ME 333 B
Dr. Bednarz
Group #10
Thomas Edison
Samantha Schumacher – Electric Pen
Julian Welsch – Alkaline Battery
Paul Doherty – Mimeograph
David Lee – Printing Telegraph
Thomas Edison is one of the most well-known American inventors of all time, which is not surprising. In his 84 years, he was able to claim over 1000 patents for his inventions, including the light bulb and phonograph. His inventions and projects helped to mold our country and many are still in use today. Thomas Edison was born in Milan, Ohio in 1847 to Samuel and Nancy Edison. His father had been a political activist and his mother was a schoolteacher. She was one of the biggest influences on Edison’s early life and fostered in him a love of learning. A childhood illness, scarlet fever, damaged him hearing at a very young age. It would continue to decline throughout his lifetime.
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One key innovation was by Thomas Edison and was a system that vastly increased the speed at which telegraphs could be sent. The system consisted of three parts, the perforator, the transmitter, and the receiver. Edison's perforator worked through the use of a 28 key keyboard and a long paper which would receive input. When a key was pressed, a mechanism, “perforates the letter entire, and feeds the paper the proper distance forward.” With this system it was possible to perforate the paper at a rate of up 40 words per minute. This paper was then fed onto a rotating drum stylus running across its surface. When the stylus crossed a perforation, it would come into contact with the drum and complete and electrical circuit, which would send an electrical pulse down the telegraph line. Edison's receiver worked using an electro chemical process. A treated paper was run between a rotating drum and a stylus. When an electrical impulse was received, it would pass between the stylus and drum, marking the paper as it