Page 91 - 4587

for how new technologies would be created and perfected in the
future, according to patent consultant, Ted Blake.
“Edison was really the first man to head a research and
development department, like they have in every large company
nowadays. A lot of invention nowadays is modification of existing
products and processes, to make them a little bit more commercial,
a little bit more effective. And Edison started all that off”.
Few of Edison’s more useful inventions were entirely
original. Instead, he concentrated much of his time and effort on
improving existing products. One was the telephone. Alexander
Graham Bell invented it, but it was Edison who improved the
range and clarity of the instrument so it could be to practical use
by ordinary people.
Moreover, some of the inventions attributed to Edison
had already been invented. One example is the light bulb – or more
correctly, the incandescent filament electric lamp. This was
demonstrated in London in 1878 by its English inventor, Joseph
Wilson Swan. However, when Edison demonstrated his light bulb
in the US the following year, it was he who was credited for giving
the world electric light.
One reason was because Edison did more than just
supply a light bulb, as Brian Bowers of London’s Science Museum
explains. “Edison believed that, if you had electric light, then you
should have an Edison electric lamp in an Edison lamp holder,
connected by a piece of Edison wire, all the way back to the
Edison generator in the Edison power station. It was a different
concert – he was going for the whole system.”
In this, Edison was unlike most scientists and inventors,
who tend to concentrate on one particular idea or field. Edison
never restricted himself. The reason, says his biographer, Neil
Baldwin, is that he was motivated by the desire to improve
people’s lives.
“You can see this theme throughout his life – to help
the people of America to better their lives. He designed mass
housing for the working people; he tried to find a cheaper way to
mine iron ore; he designed a battery for an automobile; and he
tried to make an electric car, to cut down on pollution in the
environment.”
In fact, so great was Edison’s desire to invent things
that would make life easier and better that he neglected to exploit

90