Well put Greg! Thanks for the history lesson. You are right about today's inventors and entrepreneurs---they are in it for as much as they can possibly put in their bank accounts. But you know, it is not just the Gates and Murdocks, but it is everyone in our world today.
Who would have thought that baseball players, who have less than a 300 batting average, would be demanding 175 million dollar contracts. Just as Garth Brooks put it, "I have more money than my grandchildren's children will ever spend." I blame to poor man that finds it hard to make ends meet each week that spends $100.00 + for a Garth Brooks ticket. If Joe Public was not so starved for entertainment, all industries would see the light and bring the prices down. The same with the gas companies. If each family did not have the wife, the husband, and two kids driving, the demand would go down, thus the fuel costs. I know that many of us have to commute to work, but I have friends that have children driving SUVs just to run up and down the street. Gas here today just went up to $3.10 a gallon. To some, it's no big deal. Yea, the days of Thomas Edison are long gone... Thanks for listening, and thanks Greg for getting me on this subject. Brantley The lowcountry of South Carolina </HTML> From [email protected] Mon Feb 25 13:59:39 2008 From: [email protected] (Greg Bogantz) Date: Mon Feb 25 13:59:57 2008 Subject: [Phono-L] Interesting Edison item on Craigslist References: <[email protected]><003101c877eb$6ba95ae0$6400a...@hpa1514n> <[email protected]> Message-ID: <004501c877f9$b8398ac0$6400a...@hpa1514n> John, You may be right about J.P. Morgan contracting with Edison for a metered power invention. I know that Edison spent time developing several systems for metering DC power (quite different from the present system we use for metering AC power). He came up with at least one system that involved an electro-chemical meter that essentially plated one metal from one electrode to another. By weighing the electrodes, the amount of current passing thru the meter could be determined. Edison did a lot of development work under contract. In fact, Edison is remembered today among the technically oriented establishment as the inventor of the research and R&D laboratory concepts. Before Edison, technical research was primarily done by independent inventors like Edison. His primary motivator in his career was inventing. He always referred to himself as an inventor, not a scientist or engineer. Toward that end, he developed tools and procedures that aided in inventing things. When he was able to accrue enough funding, the natural evolution of that disposition was to invent the "invention shop". At Menlo Park and again at West Orange, he had people employed for the sole purpose of researching ideas (pure research) and in trying to find ways to employ those ideas in the making of practical products (research and development). He was the first employer to do this in history, and thus became the inventor of the R&D laboratory. I'm sitting here biting my tongue so that I don't say anything more on the subject of executives at big corporations. Such as the fact that CEO actually refers to the CRIMINALLY EXCESSIVELY OVERPAID. I forgot to comment earlier on the price of that Edison dynamo on Craigslist. There are collectors of early electric motors and related paraphernalia who would probably know much better about the worth of this piece. But I have seen such items go for this kind of price on eBay. I'm sure its value depends on its particular model and condition, but this is probably a ballpark value for it these days. Greg Bogantz ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Maeder" <[email protected]> To: "Antique Phonograph List" <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, February 25, 2008 4:20 PM Subject: RE: [Phono-L] Interesting Edison item on Craigslist Greg -- I am actually under the impression that Edison was approached and contracted by J.P. Morgan to invent metered power and the practical applications thereof. Speaking of "one of the biggest cash cows in Murkan history" . . . my wife is (grudgingly) an executive with GEMoney (formerly GE Credit)! John > From: [email protected] > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [Phono-L] Interesting Edison item on Craigslist > Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2008 15:17:18 -0500 > > That's an Edison motor-dynamo. The design of it would date to the > invention > of the incandescent lamp in 1879 or thereabouts, so the 1882 patent date > is > probably right. Edison had to invent the entire power generation, > distribution, and consumer product line of products right along with the > lamp to ensure that there was a market for the lamp products. He > literally > had to invent the entire market for distributed-power electricity in the > home and much of industry and small businesses. Most people either don't > know this or have forgotten it in all the hoopla over the lamp and the > phonograph. Unlike Rockefeller and Vanderbilt in his own gilded age, and > Bill Gates, Rupert Murdock, and all the other fat capitalist pigs of our > modern Second Gilded Age (have YOUR wages kept up with inflation? > Murdock's > has and plenty more), Edison wasn't in business to get filthy, stinking > rich. He could have EASILY done so with several of his inventions, the > lamp > and its accoutrements in particular. He wanted to invent things. He sold > them so that he could afford to buy more equipment and personnel to invent > more things. Consequently, he created the Edison General Electric > Company, > together with some fat cash investors to handle the drudgery of dealing > with the whole lamp and power distribution business. When he needed more > cash for his laboratory, he sold out his interest in the company to the > fat > butts, they dropped the "Edison" from the company name, and they went on > to > create one of the biggest cash cows in Murkan history. > > Greg Bogantz > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "John Maeder" <[email protected]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: Monday, February 25, 2008 2:02 PM > Subject: [Phono-L] Interesting Edison item on Craigslist > > > > Here's an interesting piece of Edisonia . . . is this as early as the > patent > indicates? Don't know if the price is good or not. John > > http://huntsville.craigslist.org/grd/580738136.html > _______________________________________________ > Phono-L mailing list > http://phono-l.oldcrank.org > > _______________________________________________ > Phono-L mailing list > http://phono-l.oldcrank.org _______________________________________________ Phono-L mailing list http://phono-l.oldcrank.org
