Thomas Alva Edison

1. Thomas Alva Edison Interesting Facts

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3. Thomas Alva Edison • He loved inventing new machines. • When he was 11, he built his own telegraph set. • His workshop was called, Menlo Park where he invented 1093 machines. • He spent years trying to come up with a substance which would burn for a long time. • His dad wanted Edison to read books and stop doing science experiments so Edison’s dad gave Edison a penny every time he read. Edison used the pennies to buy chemicals.

4. Interesting Facts AboutThomas Alva Edison • At the age of 12 years old, he got his first job selling newspapers and candy to passengers on the trains. • He also printed a weekly newspaper, the Weekly Herald. • After about a years time, he got permission to use one of the train baggage cars for his science experiments. • One day his chemicals spilled causing a fire in the train. He lost his job and his chemicals.

5. Interesting Facts • He used the Detroit Free Library to get books. He read almost every book there by going book by book, shelf by shelf. • He loved Science books best and decided he wanted to invent ways to make life better for people. • At 16, he got a job as a telegraph operator. His job was to report to Toronto every hour by telegraph signal. Edison invented a way to have the signal sent to Toronto automatically every hour. He almost got fired when his boss found him asleep.

6. Interesting Facts Cont. • He tried to sell his first invention, an electric vote recorder. It would record accurate votes quickly. No one bought his invention. However, even today, many states still use it to record votes of congress. • As a result of Edison improving a stock ticker, he was hired to work on stock tickers. He received $40,000 for his improved stock ticker rights. • Until Edison improved the typewriter, you could write faster than you could type!

7. Meno Park • Edison built a science experiment factory called Meno Park. He told people that he would have invented a new invention every ten days! • In March 1876, Edison improved the telephone so people didn’t have to shout in it to hear each other. • After inventing the light bulb, Edison went on to invent the World's First Power Station! Having a city lit with lightbulbs first happened in New York City due to Edison’s inventions! • In 1913, Edison discovered how to add sound to movies! • He started the General Electric Company.