Thomas Alva Edison Trivia Quiz

Answer: Ohio

Thomas Alva Edison was born in Milan, Ohio, on February 11th, 1847. His father was Samuel Ogden Edison, Jr. (from Nova Scotia) and his mother was Nancy Matthews Elliott, originally from New York. They met in Canada. Although born in Ohio, most of Thomas Edison's young life was spent growing up in Port Huron, Michigan, where his family moved in 1854.

The picture shown here is the flag of the state of Ohio, which was designed in 1901 and officially adopted in 1902. While Edison may have moved away from the state of his birth at age 7, he did eventually acquire his old home again, purchasing it in 1906.

Answer: In a train baggage car

It was 1859 and Edison found ways to make money. He secured a position selling candy and newspapers aboard trains; but that was not good enough. He also managed to get exclusive rights to sell those newspapers on the train; but that was also not good enough. Edison employed four of his own assistants and set up a printing press in a baggage car where he produced HIS OWN newspaper; but that was not all!

In addition to these entrepreneurial endeavours, Edison also set up a laboratory space in the baggage car and conducted chemistry experiments. This precursor to his life of inventiveness inadvertently led to the loss of his position on the train when one of his experiments caused an accidental fire.

In time, Edison would go on to found 14 separate companies.

Answer: Telegraph operator

Edison's employment fortune came as a direct result of an heroic act: he saved three-year-old Jimmie MacKenzie from being run over by a train. How did that translate into getting trained as a telegraph operator? Simple, the boy was the son of Station Master J.U. MacKenzie who, out of gratitude, trained Edison in the field of telegraphy.

This new found skill gave Edison steady, albeit temporary, employment until in various locations in the midwestern and northeastern U.S., until he decided to pursue a permanent position with Western Union.

Answer: Electrographic Vote-Recorder

Edison's electrographic vote-recorder (U.S. patent no. 90,646) was capable of recording a yes or no vote, and while it worked, it was not well-received by Washington politicians.

The other options listed were also inventions by Edison for which he was granted patents:

U.S. patent no. 142,999 (his 67th patent): Galvanic Batteries
U.S. patent no. 222,390 (his 146th patent): Carbon-Telephones
U.S. patent no. 248,443 (his 201st patent): Vacuum Apparatus

Over his lifetime, Thomas Edison had 2,332 patents worldwide, 1,093 of which were in the United States.

Answer: The Wizard of Menlo Park

Struggling to survive in New York City, Edison finally hit it big when he was paid $40,000 for the rights to a stock ticker that he patented. Soon after, he had parlayed his earnings into a state-of-the-art laboratory. While Edison (and his team) worked in this building they obtained more than 400 patents. By 1887 the laboratory had expanded into an operation that filled two city blocks!

The building seen in this photograph is the actual Menlo Park laboratory, moved to Dearborn, Michigan and refurbished by Henry Ford. It is now part of the Henry Ford Museum.

Answer: The phonograph

Edison began developing his phonograph in the summer of 1877, and was able to demonstrate his invention in late November. He even took his invention to the editors of "Scientific American", amazing them as it said, "Good morning. How do you do? How do you like the phonograph?" (Source: Wikipedia)

The patent for Edison's phonograph was granted on February 19th, 1878 (U.S. patent no. 200,521).

The phonograph shown in the photo does not look like Edison's original invention, which was more of a tube. The image here is of an 'Edison Home Phonograph 2', produced in the early 1900s.

Answer: False

While Edison experimented with electric light, he was not the first to do so. Patents for various attempts at electric lighting dated back to the 1850s, while Edison's first patented version of a light bulb did not come until an 1879 'Improvement in electric lights' (U.S. patent no. 214,636).

Edison's accomplishment with electric lighting was that he was the first to invent a commercially viable incandescent light.

Pictured here is a carbon light bulb, dated 1879, from Edison's Menlo Park laboratory.

Answer: Direct

If you use a wall socket to plug anything into nowadays, you will already be aware that Westinghouse's alternating current eventually won the battle. The battle was more than just Edison vs. Westinghouse, as it involved multiple companies and even countries that were looking to protect their investments in one or the other method.

Direct current was the initial type of power distribution established, and it corresponded with many of Edison's developments; specifically incandescent lighting. It was excellent for short range distribution, and became the standard for localized industries. Alternating current was more versatile in being able to transmit power further at higher voltage, using transformers at both ends of the distribution to reduce the load as needed.

Direct current is still used in some industries today.

Answer: Kinetoscope

As can be seen in the photo, the kinetoscope was designed as a single-viewer apparatus. As one looked through the aperture, a strip of perforated film would be moved across a high-speed shuttered light, giving the illusion of movement. Sound familiar? It became the standard by which all film was made up to the development of 'video' (recorded on magnetic video tape) in the early 1950s.

Edison first came up with the concept in 1888 and first demonstrated it for the public in 1891.

Answer: Dot and Dash

Dot and Dash, of course, refers to the Morse Code that Edison learned for his years as a telegraph operator.

Edison's first wife, whom he married in 1871, was Mary Stillwell. Their children together were Marion Estelle (1873), Thomas Alva, Jr. (1876) and William Leslie (1878). Sadly, Mary passed away in 1884 of unknown causes.

Edison married Mina Miller in 1886, and their children were Madeleine (1888), Charles (1890) and Theodore Miller (1898).

Thomas Alva Edison lived to the age of 84, passing away on October 18th, 1931 of complications related to diabetes.