Thomas Edison National Historical Park, Part 2 | West Orange, New Jersey

Thomas Edison was the greatest inventor in American history, and certainly one of the most prolific inventors in world history.

His inventions helped usher in a new age of progress.

If you ever get a chance, please visit the national park in West Orange, New Jersey that is devoted to his work!

In Part 1, I wrote about his labs and various offices.

In Part 2, I will show more of his inventions and his music room!

Thomas Edison National Historical Park

At this museum, you can see and get an idea of all the inventions that he was involved with.

He had 1023 patents!

He either helped invent or improve the following items:

incandescent lightbulbs
phonographs
motion pictures
dictaphones
telegraph equipment
typewriters
storage batteries

and many, many more.

Rutgers University has compiled an amazing list of his patents.

Here are a few of his inventions that you can see in West Orange, New Jersey.

Electric irons:

Office equipment:

“A doll that talks”

Light bulbs:

Phonographs:

The Ediphone:

What’s that?

Dictaphones and Ediphones were sound recording devices used for efficient oral dictation in business settings. When Edison invented the phonograph, one proposed use was “dictation without the aid of stenographers.” Its tinfoil playback medium lacked quality, however. Alexander Graham Bell’s Graphophone (later, Dictaphone) improved the phonograph by using wax cylinders for superior playback; cylinders were also used in the competing Ediphone

Thomas Edison Labs photo department office

The Music Room

The Music Room at the park includes many phonograph machines, musical instruments, and more!

Early phonograph recordings were made in this room!

This was at the labs, not his home.

The wonderful National Park Planner has a very nice page about all of the different rooms at the complex. It is filled with great photos and videos!

They say about The Music Room:

The third floor of the Main Laboratory Building is most likely to be a visitor’s favorite. Instead of shop tools and machines you will find actual inventions, including many of Edison’s phonographs that are on display in the Music Room. In the early days of sound recording, the sonic quality was not that good, so sound-proof rooms didn’t make that much of a difference. As a result, many live musical performances were recorded in the Music Room even though machines were rumbling away just a floor below.

They continue:

Edison was essentially the first record company executive and producer in that he actually chose the artists and music to be recorded. His philosophy was that good music sells and that the performer’s personality was not important. Other record companies realized that a personality sells the records, and Edison’s Diamond Records was surpassed by others in later years. Edison was a genius at marketing his initial products, but time after time he refused to adapt as the technology changed, often sending him from the top of the financial pyramid to the bottom.

Nikola Tesla

He had a testy relationship with Nikola Tesla.

According to the History Channel:

Tesla arrived in New York in 1884 and was hired as an engineer at Thomas Edison’s Manhattan headquarters. He worked there for a year, impressing Edison with his diligence and ingenuity. At one point Edison told Tesla he would pay $50,000 for an improved design for his DC dynamos. After months of experimentation, Tesla presented a solution and asked for the money. Edison demurred, saying, “Tesla, you don’t understand our American humor.” Tesla quit soon after.

Nikola Tesla vs. Thomas Edison: Who was the better inventor?