Talk:Thomas Edison/Archive 8

Thomas Edison and the NRA
How come there is no mention that Thomas Edison had a life-time membership in the NRA? I figured it would be worth a mention in this great article. YouMakeMeFeel: (talk) 19:11, 9 August 2011 (UTC)
 * The Google book sear shows a history of the NRA as stating that Edison was a lifetime NRA member, but the passage in question, including the phrase shown in Google Book Search "On July 29, 1915, NRA launched an intensive drive, which in three months brought in 15000 new annual members. Many prominent military and civilian figures, among them Thomas Edison, lent their support by becoming Life Members. ..." is not readable in the snippet view provided. This seems like something that could be briefly mentioned in the article. Several books such as tell of him "going hunting" in 1878 when he went out west to study an eclipse with his new tasimeter, a sensitive infrared measurement device.   says that from 1916 through the 1924, Edison would go on camping trips with Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone, and they would have "rifle shooting contests" among other outdoor recreations.  says Edison "loved to hunt" in South Carolina. Edison (talk) 21:34, 9 August 2011 (UTC)


 * Wow! That's a pretty cool find there Edison.YouMakeMeFeel: (talk) 06:43, 10 August 2011 (UTC)


 * I was skeptical, but the refs speak for themselves. Edison (talk) 15:25, 10 August 2011 (UTC)

Edit request from KevinJIK, 27 August 2011
It is doubtful his origin. Some sources and a number of people say that his birth was in Sombrerete Zacatecas Mexico on February 18, 1848. The name of his father was Samuel Alva Ixtlixóchitl. The veracity of this is not fully tested.

KevinJIK (talk) 22:24, 27 August 2011 (UTC)
 * Red question icon with gradient background.svg Not done: please be more specific about what needs to be changed. --Jnorton7558 (talk) 00:52, 28 August 2011 (UTC)

what about Granville woods?
Granville Woods often had difficulties in enjoying his success as other inventors made claims to his devices. Thomas Edison made one of these claims, stating that he had first created a similar telegraph and that he was entitled to the patent for the device. Woods was twice successful in defending himself, proving that there were no other devices upon which he could have depended or relied upon to make his device. After the second defeat, Edison decided that it would be better to work with Granville Woods than against him and thus offered him a position with the Edison Company.

http://www.blackinventor.com/pages/granville-woods.html — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.150.212.251 (talk) 08:44, 24 September 2011 (UTC)

