6 CONTROVERSIES Despite Thomas Edison’s tremendous work as an inventors and entrepreneur, who established the model for industrial innovation, Edison had his dark side. He was involved in the “war of current” with George Westinghouse, over the AC and DC currents. Edison set out to destroy Westinghouse, by electrocuting a dog, calves, horses, Topsy a circus elephant and was also involved in the electrocution of a murderer, William Kemmler. Edison’s actions were all in the quest to convince the public of the danger of AC current. Despite his efforts; the superiority of the AC current superseded that of Edison’s DC current system. In 1893, Westinghouse was awarded the contract to light the Chicago world fair. Another conflict that raised an
Edison was not alone in realizing both the practical and business applications of electricity. In 1880, Charles Francis Brush and his Brush Electric Light Company installed carbon arc lights along Broadway from 14th Street to 34th Street. Fed from a small generating station at 25th Street, the electric arc lights went into regular service on December 20, 1880. When the Brooklyn Bridge opened on May 24, 1883, it was lighted by seventy arc lamps operated by another competitor, the United States Illuminating Company. By 1886, some 1,500 arc lights had been installed in Manhattan. In 1887, H.H. Westinghouse (a younger brother of George Westinghouse) and his associates incorporated the Safety Electric Light and Power Company (later called the United Electric Light and Power Company) to generate and distribute alternating current power in New York. Other electric companies were created to serve nearby areas outside of Manhattan. Across the East River, the Edison Electric Illuminating Company of Brooklyn was incorporated in 1887 and was soon competing with Kings County Electric Light. By 1900, there were more than 30 companies generating and distributing electricity throughout the boroughs of New York City and in Westchester County.
As time went on, Edison’s projects became bigger. He needed to come out of small shops and have a laboratory of his own. Edison decided upon building one in West Orange, NJ. Towards the end of the construction, he was very excited and proud of the much needed space. In a letter to a close associate of his, Edison recognizes his talent in inventing.
Shortly after, the promotion of power grids swept larger cities, in order to be able to use the light bulb, Edison needed support from large grids spanning over the entire country. But Edison’s design was flawed, he was using DC, or direct connect as his main source of power, which only provided electricity over short distances. Where in Europe, people began using a different way of transferring electricity, AC, or alternate connect routes. George Westinghouse, Edison’s rival, adopted and improved on this new technique, eventually setting up his own electric network. This new network would eventually beat Edison, and by the early 1890s, AC became the most used method of transferring electricity.
This pamphlet warned that AC power yielded “unsatisfactory results”(30), could only be “applied to a few practical uses” (30),and was a “form of real danger”(31). Further emphasising the danger inherent in AC power, Edison hired a man named Harold Brown to be his anti-AC spokesman. Brown would travel around and speak to audiences about the AC’s harmfulness, then provide a demonstration by electrocuting animals. Despite his success, Brown was not satisfied by the effect electrocuting animals had on the audience, he wanted to provide a demonstration that would have the public believe without a doubt that AC current was not to be touched. On August 6th, 1890 William Kemmler, a convicted ax-murderer, was electrocuted by a Westinghouse generator illegally purchased by Brown.
J.P and Edison embark a new company The Edison Company. They begin to lay out 15 miles long over 1,000 ft of copper wire.A new era is started electric street lights line the cities and houses.Until now Rockefeller hasn’t been challenged,but now is challenged by electricity his standard oil is going out of business. Rockefeller is trying to figure a way to show people that electricity is dangerous. Railroads,Oil, Steel, and electricity have changed the world. Nicholas Tesla is one of Thomas Edison’s interns Tesla was very interested in Edison and electricity. Edison is ignoring his enterprise and his new successful invention “Alternating current.” Nicolas Tesla is one of many bright men that worked for Edison,nikola resigns after Thomas ignoring his invention.Edison is arrogant and wishes Tesla good-luck materializing his own company and having someone investing in him. Tesla eventually has a notable person invest in him named George Westinghouse,Westinghouse and Tesla believe that alternating current is more powerful than “DC.” Tesla then begins travelling the country showing the power of voltage going through his body to show people the ability and the power of “AC.” J.P Morgan finds himself in an
His hotheadedness forced him to try and dissuade the public of Tesla’s idea. Due to that, and his popularity, Edison was able to commit a multitude of demonstrations to reveal the dangers of Tesla’s alternating current system. One of his more cruel methods was to electrocute animals in public using alternating current. Nikola Tesla invested and created a hydraulic dam on Niagara Falls using alternating current. This marked the beginning of the reign of alternating current.
