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Thomas Alva Edison
Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventions, which include the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and early versions of the electric light bulb, have had a widespread impact on the modern industrialized world. He was one of the first inventors to apply the principles of organized science and teamwork to the process of invention, working with many researchers and employees. He established the first industrial research laboratory. Edison was raised in the American Midwest. Early in his career he worked as a telegraph operator, which inspired some of his earliest inventions. In 1876, he established his first laboratory facility in Menlo Park, New Jersey, where many of his early inventions were developed. He later established a botanical laboratory in Fort Myers, Florida, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Milan, Ohio
Milan ( ) is a village in Erie and Huron counties in the U.S. state of Ohio. The population was 1,367 at the 2010 census. It is best known as the birthplace and childhood home of Thomas Edison. The Erie County portion of Milan is part of the Sandusky Metropolitan Statistical Area, while the Huron County portion is part of the Norwalk Micropolitan Statistical Area. History and culture Milan village was platted by Ebenezer Merry in 1817 on the site of a previously abandoned Moravian Indian mission village, named " Petquotting", (1805-1809). Merry dammed the Huron River below the village and established "Merrys Mills", a gristmill and sawmill in the river valley. Milan village, originally named 'Beatty', was incorporated as 'Milan' in 1833, named after Milan, Italy. Prior to the advent of railroads, regional farmers had to bring their harvests to Lake Erie ports by wagon. The sandy and wet prairies north and west of Milan were not easily crossed by a wagon with a heavy harve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edison–Lalande Cell
The Edison–Lalande cell was a type of alkaline primary battery developed by Thomas Edison from an earlier design by Felix Lalande and Georges Chaperon. It consisted of plates of copper oxide and zinc in a solution of potassium hydroxide. The cell voltage was low (about 0.75 volts) but the internal resistance was also low so these cells were capable of delivering large currents. The cell could be replenished with fresh zinc and copper oxide plates and KOH solution for reuse. History Lalande–Chaperon cell In 1880, the manufacturer De Branville and Company of 25 rue de la Montagne Sainte-Geneviève, Paris exploited the patent of Lalande and Chaperon to build copper oxide batteries. In 1887, the French submarine Gymnote (Q1) was built. The boat was originally fitted with 540 Lalande–Chaperon alkaline cells which used zinc and copper oxide electrodes with potassium hydroxide electrolyte, manufactured by Coumelin, Desmazures and Baillache. Edison–Lalande cell Edison imp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
War Of The Currents
The war of the currents was a series of events surrounding the introduction of competing electric power transmission systems in the late 1880s and early 1890s. It grew out of two lighting systems developed in the late 1870s and early 1880s; arc lamp street lighting running on high-voltage alternating current (AC), and large-scale low-voltage direct current (DC) indoor incandescent lighting being marketed by Thomas Edison's company. In 1886, the Edison system was faced with new competition: an alternating current system initially introduced by George Westinghouse's company that used transformers to step down from a high voltage so AC could be used for indoor lighting. Using high voltage allowed an AC system to transmit power over longer distances from more efficient large central generating stations. As the use of AC spread rapidly with other companies deploying their own systems, the Edison Electric Light Company claimed in early 1888 that high voltages used in an alternating ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tasimeter
The tasimeter, or microtasimeter, or ''measurer of infinitesimal pressure'', is a device designed by Thomas Edison to measure infrared radiation. In 1878, Samuel Langley, Henry Draper, and other American scientists needed a highly sensitive instrument that could be used to measure minute temperature changes in heat emitted from the Sun's corona during the July 29 solar eclipse, due to occur along the Rocky Mountains. To satisfy those needs Edison devised a ''microtasimeter'' employing a carbon button. Description of operation The value of the instrument lies in its ability to detect small variations of temperature. This is accomplished indirectly. The change of temperature causes expansion or contraction of a rod of vulcanite, which changes the resistance of an electric circuit by varying the pressure it exerts upon a carbon-button included in the circuit. During the total eclipse of the sun in 1878, it successfully demonstrated the existence of heat in the corona. It is als ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quadruplex Telegraph
The Quadruplex telegraph is a type of electrical telegraph which allows a total of four separate signals to be transmitted and received on a single wire at the same time (two signals in each direction). Quadruplex telegraphy thus implements a form of multiplexing. The technology was invented by Thomas Edison, who sold the rights to Western Union in 1874 for the sum of $10,000 (). The problem of sending two signals simultaneously in opposite directions on the same wire had been solved previously by Julius Wilhelm Gintl and improved to commercial viability by J. B. Stearns; Edison added the ability to double the number in each direction. The method combined a diplex (multiplex two signals in the same direction), that Edison had previously invented, with a Stearns style Duplex (simultaneous bi-directional communication). In each case, a clever trick is used. Since telegraphs use a single wire, the current must flow through the signal (noise producing) relay on both ends (loc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phonomotor
