'The Wizard of Menlo Park' in his own words
BY JENNIFER AMATO
Staff Writer

NORTH BRUNSWICK - You can call him Al.

Thomas Alva Edison, the No. 1 most influential person in the past 1,000 years, according to Life magazine in 1999, was brought to life during an assembly at Judd Elementary School on Nov. 14.

Presenter Joseph French began discussing Edison's early childhood, beginning with the story of his name: the creator of the phonograph, wax paper, electric pen and light bulb was never called Tom, but instead Alva by his family and Al by only his mother.

Born on Feb. 11, 1847, in Milan, Ohio, Edison patented 1,093 inventions over the course of his 81-year life.

"At 5 years old I was filled with curiosity. I wanted to know how things worked ... so I started asking questions. I asked a lot of questions. I asked so many questions I got in trouble in school," a black-and-white-costumed French told the students.

Edison's teacher became so annoyed by his inquisitive nature that he kicked him out of the one-room school he attended, forcing his mother to take responsibility for his education.

Inside his home, the young boy was able to pursue his quest for knowledge, by asking questions such as why their goose was in the barn for three days without moving. After his mother explained that the goose was keeping her eggs warm so they could hatch, Edison was found sitting on a nest of eggs in his neighbor's barn in an attempt to hatch those eggs.

At the age of 6, the boy learned about fire, eventually burning his father's barn to the ground. He was whipped and learned never to play with fire again.

At age 7, the family moved to Port Huron, Mich., and Edison caught scarlet fever, which most likely caused his hearing loss by age 12. He instead took up reading, focusing on the science experiments of "The School of Natural Philosophy" by R.G. Parker. His bedroom became his secret laboratory until he burnt a hole in the carpet with his chemicals, so he moved down to the dirt-floor basement.

"I was happy as a lark down there," French said, "mixing chemicals, and every once in a while there would be a boom. ... It was just about mixing two chemicals together to see if they exploded."

He was also intrigued by Benjamin Franklin's work with static electricity. To demonstrate the effects of rubbing cloth with another substance, French had a student, Nicole, assist him by rubbing a balloon against wool felt. A tray filled with paper confetti transferred onto the balloon, "falling up." French also rubbed the balloon on Nicole's head, saying, "If this works, it will look like Nicole has been watching a very scary movie."

Also at age 12, since he was not in school anymore, Edison decided to sell candy and newspapers on a train. He would work six days each week, splitting his profits with the railroad. Later on, he would sell newspapers, fresh fruit and his self-made newsletter. Since his long workday did not enable him to continue his experiments, he was granted permission to bring his chemicals aboard the train, stored on a shelf. All went well until three years later, when the train hit a bump that caused the chemicals to mix and create a fire, leaving a hole in the floor. An angry conductor threw Edison off the train.

However, one day afterward, Edison noticed a small boy playing on the railroad tracks and he jumped off the platform, rolling him away to safety. As a reward, the boy's father taught Edison how to professionally operate the telegraph system.

By 16 he had moved across the country to New Jersey, settling in the Menlo Park area, and his first invention was the electric vote counter.

"I learned no one in Congress wanted to speed up voting, so I never sold one. I learned a valuable lesson - never invent something nobody wants," French said.

By 1870 he invented the electric stock ticker, which received instant price changes and printed Morse code as words. Western Union bought the machine for $40,000 and manufactured it. Edison used his profits to buy a factory in Menlo Park, surrounding himself with the finest scientists, engineers and craftsmen he could find. He instituted a rule that one invention would be completed every week; in two years he and his staff created 114 new items.

"That made us family. Now companies all across America would come to us and ask us to invent things," he said.

He also took Alexander Graham Bell's telephone and improved the sound quality for long distance phone calls.

"It worked so well it is still used in telephones today," French said. "More importantly, it led to radio broadcasting, which led to television today."

He also received a patent for the phonograph, a sound-recording device for voice or music. He soon became labeled the "Wizard of Menlo Park."

"I loved the phonograph. It was my favorite invention of my whole career because it brought music everywhere," French said.

Another significant achievement was the race to perfect the light bulb. The current record had been 15 seconds, so the team tried thousands of times to extend its life span. Eventually they used a cotton thread covered with a layer of soot, baked it to create a hard wire and formed carbonized wire.

"It burned for one hour, it burned another hour, and another hour. Eight hours later it was still burning. Twenty-four hours later it was still burning. Forty hours, that was my goal. I got it to 40 hours and said turn up the juice. I got to 40 hours, and I knew this bulb could burn for hundreds of hours," French said. The bulb lasted for eight years.

In 1888 he began to sell the phonograph to the public, hiring musicians to make music recordings. However, a bigger horn would make a louder sound, sometimes too loud for the ear. The noise could be made quieter by putting cloth in the horn, hence the phrase "put a sock in it."

In his personal life, by age 24 Edison married Mary Stilwell and raised three children with her in a house next to the factory. After her death, he married Mina Miller and had another three children.

Edison passed away in 1931 at the age of 81. However, his legacy has impacted the lives of everyone in society today. That is the purpose of the presentations, formulated by Mobile Ed productions based out of Michigan.

"I think finding out about his childhood, kids identify with that, especially him getting into trouble and solving problems," French said of his alter ego. "This teaches children the value of curiosity and perseverance and never giving up.

"No one has invented as many inventions as Edison, nor as many as important. Many of his inventions already existed, but they were not very practical and he made them practical, like the generator. He could always see a better way to do something. I find that amazing," French continued.

The assembly program was sponsored by the Judd Parent-Teacher Organization.