Thomas Edison’s Ambitious “To-Do” List from 1888
Looking at the list:<p>* Cotton Picker - <i>didn&#x27;t get done in Edison&#x27;s time, done in mid 20th century</i><p>* New Standard Phonograph, Hand turning phonograph - <i>product improvements</i><p>* New Slow speed cheap Dynamo - ?<p>* New Expansion Pyromagnetic Dynamo - ?<p>* Deaf Apparatus - <i>hearing aid. Edison never developed a good amplifier</i><p>* Electrical Piano - <i>also needed an amp, (but see Teleharmonium)</i><p>* Long distance standard Telephone Transmitter which employs devices of recording phonogh - <i>something else that needed an amp</i><p>* Telephone Coil of Fe [iron] by tt in Parafine or other insulator - <i>loading coil?</i><p>* Platina Point Trans using new phono Recorder devices - <i>point-contact microphone, a dead end.</i><p>* Grid Battery for Telephones, etc. - <i>a battery improvement</i><p>* Improved Magnetic Bridge for practical work - <i>something to replace the Wheatstone bridge and mirror galvanometer, a sensitive but un-amplified lab instrument.  Again, if only he&#x27;d had an amp...</i><p>* Motograph Mirror, relay, Relay, Telephone practical - <i>the motograph was a really clunky way to amplify, using an unusual physical effect where the friction between a rotating chalk cylinder and a contact changes with the current through the contact. Dead end, although the phenomenon was used once in an IBM line printer paper drive clutch.</i><p>* Artificial Cable - ?<p>* Phono motor to work on 100 volt ckts - <i>routine job</i><p>* Duplicating Phono Cylinders - <i>the Edison Amberoll process; many playable cylinders still exist.</i><p>* Deposit in vacuo on lace, gold + silver also on cotton molten chemical compound of lustrous surfaces to imitate silk— also reg plating system - ?<p>* Vacuous Ore milling Large Machine, Magnetic Separator Large, Locking material for Iron sand - <i>part of Edison&#x27;s cement and rock crushing period</i><p>* Artificial Silk, Artificial filaments - <i>trying to find something better for incandescent lamps, pre-tungsten</i><p>* Uninflammable Insulating Material - <i>General Electric Deltabeston felted asbestos insulation - &quot;Will not age or crack&quot;. Worked great, except for the asbestos hazard</i><p>* Good wax for phonograph - <i>he did that</i><p>* Phonographic Clock - <i>&quot;speaking clock - was done eventually, but not by Edison</i><p>* Large Phonograph for Novels, etc. - <i>long-playing records, not in Edison&#x27;s time</i><p>* Pig Iron Expmts with Electricity + Magnetism, Malleablizing Cast now in Vacuo - ?<p>* Drawing fine wire - <i>figuring out how to draw tungsten wire for lamps was really tough, but GE eventually did it. Edison not involved</i><p>* Joy phonograph for Dolls - <i>somebody did that in Edison&#x27;s time.  Mass produced as Mattel&#x27;s Chatty Cathy in the 1950s.</i><p>* Cable Motograph, Very Loud Motograph telephone with 1&#x2F;3 siz phonogh motor. - <i>more attempts to amplify</i><p>* Magneto telephone with actual contact end magnet compression of an adjustable rubber press as in new phones - ?<p>* Snow Compressor - ??<p>* Glass plate water ore repeator - ??<p>* Tinned faced [illeg.] for Stove Castings - <i>somebody did that, old stoves often have tin facings</i><p>* Refining Copper Electrically - <i>somebody did that too, but not Edison</i><p>* Quad neutral relay - <i>another multiplex telgraphy component</i><p>* Cheap low induct Cop Insulating material for Lead Cable people - <i>insulating materials were a big problem in Edison&#x27;s day.  