10 Inventions by Thomas Edison (That You've Never Heard Of)
»
Edison is known for inventing the light bulb, but he had numerous lesser-known inventions. See more pictures of renewing the grid.
©iStockphoto.com/RapidEye
Without question, our lives would be very different without the
inventions of Thomas Alva Edison. This prodigious creator changed our
culture in countless ways with the seemingly miraculous devices that
flooded out of his New Jersey laboratory.
Edison, born in Ohio in 1847, obtained his first patent at the age of 22. The last patent in his name was granted two years after his death, in 1933. In between, he tallied 1,093 United States patents and 1,200 patents in other countries [source: Rutgers]. Biographers have figured that Edison averaged a patent every two weeks during his working life. Even though many of his inventions were not unique -- and he engaged in some well-publicized court battles with other inventors whose ideas he "borrowed" -- Edison's skill at marketing and using his influence often got him the credit.
Most of Edison's inventions fall into eight main categories: batteries, electric lights and power, phonographs and sound recording, cement, mining, motion pictures, telegraphs and telephones. But while the Wizard of Menlo Park is remembered for his major inventions -- the motion picture, the incandescent light bulb and the phonograph -- his tireless mind also came up with some ideas that aren't so well known and some that weren't welcomed by the public. Keep reading to find out why members of Congress rejected a machine designed to make them more efficient and how another Edison invention frightened little girls and angered their parents. You'll also find out about a device that could have kept Edison's genius with us even today.
Edison, born in Ohio in 1847, obtained his first patent at the age of 22. The last patent in his name was granted two years after his death, in 1933. In between, he tallied 1,093 United States patents and 1,200 patents in other countries [source: Rutgers]. Biographers have figured that Edison averaged a patent every two weeks during his working life. Even though many of his inventions were not unique -- and he engaged in some well-publicized court battles with other inventors whose ideas he "borrowed" -- Edison's skill at marketing and using his influence often got him the credit.
Most of Edison's inventions fall into eight main categories: batteries, electric lights and power, phonographs and sound recording, cement, mining, motion pictures, telegraphs and telephones. But while the Wizard of Menlo Park is remembered for his major inventions -- the motion picture, the incandescent light bulb and the phonograph -- his tireless mind also came up with some ideas that aren't so well known and some that weren't welcomed by the public. Keep reading to find out why members of Congress rejected a machine designed to make them more efficient and how another Edison invention frightened little girls and angered their parents. You'll also find out about a device that could have kept Edison's genius with us even today.