Response to Earlier Morality Accusation
'''This is in response to a cowardly "unsigned" commenter who suggested that Thomas Alva was a pedophile. The entire section was deleted. I think the response is worth keeping as it delves into the intrigue in Edison's life.''' "Isn't the U.S. age of consent 18?"-(as "unsigned" stated). To which I responded: Hey IDIOT, this was the NINETEENTH CENTURY, after all!!! Thoughout the western world, females marrying at the age of 16 were common. Never raising as much as an eyebrow from the emerging Victoian era. Actually, a young girl marrying a man who was middle-aged and still in the prime of life was applauded AND encouraged, as well as her parents for matching her with any man who had established means. What was frowned upon at that time (and still very-much today,)was if the man were eighteen to her, say sixteen, or both were the same teen age (though today, as was true then, a parent could get a waiver, and consent to the union, in certain states in the U.S.). A young marriage was mightily discouraged by society AND the girl's parents in that bygone era, as they saw "young love" as impetuous, irrational, and especially IMMATURE. Unless the man was shown to be of more than sufficient means, maturity and responsibility; that he came from a respected family, otherwise the whole idea was nixed. Also, remember that arranged marriages were still quite common in turn-of-the-century America. (And too, fathers were eager to get their daughters "married off" as soon as possible, so they wouldn't get "radical" ideas of "independence" floating in their heads.) Not like the "mail-order brides" of the rambling Old West! (Actually, would it surprise you that arranged unions are still widely carried out today accross every interested section and spectrum of society in the West. It's just more informal, as the female ESPECIALLY is tasked by parents and relatives to choose a mate within the liking of the parents, and often-times, relatives. "Gotta please Mom and Dad, my grandparents AND priest, ya know?" You should also study more about Edison's life before making moronic and scurrilous accusations. If you did delve further, you would find that Edison's second marriage was more a "politcal" arrangement than anything else, as little Mina was a neice of Thomas Alva's principal enemy and competitor JUPITER PIERPONT MORGAN. Struggling as the latter was to keep his floundering gas-light industry afloat against the inevitability of the electric street and house-hold lamp supplanting oft-dangerous gas-fueld illumination. So, the marrige was a very strategically diabolic "investment" on Morgan's part to overtake Edison' business, which eventually happened. (We are reminded that Morgan was a ROBBER BARON: This is what they do.)It is strange that you'd call Alva Edison a pedophile. Why, unless you seek to marr his reputation? |talk]]) 03:44, 4 February 2011 (UTC)Veryverser Following this clarification, perhaps it was the article's author who attempted to resolve this by offering the results of his "genelogical study" of what was conventional in such relationships in that period that Edison lived. This I felt was inadequate, so I countered with... We are talking SOCIAL CONVENTIONS here, of course. Naturally long before the 1960sA.D. "women's liberation", all females needed their parents or guardian(s)'s consent, whether they were co-habitating with them, or the women were apart from them and\or had indepenent means. This was common all over the world, with this tradition being broken, begining in North America by enforced emigration(for example)of Irish and other European refugees in the nineteenth, and then again in the early twentieth centuries. Even women who were twenty-one years old in the turn-of-the nineteenth, and early twentieth century's "middle-class" strata were required to seek a respectable, well-heeled sponsor, to give consent to a bethrotal if these females ever were to hope to enter what was then regarded as "respectable" society". This all seemed to change in America after World War I, as there seemed to have been a definite "cultural shift", throwing-off those old traditions of a previous generation and epoch. Edison's age difference is a non-issue. Even in most parts of Asia and Europe today, age in a marriage of an older man to a (well, sometimes much) younger woman is revered. Here, in the States, various wealthly and powerful men, among them old Hollywood and media types flaunt their marriage to virtual child-brides(Woody Allen, Rupert Murdock are obvious examples. Curious-wouldn't you agree-that in both cases cited, these men chose YOUNG, ORIENTAL WOMEN, rather than western ones for their "sunset years"). In Alva Edison's case, this was sort of a "wirlwind romance" manipulated by the girl's uncle, as I cited above, to get at Edison and control of his company. Think Napolean Bonapart's divorce of Josephine to marry a Hapsburgh princess, and the world-shattering events that ensued from such a "political" union. Special:Contributions/ (talk) 08:45, 7 February 2011 (UTC)Veryverse There certainly should be a more involved section about Edison's war with Jupiter Pierrepont Morgan and the struggle for industrial and technilogical progress. I do declare, the way these two men were at it, one would imagine reading from Mark Twain's "A Conneticut Yankee in King Arthurs's Court"; which is a great and perrnial classic, and horribly underrated! --24.46.103.28 (talk) 02:00, 14 May 2011 (UTC)Veryverser — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.86.97.149 (talk)

please quote his encouraging words"Just because something doesn't do what you planned to do does'nt mean it is useless" — Preceding unsigned comment added by Brajeshmerta (talk • contribs) 05:04, 23 October 2011 (UTC)

Needs clarification
I read this sentence several times and still fail to understand: "In Britain, Joseph Swan had been able to obtain a patent on the incandescent lamp because although he had been making successful lamps some time before Edison was tardy in applying for patents so application was submitted by Edison but failed due to an oversight in the drafting of Edison's patent application."

is there a comma missing after the word "before?" Zedshort (talk) 23:11, 10 November 2011 (UTC)
 * Surely the intended meaning is: "In Britain, Joseph Swan had been able to obtain a patent on the incandescent lamp. Although he [Swan] had been making successful lamps [for] some time before Edison, he [Swan] was tardy in applying for patents so [a pre-emptive] application was submitted by Edison but [this application] failed due to an oversight in the drafting of Edison's patent application [and therefore Swan's belated patent application succeeded]". Pterre (talk) 00:49, 11 November 2011 (UTC)

Edit request on 11 December 2011
A request to replace the main picture with this one: File:EdisonPortrait.jpg A real photo of a person is much better than a painting.

