Thomas Edison: The Wizard Of Menlo Park

By the end of the nineteenth century, American innovation was the impetus for the growth of industry, as 1.5 million patents were issued between 1860 and 1930. From the birth of the nation, technology has been an instrumental component in shaping the social and economical aspects, modernizing society to be more efficient, convenient, and privileged. One of the masterminds who orchestrated this movement was Thomas Edison, nicknamed the “Wizard of Menlo Park”, as he patented over a thousand inventions, including enhancements of previous designs, such as the light bulb, and entirely original apparatuses, like the phonograph. These inventions would become landmarks of American history, bridging the urbanization of cities in the late 1880s to the

The incandescent lamp was already created by previous inventors; however, their versions were not effective and cheap enough for mass-production commercially. Edison eventually understood that the light bulb needed to have a low current, and thus, high resistance as well as voltage. Additionally, the design required a long-lasting filament, which was extremely difficult to find. After his endeavor comprising of thousands of meticulous experiments, Edison finally used a carbonized cotton thread as the filament that successfully lit the light bulb for about 13.5 hours. Edison would improve his invention until November 4, 1879, when he filed a patent for a light bulb using "a carbon filament or strip coiled and connected to platina contact wires". Months later, Edison discovered carbonized bamboo that was the long-lasting filament of 1,200 hours he was searching for over a

The invention also extended work hours, meaning the labor force of major corporations from the end of the nineteenth century could utilize the nighttime to increase production. More importantly, it called for a power and generation system, as by 1895, a power-station was built, harnessing the power of the Niagara Falls to distribute electricity to the nearby booming city of Buffalo, New York. As a result, the United States induced an entire transformation of the social and economic landscape with national interconnecting power stations that made a society of