Preceden

Thomas Alva Edison

Inventing the Electric Age

Main Events

1847,Thomas Edison is born in Milan,Ohio on Febuary 11

1847

1854,His family moves to Port Huron,Michigan

1854

1859,He begins a job as a candy buthcher on the Grand Trunk Railroad

1859

1863,Begins work as itinerant telegrapher

1863

1868,He takes a job in the Western Union office in Boston

1868

1869,He quits his job in Western Union to become an inventor

1869

1870,Forms a partnership with William Unger to make stock printers

1870

1871,He marries Mary Stilwell

1871

1873,February 18, Marion Estelle Edison is born in Newark,NJ

1873

1874,He invents the quadruplex telegraph

1874

1876,Moves to Menlo Park,NJ

1876

1877,Invents the carbon-button telephone transmitter and the phonograph

1877

1878,October 26, William Leslie Edison is born in Menlo Park,NJ

1878

1879,He invents an incandecent lamp

1879

1880,He perfects a system for electrical distribution

1880

1881,Moves to New York City to begin on an electrical distribution system

1881

1884,His beloved wife,Mary,dies

1884

1886,He maries Mina Miller and buys a house in West Orange,NJ

1886

1887,Resumes work on phonograph

1887

1888,May 31, Madeline Edison is born in West Orange,NJ

1888

1889,Begins building the kinetograph and kinetoscope

1889

1890,August 3, Charles Edison is born in West Orange,NJ

1890

1892,General Electric forms and Edison's ties to the electric industry weaken

1892

1894,He forms the National Phonograph Company

1894

1896,Invents new spring-motor phonograph

1896

1898,July 10, Theodore Miller Edison is born in West Orange,NJ

1898

1910, Merges his companies to form Thomas A. Edison Inc.

1910

1912,Tries to create an auto ignition system for Henry Ford

1912

1915,He was named chairman of Naval Consulting Board

1915

1926,He retires as head of his company,Thomas A. Edison Inc.

1926

1929,He attends Light's Golden Jubilee in Dearborn,Michigan

1929

1931,Thomas Edison dies at his home on October 18

1931