shnbwmn (talk) 09:28, 11 December 2011 (UTC)
 * for now, as it will probably be deleted today, if not, it can be added. C T J F 8 3  15:46, 11 December 2011 (UTC)

Edit request on 25 January 2012
Can we please have a whole section just on how much of a thieving bastard Edison truly was? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 58.175.138.215 (talk) 06:27, 25 January 2012 (UTC)

Edit request on 07 February 2012
The article states: "Edison is the fourth most prolific inventor in history, holding 1,093 US patents in his name, as well as many patents in the United Kingdom, France, and Germany." Could s.o. plz add a "citation needed" tag on this. thx 87.146.154.138 (talk) 19:35, 7 February 2012 (UTC)

Response to Earlier Morality Accusation
This is in response to a cowardly "unsigned" commenter who suggested that Thomas Alva was a pedophile. The entire section was deleted. I think the response is worth keeping as it delves into the intrigue in Edison's life. "Isn't the U.S. age of consent 18?"-(as "unsigned" stated). To which I responded: Hey IDIOT, this was the NINETEENTH CENTURY, after all!!! Thoughout the western world, females marrying at the age of 16 were common. Never raising as much as an eyebrow from the emerging Victoian era. Actually, a young girl marrying a man who was middle-aged and still in the prime of life was applauded AND encouraged, as well as her parents for matching her with any man who had established means. What was frowned upon at that time (and still very-much today,)was if the man were eighteen to her, say sixteen, or both were the same teen age (though today, as was true then, a parent could get a waiver, and consent to the union, in certain states in the U.S.). A young marriage was mightily discouraged by society AND the girl's parents in that bygone era, as they saw "young love" as impetuous, irrational, and especially IMMATURE. Unless the man was shown to be of more than sufficient means, maturity and responsibility; that he came from a respected family, otherwise the whole idea was nixed. Also, remember that arranged marriages were still quite common in turn-of-the-century America. (And too, fathers were eager to get their daughters "married off" as soon as possible, so they wouldn't get "radical" ideas of "independence" floating in their heads.) Not like the "mail-order brides" of the rambling Old West! (Actually, would it surprise you that arranged unions are still widely carried out today accross every interested section and spectrum of society in the West. It's just more informal, as the female ESPECIALLY is tasked by parents and relatives to choose a mate within the liking of the parents, and often-times, relatives. "Gotta please Mom and Dad, my grandparents AND priest, ya know?" You should also study more about Edison's life before making moronic and scurrilous accusations. If you did delve further, you would find that Edison's second marriage was more a "politcal" arrangement than anything else, as little Mina was a neice of Thomas Alva's principal enemy and competitor JUPITER PIERPONT MORGAN. Struggling as the latter was to keep his floundering gas-light industry afloat against the inevitability of the electric street and house-hold lamp supplanting oft-dangerous gas-fueld illumination. So, the marrige was a very strategically diabolic "investment" on Morgan's part to overtake Edison' business, which eventually happened. (We are reminded that Morgan was a ROBBER BARON: This is what they do.)It is strange that you'd call Alva Edison a pedophile. Why, unless you seek to marr his reputation? |talk]]) 03:44, 4 February 2011 (UTC)Veryverser

Following this clarification, perhaps it was the article's author who attempted to resolve this by offering the results of his "genelogical study" of what was conventional in such relationships in that period that Edison lived. This I felt was inadequate, so I countered with...

