almost $31.5 million today). In the electric-car project and nearly bought 100,000 batteries from Edison before the project fell apart. Edison along with their friends used to call them vagabonds. They used to tour and party together. Edison used to attend ceremonies where people used to listen to the first-ever recorded poem, “Merry had a little lamb”.
He succeeded to patent a thousand ninety-three (1093) inventions during his lifetime, an additional 500 to 600 were unsuccessful or abandoned. Interestingly, he was one of the youngest patent receivers where he registered his innovation of electrographic vote recorder at age of twenty-one years. There are many awards, statuses, and institutes on his name in America now. An admirer, Henry Ford built up a museum at Greenfield Village, Michigan. President Hoover and other notable attended this event at light`s golden jubilee.
Edison joined the Civitan club along with his friends John Burroughs and Harvey Firestone. He was an active member of this group till death. He believed that this club is contributing heavily to the community, state, and nation. His last inauguration was for a suburban electric train service. It was the first multiple unit electric train that used the electric system championed by himself. He drove himself the first mile from Lackawanna Terminal in Hoboken to South Orange. Edison used to regulate his diet with only liquid (fad diet). He used to consume a pint of milk every three hours. He was a quite timed person and used to do things in a very organized manner.
Politically, Edison was a free thinker. He was inspired by the scientific deism of Thomas Paine. He believed in supreme power but did not worship. His religious thoughts were more ambiguous, the reason could be the strong religious affinity of society. Edison is quoted as saying “I am not an individual — I am an aggregate of cells, as, for instance, New York City is an aggregate of individuals. Will New York City goes to heaven?”. He was acclaimed as an atheist by many. Instead, he wrote a private letter to clarify this matter stating. “I do not believe in the God of a theologian but that there is a supreme I do not doubt,” he wrote [8].
Edison followed the moral value of nonviolence and narrated proudly that he never created any weapon that could hard humanity. He had extended this philosophy to animals as well. On the contrary, he used cruel methods of electrocuting elephants to convince people of danger regarding alternating current. He was a vegetarian in practice. Once in a New York Times interview, Edison left the story of a spirit phone which can help to communicate with the dead. Later, he disclaimed it telling that it was just a joke because he had nothing to say. Although, people believe it strongly because he was a big media sensation by then.
Thomas Edison was a huge supporter of monetary reforms in the United States Economy. He was opposer to deb-based money and gold-metal reserve standard. He thought that the government is not able to well produce money which was a credit to a taxpayer. He wrote an amendment draft to the federal reserve in 1922 where he proposed a commodity-backed currency that can be used to issue interest-free loans to farmers based on the commodity that they produce.
Interestingly, Thomas Alva Edison was the only scientist who enjoyed the high privilege and achieved prominence during his lifetime. He was voted for a special medal of honour, as a symbol of ingenuity, by United States Congress in 1928. In 1931, he used to live in his west orange county accommodation. His health deteriorated further due to complications of diabetes and he lapsed into coma four days before his death. On October 18 the same year, his coffin was attended by fifty thousand people in his laboratory for 2 days. He is buried in New Jersey close to his house. Reportedly, Edison`s last breath is stored in a test tube at the Ford museum in Detroit. His wife died later in 1947. His son Charles became Governor of New Jersey later in 1941.
Edison`s second child Edison Jr. (1876–1935) remained dodgy and was involved in fraudulent activities. He used to sell shady products by labelling them as Thomas Edison`s discovery such as snake oil. Edison Sr. had to pay him a weekly allowance of $35 to stop him from further carrying our menial jobs. Edison received more recognition and award even after his death. He used to call his first two kids with the nickname Dot and Dash. In 1938, US Congress celebrate his birthday as Inventor`s Day. He was honoured with the “Technical Grammy Award” in 2010 and inducted with the title of “Great Floridian” by the cabinet of Florida.
Edison was bearing many companies in his name and employed hundreds of thousands of people. Some popular companies are Commonwealth Edison (now Exelon), Consolidated Edison and Edison International. He was a folk hero but and notorious boss. He could be a tyrant to the employee and callous to business rivals. He was not a family-oriented person who often prefer to stick to his work life. He was always very confident and over-optimistic of his ideas. He used to carry interests in things that were more linked with generating business for him rather than adding value to society.
His recognition was later awarded the most notable town of Edison in New Jersey. There are Edison State College and Thomas Edison State University for adult learners. On the 75th anniversary of the incandescent light bulb, a lake in California was named after Edison. US postal service issued a commemorative stamp on his 100th anniversary in 1947. Mount Edison in Alaska was named after him in 1955. A major music award is named after him in the Netherlands. Many American engineering societies have top-level awards and patents for a major contribution to science and technology.
Read about his childhood.
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.
7. “The Life of Thomas A. Edison”. The Library of Congress. Retrieved February 24, 2013
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Edison
9. “The Invention Factory: Thomas Edison’s Laboratories” National Park Service (NPS)
10. “The History & Technology of the Edison Bridge & Driscoll Bridge over the Raritan River, New Jersey” (PDF). New Jersey Department of Transportation. 2003. Retrieved February 24, 2013
