Celebrate the accomplishments of the Man of the Millennium as you explore the incredible life of Thomas Alva Edison. You will marvel at his achievements while overcoming obstacles. His entire goal in life was to make the world a better place. He achieved this by creating new technologies and industries and making life easier and better for all humankind. And it all started from very humble beginnings.
Enjoy and engage with Hoy's Toys Thomas A Edison Activity Book, a 90-page book where you can learn about Edison's life from birth to death, the eight different areas of patents, and his lifetime of honors and awards. All art images are original drawings and pay homage to this exceptional individual. On every page, the reader will learn some facts about Edison, his inventions, his life, and his contributions.
Thomas A. Edison was born in Milan, Ohio February 11th, 1847. His parents were Samuel and Nancy Edison, and he was the sixth child in this family. In his youth, his family called him Al, and when he was seven, they moved to Port Huron, Michigan. Shortly after their arrival, Al came down with scarlet fever. He recovered from this severe illness but was left partially deaf in one ear. Learning in a regular class environment (one-room school house with 40 students) was too challenging, so Al's mother home-schooled him until age 12. At this point, Al took a job on the local Grand Trunk Railroad selling newspapers, fruits, and candies to all the passengers and continued his education in private reading rooms ( also called libraries) Al would visit as he traveled along the railroad line.
At 16, Edison saved Jimmy Mackenzie, the young son of the conductor, from a near-fatal collision with a train. Conductor Mackenzie was so grateful to Al for saving his son that he put Edison into an apprenticeship for telegraphy – his lifelong dream job. Al put his newspaper and fruit sales behind him and became Tom the Telegrapher.
By age 23, Edison became an expert in using and fixing telegraph machines. He parlays this skill into a patent for correcting an inherent problem with the designs of the stock ticker machines. Tom used the proceeds from selling this patent to purchase and open his first lab in Newark, New Jersey. At this new lab, he continued improving the telegraph and related machines. As a result, Edison invented and manufactured new multiline telegraphs, perforators, transmitters, ink recorders, and typewriters. By 29, Edison was so successful he built a brand new lab in Menlo Park, New Jersey.
With all his new inventions and technologies at his new lab, Thomas A. Edison earned the nickname "The Wizard of Menlo Park." Edison made patents on the telephone carbon transmitter and created what he considered his first original invention-the phonograph. Edison also moved forward with the lightbulb and got illumination to last for hours. He would patent this technology which brought electric light to the people. In 1884, Edison's first wife, Mary, passed away, leaving Edison a single parent to three children. He built a winter vacation home in Ft. Myers, Fl., and took his children there to spend time away from inventing.
In 1886, Edison married Mina Miller in Akron, Ohio. He moved his family to the Glenmont Estate in West Orange, New Jersey. Edison built a new privately funded research and development lab facility that was the largest in the world at that time. This new lab was called the West Orange Lab and allowed Edison to continue with the improvements on the phonographs. He also worked with the Kinetoscope to create talking movies, and his first success was the "Sneeze."
Edison became the US Naval Consulting Board President to assist with WWI. He created a technology rendering the US Navy ships invisible to the enemy subs, saving them from destruction. Edison also made technological improvements so the US Navy could detect and destroy enemy subs, a critical turning point in WWI. By the war's end, Edison had designed 39 patents for the military which he donated to the US Military. For Edison's Navy work, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal by the US Navy-a very rare honor.
There are six related puzzle books for two age levels: 5-8 years old and 9-adults. Topics included for both groups are Mazes, Seek-n-Find, Morse Code, Color by Number, Connect the Dots, and Word Games. Each puzzle book will stand independently or integrate with the Edison Activity Book and all other puzzle books. Purchase as a single puzzle book or in a Bundle Package of six or a Super Bundle Package of 12 puzzle books. Puzzle books can be mixed and matched between each age group and all six topics.