We are talking SOCIAL CONVENTIONS here, of course. Naturally long before the 1960sA.D. "women's liberation", all females needed their parents or guardian(s)'s consent, whether they were co-habitating with them, or the women were apart from them and\or had indepenent means. This was common all over the world, with this tradition being broken, begining in North America by enforced emigration(for example)of Irish and other European refugees in the nineteenth, and then again in the early twentieth centuries. Even women who were twenty-one years old in the turn-of-the nineteenth, and early twentieth century's "middle-class" strata were required to seek a respectable, well-heeled sponsor, to give consent to a bethrotal if these females ever were to hope to enter what was then regarded as "respectable" society". This all seemed to change in America after World War I, as there seemed to have been a definite "cultural shift", throwing-off those old traditions of a previous generation and epoch. Edison's age difference is a non-issue. Even in most parts of Asia and Europe today, age in a marriage of an older man to a (well, sometimes much) younger woman is revered. Here, in the States, various wealthly and powerful men, among them old Hollywood and media types flaunt their marriage to virtual child-brides(Woody Allen, Rupert Murdock are obvious examples. Curious-wouldn't you agree-that in both cases cited, these men chose YOUNG, ORIENTAL WOMEN, rather than western ones for their "sunset years"). In Alva Edison's case, this was sort of a "wirlwind romance" manipulated by the girl's uncle, as I cited above, to get at Edison and control of his company. Think Napolean Bonapart's divorce of Josephine to marry a Hapsburgh princess, and the world-shattering events that ensued from such a "political" union. Special:Contributions/ (talk) 08:45, 7 February 2011 (UTC)Veryverse

There certainly should be a more involved section about Edison's war with Jupiter Pierrepont Morgan and the struggle for industrial and technilogical progress. I do declare, the way these two men were at it, one would imagine reading from Mark Twain's "A Conneticut Yankee in King Arthurs's Court"; which is a great and perrnial classic, and horribly underrated! --24.46.103.28 (talk) 02:00, 14 May 2011 (UTC)Veryverser — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.86.97.149 (talk) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.86.98.26 (talk)

Childhood As a child in the 1840s, Thomas was living in the early ages of the United States. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.65.121.40 (talk) 01:10, 14 February 2012 (UTC)

Edit request on 16 February 2012
Can we change right up to the end to "Up until his death or somesuch. I know there is a wikipedia policy about this, but I do not remember which.  It is in Final years, or late life, etc...

Tazerdadog (talk) 04:21, 16 February 2012 (UTC)

Not done: If you can suggest the section heading to replace "The Final Years", please reactivate the request. Thanks, Celestra (talk) 05:17, 16 February 2012 (UTC)

The Cooper Union
This is a school, and I am not aware that "The Cooper Union" is a book or magazine. What is this article talking about when it said Edison educated himself reading "The Cooper Union"? --Filll (talk | wpc ) 01:40, 8 March 2012 (UTC)

A Doubt regarding Edison's life.

 * During Our schooling, we were informed, at some point that Thomas Edison helped some person establish an Industry. I'm not sure if it was General Electric or General Motors that our teacher suggested, but none of their Wiki Pages indicate Edison's presence in their' formation. Can anyone enlighten me on this?  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ganeshsashank (talk • contribs) 15:15, 9 February 2012 (UTC)
 * "General Electric" was the successor company to "Edison General Electric". It would be hard to find any connection between Thomas Edison and General Motors. Edison (talk) 05:32, 2 May 2012 (UTC)

Thomas Edison
In Clive Cussler's new book: "The Thief", Cussler makes extensive remarks about Edison, as regards the infant Movie industry and his attempted control of movie-making technology.

Cussler describes Edison as an unscrupulous user of other people and their ideas.

You might want to add a citation unbder the section: Novel Mentions. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 103.29.59.2 (talk) 10:05, 23 March 2012 (UTC)

Edit request on 15 May 2012
Please change 'Telsa' to 'Tesla' because of spelling. The spelling mistake is located in the last paragraph of section 9.5, (Honors and awards given to Edison.)

For further clarification, I bolded the misspelling below.

On November 6, 1915, The New York Times announced that both Edison and Tesla were to jointly receive the 1915 Nobel Prize but it did not occur.[84] The details of what happened are not known but Tesla who had once worked for Edison quit when he was promised a large bonus for solving a problem and then after being successful was told the promise was a joke.[85] Telsa once said that if Edison had to find a needle in a haystack he would take apart the haystack one straw at a time.[86] The Prize was awarded to Sir William Henry Bragg and William Lawrence Bragg "for their services in the analysis of crystal structure by means of X-rays".

