THE GREAT INVENTOR:
THE STORY OF
THOMAS EDISON
BY
JEFF BIGGERS
Smashwords Edition
Copyright
2010
William Gladden Foundation
ISBN #1-56456-305-7
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE:
Menlo Park
CHAPTER TWO:
In And Out Of School
CHAPTER THREE:
The Age Of Invention
CHAPTER FOUR:
The Accident
CHAPTER FIVE:
The Telegraph
CHAPTER SIX:
Failure And Success
CHAPTER SEVEN:
The Great Inventor
VOCABULARY
REVIEW QUESTIONS
CHAPTER ONE:
MENLO PARK
Everyone thought the inventor’s idea was impossible. Some people thought he was foolish for even trying. Flocking around the young man in the back of the laboratory, several of the workers laughed and joked, pointing their fingers at the strange machine in front of them.
The inventor looked unsure himself. He was only 30-years-old and still learning about science. It had been little more than a year since he had taken the risk of opening his own shop. His earlier mechanical experiments had been very simple. Although he had invented many small tools and devices, this would be his first big experiment.
Thomas Alva Edison, the young inventor, motioned for everybody to be quiet. It was a dark night in December 1877. The laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey, was just a large hall full of tables, pipes, glasses, wires and many adventurous young men. Around the large room, shadows moved in the corners with the flickering of the old lamps. Electricity had not as yet been invented.
Putting his hands on the machine in front of him, Edison slowly turned a small handle. The machine was not big. It looked like a wooden box topped with a pile of wires and metal objects, a small plate in tinfoil attached to the sides. Bouncing on the top of the plate, a small needle made strange lines.
Then, continuing to turn the handle, Edison, in a strong voice, recited a nursery rhyme.
“Mary had a little lamb. Its fleece was white as snow.”
The others in the room covered their mouths with a hand, trying to keep from laughing in front of their boss. The machine creaked as if it might fall apart. Without looking at his co-workers, Edison picked up the needle and set it back to the beginning, and then he began turning the handle again.
Some of the people were starting to lose their patience. They thought Edison was wasting their time. Following the ideas and theories of other people, Edison had wanted to make a machine that would record voices. He was nervous. He was not sure his experiment would work.
“Mary had a little lamb. Its fleece was white as snow,” suddenly repeated the machine.
Edison stopped immediately. He looked at the machine as if it were alive. He was not certain if he had imagined the voice or if the machine had really repeated his words. Everyone in the room went silent, gasping, shocked by the invention, and then the audience roared, clapping their hands, cheering the great inventor.