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A six car North Shore Line train is pulling into the Edison Court Depot in Waukegan IL. It's crossing over the mainline coming from the storage tracks north of the depot. It will go to Chicago as a Sailor Special. January 1963. From my collection.
He is *finally* over the ear mites and ringworm!! Thank goodness!!
His poor little tail is still in very sad shape, but slowly healing.
My little snuggle bunny.
Thomas Edison and Henry Ford hatching plans!!!
The genesis of the electric vehicle?
Photo courtesy Ford Motor Company
French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 342. Photo: Walter Scott Shinn, New York.
Thomas Edison (1847-1931) was the inventor of the phonograph, power stations, and the carbon switch microphone. With his pioneering film studio, he produced and directed such silent films as The Trick Cyclist (1901), Bicycle Trick Riding, No. 2 (1899) and the first American film version of Frankenstein (1910).
Thomas Alva Edison was born in 1847 in Milan, Ohio, USA. His father, Samuel Edison, was of Dutch ancestry and his mother, Nancy Elliot, was of English descent. Thomas was home-schooled. He used a primitive cylinder and foil device to create the first known recording of a human voice (his own, reciting the poem "Mary Had A Little Lamb"). Although he invented the cylinder recorder (phonograph), it was Emile Berliner who created the flat disc. Edison licensed the patent(s) from him. Other inventions to his credit include cellophane tape, waxed paper, an improved version of the typewriter keyboard, and 'the electric pencil', a forerunner to the fax machine. He is often credited with the invention of the incandescent light bulb, but that is untrue; he only perfected it. Similar bulbs were already in existence but they were expensive, did not last long, and gave off a bad smell. By developing a low-cost, long-lasting, carbonized cotton filament, Edison made electrical light cheap enough to be financially practical.
Thomas Edison is also credited with the invention of sprocketed cinema film. He also invented the Kinetograph camera and the peephole kinetoscope viewer. The Edison Manufacturing Company's earliest films were produced solely to demonstrate the use of the peephole viewer. The studio made several experimental short films, some lasting only several seconds, mostly to test his equipment. One film, Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze (1894), features a man sneezing, runs for 1-1/2 seconds. Many of Edison's experimental films were made in a small wooden building dubbed 'The Black Maria' because it resembled a police wagon of the same name. Edison's Black Maria was built on a lot next to his lab and office. The building, essentially a large wooden shed covered with tar paper, was small enough that it was mounted on circular tracks so it could be turned to accommodate sunlight through an opening in the roof. The original has long since burned down, but a reproduction of the structure is located at the Edison National Historic Site, a museum with a preserved laboratory facility in West Orange, New Jersey. Edison himself played virtually no role in the production of individual films by his company which produced the first American film version of Frankenstein (1910). This film paved the way for modern-day horror as we now know it. Edison formed the Motion Picture Patent Company (MPPC), and teamed up with a few other prominent figures in film production, giving them a sort of monopoly on filmmaking. They wouldn't let other filmmakers use their technology, and they controlled the different steps of production. Supposedly, they even hired goons to enforce their monopoly. His attempts to force independent filmmakers to use his patented movie equipment resulted in an exodus of the film industry from the East Coast, where almost all films were produced, to California and a little town called Hollywoodland, now known as Hollywood. The last years of his life were plagued by financial failures, including plans to make houses out of poured formed concrete (it never caught on with the public) and making rubber from goldenrod (it decomposed too quickly). In 1928, he was awarded a Congressional Gold Meda. Thomas Edison was married to Mina Miller and Mary Stilwell. He died in 1931 in West Orange, New Jersey, USA. When he lay dying at his home in New Jersey, newspaper reporters were anxiously awaiting a sign from his wife of Edison's death. She signaled Edison's passing by turning a light ON, not off, in his bedroom. Edison's son allegedly captured his last breath in a glass jar. The jar is on display at the reconstructed Menlo Park at Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan.
Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
Ancient history!
I got this when I was 16 or so at a junk store in Willimantic, CT. They were $1 apiece.
The Edison Hotel was built in 1935. The hotel is unique because of its Mediterranean influence at the street level with the rows of arches.
It's upper front facade is the classic Art Deco three's: three stories, three sections. The central section rises with a cornice above the roof line.
Copy of a letter from Thomas Edison declining an invitation to attend the 1924 United Empire Loyalist celebrations in Belleville, Ontario.
From the W. C. Mikel papers, this item donated in 1963 by Allan Dempsey.
"Cable Address 'Edison, New York'
From the Laboratory
of
Thomas A. Edison,
Orange, N.J.
May 5, 1924
Hon. W. C. Mikel,
Mayor of the City of Belleville,
Belleville, Ontario.
My dear Sir:
I appreciate your kind invitation to attend the 140th anniversary of the settlement of Upper Canada by the United Empire Loyalists in June next, and thank you.
Unfortunately, I shall be unable to give myself the pleasure of attending this celebration as I am in the midst of a series of important investigations that require my constant presence at the Laboratory and I am unable at this time to make any appointments for the future.
Yours very truly,
Thos A Edison
TAE:JRO"
The Edison Cylinder Phonograph was invented by Thomas Edison in the 1880s. Originally intended as a machine to transcribe telegraphic messages, phonographs were used as dictating machines in offices before being used for music at home. The first models on the market in 1891 sold for $150 (over $4,000.00 today!!). The cylinders used to record and re-play music were made of wax and originally had a playing time of 2 minutes. In 1901, the molding of cylinders was established, increasing the efficiency of mass production as cylinders were previously engraved once per recording.
This is an example of the Amberola model, introduced to the market in 1909 and meant as a high quality-luxury machine.
Meg