Even though, Edison failed when General Electric offered a proposal to electrify a project in Chicago using Edison’s direct current for $554,000, but lost to their biggest competitor, George Westinghouse, who offered a contract to power the fair for only $399,000 using Tesla’s alternating current [3]. Also, another failure in 1893 for Edison, when Niagara Falls Power Company decided to build power station and was convinced by George Forbes to award the contract to Westinghouse, and to reject General Electric and Edison's proposal. Work began in 1893 on the Niagara Falls generation project: power was to be generated and transmitted as alternating current, at a frequency of 25 Hz to minimize losses in transmission (changed to 60 Hz in the 1950s). In 1909, the power station was generation AC current from Niagara Falls and deliver it to New York which was a historical achievement in the Electrical systems
Thomas Edison made many mistakes. ?Results? Why, man, I?ve gotten a lot of results! I know several things that won?t work!? This just shows that he learned from his mistakes. Mistakes helped Edison learn what would and would not work. Teachers have discovered that student understand better when they have hands on experience. Edison has taught many children to learn that if you fail, try again.
The age of the Enlightenment was a time when people were coming together and creating new ideas and inventions to improve the life of the people. Many things were made during this time period, and without them life today would be very different. Examples of some of these inventions are the light bulb and the phonograph that Thomas Edison is credited with inventing. With the light bulb, our days would be cut short due to fact that people can’t see in the dark. Without the light bulb and phonograph things like TVs, cell phones, computer, and other electronic devices that people today can not live without would have never been thought of. The focus of this essay is what caused Edison to become an inventor and some of his inventions like the previously stated light bulb and phonograph.
Thomas Edison is seen as the grandfather of technology to most but, not all. Edison is seen to some as a villain in history as he has gotten credit for ideas such as the light bulb that had come from someone else. The truth is Edison is both not an angel nor devil. Edison is a hero because of his large amount of inventions, he took challenges and used them for strength over weaknesses, and he is seen as a role model as both an engineer along with a person in general. Edison could also seen as bad from the fact sometimes he let his wealth control him and some of is innovation ideas are believed to have been stolen. The truth is Edison is neither extreme however should be viewed much more positively than negatively.
Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison worked on opposite sides of the electricity field. While Edison used his intellect, experience, and resources on the
Thomas Edison was an amazing Inventor who everyone knows about. He was born in Milan Ohio, February 11(“Thomas Alva Edison-Book”). Edison created many wonderful things like the electric lightbulb. He held more than 1,000 patents for his inventions(“Bio.com”). Thomas was also the last of seven children of Nancy and Samuel Edison(“History.com”)From being a very smart child, to becoming an amazing inventor, Thomas Edison became one of the most important Americans in history.
This is Thomas Edison. Thomas Edison is a famous inventor who invented lots of things that we use today. He was born a very long time ago in the United States of America.
Thomas Alva Edison was an unconventional genius that played a vital role in shaping the modern world with his inventions, but didn’t accomplish this role easily. Edison led an inquisitive life encompassing his disruptive adolescence, unconventional methods of success, and exceptional ability to endure failure. Although his inventions and ideologies exemplified him, Thomas Edison overcame tremendous obstacles throughout his lifetime before achieving his anticipated goals.
I decided to do my report on Thomas Alva Edison because he brought a lot of things into our world. He invented the light bulb, the alkaline battery, the phonograph, and many other things. Many of our modern electronics origins came from Thomas A. Edison. I thought he was very interesting. That is why I chose him.