General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: There are exactly two ways to get rich [View all]El_Johns
(1,805 posts)By the time he was 21, Edison was working in Western Union's headquarters, where he filed his first patent application.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/edison/timeline/
At 22, he landed a $300 a month job (very good pay for the time & we might wonder if his WU connections didn't help with that) in NYC & started a company with two older men with significant expertise in telegraphy.
http://books.google.com/books?id=1YDrMFug17cC&pg=PA87&lpg=PA87&dq=%22james+n+ashland%22+edison&source=bl&ots=-rQFQnvbH-&sig=IrfGoUQfAKTnq4ZrCJ7l32DR4dE&hl=en&sa=X&ei=b1vCUqikEY7ZoATk0oKoAg&ved=0CCwQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=%22james%20n%20ashland%22%20edison&f=false
They sold the company & their invention (a ticker tape) in 1870, when Edison was 23. There were bad feelings all around; Edison claimed they'd tried to cheat him of money, they claimed Edison had struck independent deals with manufacturers (which he had, because he set up manufacturing almost immediately afterward.)
And funny thing, Western Union immediately bought the company Edison et al had just sold to another party. (Given the bad feelings among the partners & the FACT that Edison had gone behind their backs to recruit manufacturing contracts for the business he was planning, makes it look like he had some kind of insider deal with Western Union)
"When Western Union bought control of Gold & Stock in 1871, Edison came under the wing of the industry giant. Western Union was particularly eager to finance Edison's research into duplex telegraphy..."
http://books.google.com/books?id=mAwVz2-CeX8C&pg=PA20&dq=%22western+union%22+finance+edison&hl=en&sa=X&ei=y13CUqCgMZLgoASEn4CoDg&ved=0CFYQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=%22western%20union%22%20finance%20edison&f=false
There were other financial angels too...
Painter invested in the work of a 23-year-old electrical wizard...
http://books.google.com/books?id=ik8kKFJrDS4C&pg=PA110&
dq=thomas+edison+early+investors&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Q1TCUtflLtDzoATWzYHwAw&ved=0CFcQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=thomas%20edison%20early%20investors&f=false
IN 1874 (he was 27) Western Union paid him $40K for the quaddruplex telegraph he'd invented with their financing -- that built Menlo Park.
Edison set up his new complex in rural Menlo Park, New Jersey in 1876. Menlo Park was a town on the main rail line between New York City and Philadelphia. He chose the location because the land was cheap and there was easy access to the resources of the cities (especially the rich investors Edison needed to support his work)...
http://invention.smithsonian.org/centerpieces/edison/000_story_02.asp
His next task was the electricity industry. In the late 1870s, (JP) Morgan had been very impressed by Thomas Edisons experiments and, against Juniuss warning, invested as much money as he could in the eccentric geniuss work.
http://www.fordham.edu/academics/colleges__graduate_s/undergraduate_colleg/fordham_college_at_l/special_programs/honors_program/hudsonfulton_celebra/homepage/biographies/jp_morgan_32212.asp
Western Union, along with Mr lowrey's wealthy group of clients, agreed to buy the rights to Tom Edison's electric light & distributing system. This group of capitalists, which included the powerful Morgan & Vanderbilt families, gave Edison $50,000 to begin his research. This established the Edison Electric Light Company. Edison's investors were willing to support his new, not yet created invention. Why?
http://books.google.com/books?id=2mc-T81gS68C&pg=PA116&dq=%22thomas+edison%22+vanderbilt&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ilbCUqHGJpHqoAS51oLoBw&ved=0CDsQ6AEwATgK#v=onepage&q=%22thomas%20edison%22%20vanderbilt&f=false
Edison was never "poor" (not even as a child, his father's finances & businesses were up and down. By the time he was 21 he'd gotten the attention of one of the biggest corporations in the country & by 22 he was making more money than the majority of young men his age -- & from there he only got richer.
He was never "independent". He was financed, first by Western Union (whose majority stockholder in 1870 was -- Cornelius VANDERBILT!!!)
http://books.google.com/books?id=Mfd4AAAAQBAJ&pg=PT189&dq=western+union+board+of+directors+1870&hl=en&sa=X&ei=OWHCUpDzL8LgoATtroGwBQ&ved=0CEIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=western%20union%20board%20of%20directors%201870&f=false
& miscellaneous other investors, then by JP Morgan & the Vanderbilts -- the biggest capitalists in the country.
And General Electric was created by Morgan, not by Edison. But Edison was a creation of BIG CAPITAL.