Hi Andrew Yes, it alarms me how badly modern "journalism" is researched, especially items like this that are aimed at the younger public who doesn't have a long attention span. This article gives the impression that the electric pen was a writing instrument, not a tool for creating a stencil. The vote recorder was a failure, I think, because it was sabotaged so much by those who didn't want votes in Congress cast against their purposes. At least I have read of tampering with it in that way. John
________________________________ From: Andrew Baron <a...@popyrus.com> To: Antique Phonograph List <phono-l@oldcrank.org> Sent: Friday, August 16, 2013 8:16 PM Subject: Re: [Phono-L] Electric pen Hi John ~ A friend sent me this link this morning and I watched the video. This may sound harsh (for me), but I found it to be typically inaccurate media-mill fodder, with a catchy segment title to attract a big audience. Seems they're also catering to the contingent that's hungry to pounce on an Edison failure, perhaps? In reality, wasn't the electric pen Edison's first successful mass-produced product; i.e., mass produced by Edison's own shops and marketed in America and Europe, keeping his first factory quite occupied during its brief heyday? While we know that although the apparatus was hard to maintain by untrained office staff, conceptually the idea was successful enough to attract lumber man A. B. Dick, who with the much simplified "Edison's Mimeograph" put himself on the map as a major office machine and supplies manufacturer. Certainly it is true that the motorized pen was the ideal basis for the tattoo stylus (or whatever the right word might be). A more accurate brief account than the tv.yahoo video: http://edison.rutgers.edu/pen.htm NOW FOR ACCURACY IN REPORTING Edison's "worst invention" in terms of unsuccessful marketing, must have been his Electric Vote Recorder, his first issued patent unless I got this from a flawed history book. None were manufactured beyond the prototype. Andrew Baron Santa Fe On Aug 16, 2013, at 8:48 PM, john robles wrote: > Here is a clip on what was called "Thomas Edison's Worst Invention". Of course it is not well researched, but it is an interesting wawtch! > > http://tv.yahoo.com/video/playlist/primetime/thomas-edisons-worst-invention-061926628.html > > John Robles > _______________________________________________ > Phono-L mailing list > http://phono-l.org > _______________________________________________ Phono-L mailing list http://phono-l.org _______________________________________________ Phono-L mailing list http://phono-l.org
