Inventions of Thomas Edison

There's a reason he was called the wizard.

Have you ever wondered which great minds helped give us the electric light as we know it today? If Thomas Edison (1847 - 1931) was one of your guesses, you were right! But that wasn't the only thing he worked on.

Light
During his lifetime Edison patented more than 1,000 inventions. Let's first take a look at one of his most famous ones.

Did you know that Edison's improvement of the light bulb almost never happened? Needing to keep the carbon from burning up in order to make the bulb work, he sat in his lab wondering what do to. Finally looking up, he saw he had unconsciously rolled some lampblack into a thin thread. He decided to roll the carbon into the same shape. Using this carbon filament, his bulb burned for about 15 hours.

Visual
Edison was probably one of the first movie fans ever. After seeing another inventor's machine showing animals in motion, Edison likewise became interested in moving pictures. He began working on his own motion picture invention. By 1892, Edison and photographer W.K.L.  picture camera and a viewing  implement.

Audio
Edison not only helped give us movies, but he also played a part in the history of music and recording. His first phonograph could both record and play back sound. It amazed the public and brought him international fame.

Communication
From scrutinizing all of Edison's inventions in this field, one sees he was obviously a believer in improving communication between people. In his era, the telegraph was the way to send and receive messages. Edison created the automatic telegraph, a gadget that allowed messages to travel extremely fast. Before, they couldn't go much faster than 40 words per minute, but the automatic telegraph allowed for up to 1,000 !

Edison also played a huge part in creating the telephone. He, of course, didn't invent the telephone, but earlier versions of the machine were limited, and he improved it dramatically. Originally telephones only let people talk to each other over short distances. Recognizing the problem, Edison took it upon himself to invent his own telephone transmitter, which was used up until the 1980s. Edison's inventions changed the world. He once said, " Invention is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration." Even a wizard has to work hard!

Vocabulary tips:
patent-取得某项的专利权。专利。
*The scientist patented his newly developed technology of turning salt water into drinking water.取得了专利
* The patent application of this new product is still in process.
unconsciously (adv) -  unconscious-未查觉的，不知不觉地，未意识到的， 失去知觉的
*He was unconsciously biting his fingernails.
*The victim was beat by the robbers until he lay unconsciously in the dirt.
likewise-也，同样的，照样的
*The leading actor of the movie did a marvelous job, and the leading actress did likewise. 同样的好。
*Josh used to complain that his boss was too strict. Likewise, his employees now complain about him.
*"I'm going home now." "Like wise." 同样的。
wizard - a person who can do magic. whiz - very good at something- Math. whiz.天才。
scrutinize - 详细检查或细看。
* The editor scrutinized the final copy of the article to make sure there weren't any mistakes.
*The detective scrutinized all the evidence trying to find any clues.
transmitter - 发射器， 发报器。传遞者，传播播播者。。卓越，越过。
* The whales were implanted with radio transmitters so the scientists could locate them.植入
perspire-汗水，汗珠 要和“bead”一起 sweat, hard work.
*The kids perspired a lot in the summer heat.
Beads of perspiration were on his forehead.汗珠。。额头上。

Grammar Tips:
Have you ever wondered which great minds helped give us the electric light as we know it today.
"as we know it today"=like the ones we use or are familiar with today.
Have you ever wondered which great minds helped give us the electric light as we know it today?
The bicycle as we know it today didn't become popular until half a century after its invention.
Ever since 1700, the piano went through numerous changes to become western music's most popular instrument as we know it today.

Chat Room:
burning up / burning out -都是“燃烧”的意思。但意义不同。
burning up-使某人发怒，火冒三丈。气极了。
burning out-精疲力竭，身心俱疲
Keep the carbon from burning up -碳
You really burn me up! I'm very angry at you! 惹着了我，
Rhonda is completely burned out at her job. 厌倦无力
burn the midnight oil -开夜车，挑灯夜战。
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transmitter was used up until the 1980s.
was used, up until...- 一直到。。。
used up- finished 用尽了。
Up until was a teenager, I didn't know any English.