No plastic, no synthetic rubber. Lots of wood, fabric, paper, tar, etc., all bad.</i><p>* 200 volt 20 cp lamp - <i>another size of light bulb</i><p>* Recording Volt Indicator - <i>done, but not by Edison</i><p>* Box balancing System - ?<p>* Alternating Machine + Transformer - <i>Tesla&#x27;s department</i><p>* Platinum wire [illeg.] cutting Machine, silver wire wood cutting system - <i>hot wire cutting?  Dead end for wood, although today we have laser cutters.</i><p>* Boron fil. - <i>Boron filaments didn&#x27;t happen</i><p>* Hg [mercury] out of Lamp - <i>beginnings of environmentalism?</i><p>* Phonaplex Repeater - <i>another problem that needed an amp.</i><p>* Squirting glass sheet tube etc. Nickel [illeg.] - <i>glass extrusion worked fine, but Edison didn&#x27;t invent it</i><p>* Artificial Mother Pearl - <i>too early for plastics</i><p>* Red Lead pencils equal to graphite, India Ink, Tracing Cloth - <i>shopping list?</i><p>* Ink for blind - <i>not by Edison</i><p>* Fluffy Incandescent Burner for gas - <i>lantern mantle. Done, but by Edison?</i><p>* Regenerative Kerosene Burner - ?<p>* Centralized arc in arc Lamp, Cai–[illeg.] Tesla arc lamp test - ?<p>* Strengthening alternating cli by sternt Dynamo - ?<p>* Electroplating Machines for Schenectady - <i>OK, must do day job</i><p>* Condenser Transformer - <i>a charge pump?  Common today in IC size</i><p>* Sqr ft diffraction gratings in silver by 5000 [illeg.] tool special [illeg.] lathe for ornamental purposes - <i>popular with hippies in the 1960s</i><p>* Cheap plan produce Mimeograph surfaces - <i>Edison mimeograph upgrade?</i><p>* Miners battery + lamp - <i>good product idea, done by many</i><p>* Sorting Coal from Slate Machine - <i>mechanize a job done by kids. Coal floats, slate doesn&#x27;t, and coal breakers exploit this.</i><p>* Butter direct from Milk - ?<p>* Burning asphalt Candles by high chimney - <i>bad idea</i><p>* Magnets RR signals - ?<p>* Soften [illeg.] of books transfer to Cop plate + plate to [illeg.] matrix - ?<p>* Telephone Repeater - <i>another need for an amp</i><p>* Substitute for Hard rubber - <i>not really solved until neoprene in WWII</i><p>* Artificial Ivory - <i>ABS plastic was a long way off</i><p>* Revolving Thermo - ?<p>* Caller Indicator for Jump Telegh - ?<p>* Marine Telegraphy - <i>undersea cable, or ship to shore?</i><p>* Long distance speaking tube filled H20 2 dia pressure - <i>dead end</i><p>* Lend plate battery for modifying attending Current - ?<p>* Two revolving bands in battery Lead faced press in liquid close together + out into separate chambers to [illeg.]reduce by gas the other - ?<p>* Siren phonogh - <i>another need for an amp</i><p>* Perm mag like an electromag of [illeg.] hand steel high polish separately magnetized + forced together powerfully[illeg.] - <i>magnetic materials in Edison&#x27;s day were weak by modern standards. If he&#x27;d tried adding some cobalt...</i><p>* Telephone working more [illeg.] - <i>yes, focus on day job</i><p>* Eartubes formed crescent [illeg.] wire - ?<p>* Cheap Voltmeter - <i>outsource to New Jersey?</i><p>* Chalk Battery - <i>dead end</i><p>* Dynamo or motor long tube in long magnetic field top + bottom contacts forcing water through generator current by – passage.
[Illeg.] - <i>the beginnings of magnetohydrodynamics?</i><p>* Thermo battery slick Copper oxidized then plated over surface oxide nailed to make good contact [illeg.] - ?<p>* Disk Phonograph - <i>that worked out very well</i>