The world would be a very different (and probably darker) place were it not for the genius and determination of Thomas Edison. His laboratory in West Orange, NJ, has been preserved by the National Park Service, and we had a great time seeing his machine shops, chemistry lab, photography studio and beautiful library. He had his first patent at age 22 and had made a fortune by age 24 with his invention of the stock ticker tape. And yet his goal was not money but the challenge...he said that he invented to make money so he could invent more!
Edison was not afraid to fail; in fact, he considered his failures, and those of his many employees, as important as his successes. And by the time of his death in 1931 (at age 84), there were 1,093 patents to his name. His most famous inventions were the incandescent lightbulb, movie projector, rechargeable battery, latex, electric washing machine and the phonograph, what he called "his baby." And incredibly, he had almost no formal education.
His work on an electric, battery-operated car was very advanced; his personal electric vehicle could run 100 miles on a charge. Had the combustible engine not come onto the scene and run away with the nation's interest, Edison's work may have detoured the world from its dependence on oil. The current technology of electric cars isn't too advanced beyond where it was in Edison's hands 100 years ago.
Our favorite part at the Edison site was hearing one of his original phonographs. In the late 1800s, as the public's love of the music player grew, he recorded some of the world's best singers and musicians, preserving their sounds onto celluloid cylinders. The only problem...his master cylinders could only be played so many times for the cylinder-to-cylinder duplication process, and he had to re-record many of them. Not only were the artists paid a flat fee for the initial recording session (with no royalties for all of the copies), they had to travel quite a distance to reach West Orange, home of Edison and his sound lab. As the industry grew, Edison built a recording studio in downtown New York, so artists would be more willing to participate.
Kelsey and Kendall were quite inspired by Edison's creativity and, as part of their Junior Ranger booklet, came up with some invention ideas of their own (with only a tiny bit of help from Mom and Dad). Kelsey came up with a machine that would remove the stink from Keen sandals (a much-needed item in Teensie!), and Kendall drew a hands-free contraption that brushes teeth. Stan and I hope they'll pursue these ideas and use the proceeds to pay for college.
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| Edison's chemistry lab |
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| Listening to the audio tour in the machine shop, in which prototypes were fabricated and then modified to the desired end. |
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| Edison's three-story library in the factory complex |
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| An early phonograph (the one we listened to) |
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| After leaving the Edison site, we stopped at a nearby park with a newly dedicated 9/11 memorial featuring a portion of the World Trade Center's foundation. The park has a fantastic view of the distant Manhattan skyline. |
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| A full rainbow on the drive home...a beautiful end to a great day |
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