Inventors . rd rubber. He was at work ex-perimenting with india-rubber, and quite bychance he hit upon a process which hardened it-the last result in the world that he wished orexpected to attain. In a discovery there mustbe an element of the accidental, and an impor-tant one, too ; while an invention is purely de-ductive. In my own case but few, and those theleast important, of my inventions owed anythingto accident. Most of them have been hammeredout after long and patient labor, and are the re-sult of countless experiments all directed towardattaining some well-defined object. All mechan-ic
Inventors . rd rubber. He was at work ex-perimenting with india-rubber, and quite bychance he hit upon a process which hardened it-the last result in the world that he wished orexpected to attain. In a discovery there mustbe an element of the accidental, and an impor-tant one, too ; while an invention is purely de-ductive. In my own case but few, and those theleast important, of my inventions owed anythingto accident. Most of them have been hammeredout after long and patient labor, and are the re-sult of countless experiments all directed towardattaining some well-defined object. All mechan-ical improvements may safely be said to be in- THOMAS A. EDISON 227 ventions and not discoveries. The sewing-ma-chine was an invention. So were the steam-engine and the typewriter. Speaking of thislatter, did I ever tell you that I made the firsttwelve typewriters at my old factory in RailroadAvenue, Newark ? This was in 1869 or 1870, andI myself had worked at a machine of similar •-J j^^1 tj^BOHBNN&<. ¥:!:!© Edison Listening to his Phonograph. character, but never found time to develop itfully. There is one great invention, howrever, forwhich Edison deserves credit, both as discovererand practical inventor—the phonograph. Herewas a genuine discovery. The phonographknows no other parent than Edison, and he hasbrought it to its present condition by devotionand tireless skill. I have always believed in thephonograph as an instrument destined to play 228 INVENTORS some day an important part among the blessingsthat ingenuity has given to man. There are stillobstacles in the way of its practical success, butthat the missing screw or spring—perhaps nomore than that--will be found in the near future,is not doubted by any competent observer. Thomas Alva Edison was born February u,1847, at Milan, Erie County, O., an obscure canalvillage. When a small boy, his family, a mosthumble one (his father being a village jack-of-all-trades, living upon odd jobs done for neigh-boring farm
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