19th Century Pioneer

Thomas Alva Edison (1847 – 1931).  America.

Edison’s formal schooling was limited, he began selling and publishing his news papers on the Grand Trunk Railway at the age of 12.  Then he obtained a job as a telegraph operator.

His first important invention was a telegraph repeater that allowed messages to be transmitted automatically over a second line without the need for a second telegraph operator.

Edison became wealthy and famous for the inventions that his company created. The electric light bulb, DC power generation, motion pictures, the phonograph, etc.  He is credited with over a 1000 inventions. 

Edison’s major financial backer was JP Morgan. The Edison Electric Company provided the first DC power to light the streets of New York City. DC Power had a serious drawback that was unrealized at the time of its introduction.  It could only be useful within about 20 miles from the power generator due to losses in the transmission line.  A young engineer named Tesla that worked briefly for Edison; wanted Edison to convert to using AC power because it had an advantage of being transportable for long distances from the generator.  Edison rejected Tesla’s ideas. 

The competition with other companies that were developing AC Power systems forced Edison to change his method for generating electricity.  In 1892, under the influence of Morgan, the Edison General Electric Company merged with another company financed by Morgan, the Thomson-Houston Electric Company. Thomson had invented methods for producing Arc lamps and AC power.  The resulting firm was named the General Electric Company.