Lori Haskins Houran - Thomas Edison: Lighting the Way

Thomas Edison is famous
for inventing the light bulb.
Only he DIDNT invent it!
Not exactly.
Other inventors made light bulbs
before Edison was even born.
They figured out how to use
electricity to light them.
But there was a problem.

The bulbs would start to glow.
Then POOF! theyd go out.
What good were those?

Edison wanted to invent
a light bulb that stayed lit.
Then people could use electricity
instead of oil lamps and candles
to light their homes.

Thomas Edison had been fascinated
by electricity since he was a boy.
When he was twelve,
he read about the telegraph.
It was a machine that used
electricity to send messages
along a wire.
Thomas built his own telegraph
and one for his friend James.
He strung wire between their houses.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
The telegraphs worked!
The boys could send each other
secret messages!

Thomas got to know
the telegraph operator
at the train station, Mr. Mackenzie.
One day, Thomas saw
Mr. Mackenzies little boy
playing on the tracks.
A train was rolling right at him!

Thomas grabbed the boy just in time.
Mr. Mackenzie was grateful.
He helped Thomas become
a real telegraph operator.

Thomas liked the work.
He thought the telegraph
was a good machine,
but he wanted to improve it.
So Thomas found ways to make
the telegraph faster and better.

Thomas came up with ideas
for brand- new machines, too.
Companies were impressed.
They paid him for his ideas.
Thomas quit his job
and became a full- time inventor.

Thomas opened up a big lab
in Menlo Park, New Jersey.
It became known as
his invention factory.

Thomas hired workers to build
the things he imagined.
One of his ideas was a machine
that could record sounds
and play them back.
No one had ever made one before.
Was it even possible?

Thomas drew sketches
of the machine.
His workers put it together.
Mary had a little lamb,
Thomas called into it.
He turned the handle.
Mary had a little lamb, he heard.

Thomas was shocked.
The machine worked on the first try!
The world was shocked, too.
What a magical invention!
People started calling Thomas
the Wizard of Menlo Park.

Soon the Wizard was ready for
his next challenge: the light bulb.
Thomas looked at the bulbs
other inventors had made.
He saw why they went out.
Their filaments burned up too fast.
A filament is the thin loop
inside a light bulb that glows
when electricity heats it.

Thomas began searching for
a new filament one that would glow
for hours, not minutes.
Thomas looked for over a year.
He tried all sorts of things:
Fishing line. Grass.
Wire. Wood shavings.
Even bits of coconut shell.

Finally, Thomas tried a piece
of thread, baked in an oven.
It worked!
Thomass new light bulb glowed
for thirteen hours straight!

News spread of the breakthrough.
People rushed to Menlo Park
to see for themselves.

These lights didnt flicker
like candles or smoke like oil.
Instead, they glowed,
soft and steady and bright.
Oooooh, gasped the crowd.
The Wizard had made magic again!

Thomas kept improving his bulbs.
He made one that lasted
over a thousand hours.
Now THAT was a useful light bulb!

Just as Thomas had hoped,
people began lighting