Thomas A. Edison and the Modernization America - Book Review

Thomas A. Edison and the Modernization America: Book Review

Nicole Saldarriaga

AMH 2020: US History Since 1877

Professor Carlson

February 9th, 2017

Despite Thomas A. Edison’s legacy, in the book Thomas A. Edison and the Modernization of America, Martin V. Melosi portrays Edison as a distinguished businessman interested in making previous inventions better in an attempt to modernize society. Throughout the book, Melosi illustrates Edison’s adventures and how his talent and curiosity progress over time. Growing up, he was seen as disruptive due to his intense desire to understand the world around him. 

Given that the financial income of Edison’s father was unsteady, he did not attend school regularly. Nancy Elliott, Edison’s mother, did the best to make up for missing school and also advised him to be well acquainted with the house library. Later on, Edison gave credit to his mother for educating him on the importance of life and directing him on how to choose the right path.^[1] At the age of 12 Edison began his road to independence and life as a businessman. By working at the Grand Trunk Railroad, he was able to travel from Fort Gratiot to Detroit and was given the chance to try various jobs as a merchandiser such as selling newspapers and candy to the occupants on the train. 

Due to the small activities and long hours, Edison had enough free time to work on chemical experiments and create his own onboard printing press. Because of an accidental fire on the train due to his inventions, he was forced to terminate all type of experiments and newspaper printing. After ending connections with the onboard newspaper called the Weekly Herald, Edison soon became an apprentice to another printing press company in Houghton called Paul Pry. Not long after, he decided to leave the printing press and Grand Trunk Railroad to move to Detroit and look for more reasonable jobs. In the light of making the decision to work in Detroit, the boom in telegraph companies helped Edison achieve an independent life and gave him the advantage to tinker with mechanics. 

As a result of the Civil War, the rise of telegraph companies led to multiple job openings. While Edison was a fast learner, his interests were not based on being the best telegraph messenger but to use this job as a ladder to other opportunities in the industry. Edison’s first invention came from the frustration of not being able to keep up with the transmission and created what he called a “Morse Repeater”.^[2] Although the “Morse Repeater” did not turn out to be successful, this invention was the commencement of his further assessment on how the telegraphing system worked. 

Overtime, Edison taught himself the logistics and mechanics of the telegrams. The knowledge gained by studying and processing the technology later helped him earn the status of a first-class operator. With the title as a first-class operator, Edison was able to land a five-year partnership with Gold and Stock company as their “Consulting Electrician and Mechanician.”^[3] While working for the company Gold and Stock, Edison learned more about the laws of a patent which later on would be the strong base of all of Edison’s inventions. Unlike other inventors, Edison possessed the quality of an entrepreneur along with the creativeness and intelligence of an inventor. 

In the 19th century, monopoly drove America to be rigorous in competition throughout all industries. Conquering the competition was admired and Edison used patents as his way to block out his competition. Another ideal Melosi pointed out about Edison is how he based his research on, “practical, marketable products with immediate impact on the urban markets of the Northeast and also the urban, industrialized areas of Europe.”^[4] A large amount of Edison’s work originated from products that had already been created. Edison’s talent sprung from being able to look at one product, take it apart and use the simple mechanics of the product to improve the speed and quality.