The phonomotor or "vocal engine" was a device invented by Thomas Edison in 1878 to measure the mechanical force of sound. It converted sound energy or sound power into rotary motion which could drive a machine such as a small saw or drill. It derived from his work on the telephone and phonograph. Operation Sound waves entering a mouthpiece and falling on a diaphragm were conveyed by a piece of rubber tubing and a spring to a pawl, which vibrated against a very fine-toothed ratchet wheel. The diaphragm and mouthpiece were similar to those used on the phonograph. Vibrations caused by the voice caused a shaft and flywheel to rotate. Steady pressure from breath produced no motion, but some voices could produce rapid motion. The speed of rotation depended on the pitch of the sound. It was able to operate a small drill or saw which could bore or cut wood. When a long sustained sound got the flywheel up to an appreciable speed, considerable force was required to stop it. Impact The C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phonograph
A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogue recording and reproduction of sound. The sound vibration waveforms are recorded as corresponding physical deviations of a spiral groove engraved, etched, incised, or impressed into the surface of a rotating cylinder or disc, called a "record". To recreate the sound, the surface is similarly rotated while a playback stylus traces the groove and is therefore vibrated by it, very faintly reproducing the recorded sound. In early acoustic phonographs, the stylus vibrated a diaphragm which produced sound waves which were coupled to the open air through a flaring horn, or directly to the listener's ears through stethoscope-type earphones. The phonograph was invented in 1877 by Thomas Edison. Alexander Graham Bell's Volta Laboratory made sev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nickel–iron Battery
The nickel–iron battery (NiFe battery) is a rechargeable battery having nickel(III) oxide-hydroxide positive plates and iron negative plates, with an electrolyte of potassium hydroxide. The active materials are held in nickel-plated steel tubes or perforated pockets. It is a very robust battery which is tolerant of abuse, (overcharge, overdischarge, and short-circuiting) and can have very long life even if so treated.David Linden, Thomas B. Reddy (ed). ''Handbook of Batteries 3rd Edition'', McGraw-Hill, New York, 2002 , Chapter 25 It is often used in backup situations where it can be continuously charged and can last for more than 20 years. Due to its low specific energy, poor charge retention, and high cost of manufacture, other types of rechargeable batteries have displaced the nickel–iron battery in most applications. Uses Many railway vehicles use NiFe batteries. Some examples are London underground electric locomotives and New York City Subway car – R62A. The te ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kinetoscope
The Kinetoscope is an early motion picture exhibition device, designed for films to be viewed by one person at a time through a peephole viewer window. The Kinetoscope was not a movie projector, but it introduced the basic approach that would become the standard for all cinematic projection before the advent of video: it created the illusion of movement by conveying a strip of perforated film bearing sequential images over a light source with a high-speed shutter. First described in conceptual terms by U.S. inventor Thomas Edison in 1888, it was largely developed by his employee William Kennedy Laurie Dickson between 1889 and 1892. Dickson and his team at the Edison lab in New Jersey also devised the Kinetograph, an innovative motion picture camera with rapid intermittent, or stop-and-go, film movement, to photograph movies for in-house experiments and, eventually, commercial Kinetoscope presentations. A Kinetoscope prototype was first semipublicly demonstrated to members ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wireless Telegraphy
Wireless telegraphy or radiotelegraphy is transmission of text messages by radio waves, analogous to electrical telegraphy using cables. Before about 1910, the term ''wireless telegraphy'' was also used for other experimental technologies for transmitting telegraph signals without wires. In radiotelegraphy, information is transmitted by pulses of radio waves of two different lengths called "dots" and "dashes", which spell out text messages, usually in Morse code. In a manual system, the sending operator taps on a switch called a telegraph key which turns the transmitter on and off, producing the pulses of radio waves. At the receiver the pulses are audible in the receiver's speaker as beeps, which are translated back to text by an operator who knows Morse code. Radiotelegraphy was the first means of radio communication. The first practical radio transmitters and receivers invented in 1894–1895 by Guglielmo Marconi used radiotelegraphy. It continued to be the only type ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Electric Power Distribution
Electric power distribution is the final stage in the delivery of electric power; it carries electricity from the transmission system to individual consumers. Distribution substations connect to the transmission system and lower the transmission voltage to medium voltage ranging between and with the use of transformers. ''Primary'' distribution lines carry this medium voltage power to distribution transformers located near the customer's premises. Distribution transformers again lower the voltage to the utilization voltage used by lighting, industrial equipment and household appliances. Often several customers are supplied from one transformer through ''secondary'' distribution lines. Commercial and residential customers are connected to the secondary distribution lines through service drops. Customers demanding a much larger amount of power may be connected directly to the primary distribution level or the subtransmission level. The transition from transmission to distri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fluoroscopy
Fluoroscopy () is an imaging technique that uses X-rays to obtain real-time moving images of the interior of an object. In its primary application of medical imaging, a fluoroscope () allows a physician to see the internal structure and function of a patient, so that the pumping action of the heart or the motion of swallowing, for example, can be watched. This is useful for both diagnosis and therapy and occurs in general radiology, interventional radiology, and image-guided surgery. In its simplest form, a fluoroscope consists of an X-ray source and a fluorescent screen, between which a patient is placed. However, since the 1950s most fluoroscopes have included X-ray image intensifiers and cameras as well, to improve the image's visibility and make it available on a remote display screen. For many decades, fluoroscopy tended to produce live pictures that were not recorded, but since the 1960s, as technology improved, recording and playback became the norm. Fluoroscopy is simi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