24.220.242.84 (talk) 07:04, 15 May 2012 (UTC)
 * Thanks. Dru of Id (talk) 07:43, 15 May 2012 (UTC)

"Novel Mentions"
I don't see why this section and this book is significant enough to warrant mentioning in the main article about Edison? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.255.232.85 (talk) 11:10, 21 May 2012 (UTC)


 * Nor do I; I've removed it accordingly. carl bunderson (talk) (contributions) 17:09, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

"First" bragging rights clarification
In many conversations I've had, people seem to think that Edison brought about the first public electricity supply. This was, in fact, done in Godalming, September 1881. It's a small detail but I do think, academically, it should be pointed out in this article to avoid mis-information or interpretation. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mamph NJ (talk • contribs) 13:14, 24 April 2012 (UTC)
 * The Godalming system powered only Thirty four Swan light bulbs for a few months, of which a contemporary source said "Their dull red glow contrasts most unhappily with the few still burning gas lamps. The main reason for this lack of success by the Swan lamps is the distance of the source of electricity from the town and the comparatively small diameter of the cable." The operation was apparently unsatisfactory due to the low voltage, low resistance filament, high current arrangement used by Swan, along with small overhead conductors. It was a small and not very successful demonstration of incandescent electric lighting from a central plant, and certainly not the first. Edison had lit Menlo Park NJ with 53 incandescent bulbs back in December 1879, with several houses and building lit by incandescent bulbs powered by a steam driven generator. See Maury Klein, "The power makers," pages 152-153. By New Years Day 1880, more lamps were in service each evening along with electric motors powered by the same lines to run a water pump and a sewing machine. The demonstrations were ended early in January 1880 to allow the lab staff to work full time on preparing for the wiring of the central business district of new york and to devise all the switches, fuses, underground conductors, and so forth needed for a large scale central station installation, along with improving the bulbs and devising mass production.  The Holburn Viaduct demonstration by Edison, January 1882, powered 3000 bulbs, "the first large scale demonstration of a central station powering incandescent lighting" per the article William Joseph Hammer. The Pearl Street Station of Edison's went online in New York City September 4, 1882 initially powering 400 lamps and many electric motors, and by 1884 powered 10,164 lamps. Edison (talk) 03:09, 1 May 2012 (UTC)

Joseph Swans house was the first in the world to be lit by electric light and "The Savoy, a state-of-the-art theatre in the City of Westminster, London, was the first public building in the world to be lit entirely by electricity.[12] Joseph Swan supplied about 1,200 Swan incandescent lamps, and the lights were powered by a 88.3 kW (120hp) generator on open land near the theatre.[2][13] The builder of the Savoy, Richard D'Oyly Carte, explained why he had introduced Swan's electric light: "The greatest drawbacks to the enjoyment of the theatrical performances are, undoubtedly, the foul air and heat which pervade all theatres. As everyone knows, each gas-burner consumes as much oxygen as many people, and causes great heat beside. The incandescent lamps consume no oxygen, and cause no perceptible heat."[14] The first generator proved too small to power the whole building, and though the entire front-of-house was electrically lit, the stage was lit by gas until December 28, 1881. At that performance, Carte stepped on stage and broke a glowing lightbulb before the audience to demonstrate the safety of Swan's new technology. On December 29, 1881, The Times described the electric lighting as superior, visually, to gaslight." — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.24.183.217 (talk) 21:29, 19 May 2012 (UTC)

I should also mention that at the time, he was using a superior filament to that that Edison had invented, which the Edison company eventually switched to. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.24.183.217 (talk • contribs)
 * Did you miss the point in the opening comment that this thread dealt with "the first public electricity supply" rather than "the first house lit by electricity?" (That had been done by 1836, per supporters of James Bowman Lindsay, who wrote in 1836 that he was writing by the light from his own incandescent lamp). Is it claimed that none of Swan's predecessors (Starr in 1845, for instance) ever illuminated some of their  incandescent light bulbs inside a house? Swan first learned about incandescent lightning by reading about Starr's work in 1845).   The question was about "the first public electricity supply.," not a house or building with some electric lights.  The Godalming project was a candidate, as was Edison's Holburn Viaduct demonstration, see also,  and the Pearl Street central station. Most reliable sources credit the Pearl Street station, ,  , ,  ,  ,  ,  ,, ,  , because it provided incandescent lighting and electric motor power to masses of customers for the long term. The Pearl Street station supplied power continuously for 13 years, with only 2 brief interruptions.  Edison (talk) 00:49, 3 June 2012 (UTC)