According to Wikipedia Farmer inspired Edison: With his partner William
Wallace, he invented the an early dynamo which powered a system of arc lights
he exhibited at the Centennial Exhibition of 1876 in Philadelphia, and which
inspired Thomas Edison to work on an improved incandescent light. Edison used
the Wallace-Farmer 8 horsepower (6.0 kW) dynamo to power his early electric
light demonstrations (Jonnes, p47,54, Josephson 176-186). Farmer served as a
teacher for a time. Farmer died at the World's Columbian Exposition. Farmer was
a pioneer of many aspects of 19th century electrical invention, but, because he
and his wife were spiritualists,they felt that their talents were God-given,and
he felt that they shouldn't take credit for any of his inventions. As a result
he failed to carry his ideas to commercial success.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moses_G._Farmer From: g...@usfamily.net
> To: phono-l@oldcrank.org
> Date: Sun, 3 Jul 2011 18:39:39 -0500
> Subject: Re: [Phono-L] Dearborn trip--Edison's last breath
>
> Search Google for "who invented the light bulb" and you'll see the
> overwhelming consensus that Edison did not invent it. He improved earlier
> light bulb inventions and designed power plants to power his light bulb.
> The most important part of this was that he marketed the entire lighting
> system, including bulbs, generators, and electrical grids, that
> municipalities could buy, making it a commercial success. I'm glad to hear
> the museum has it right.
>
> I'd like to point out that a distant relative, Moses G. Farmer, invented an
> electric light 20 years before Edison, patented it, and in 1858 his house in
> Salem, Massachusetts was the first in the world lit by electric light. It
> was not a failure, it actually worked, but it just was not commercially
> viable.
>
> -- Greg Farmer
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jim Nichol" <jnic...@fuse.net>
> To: "Antique Phonograph List" <phono-l@oldcrank.org>
> Sent: Sunday, July 03, 2011 5:13 PM
> Subject: Re: [Phono-L] Dearborn trip--Edison's last breath
>
>
> > Oh, yes. The book is Expiration Date.
> >
> > Other comments about the museum:
> >
> > 1. I was quite unhappy that both a tour guide and a guy playing a young
> > Tom Edison told us that Edison did NOT invent the light bulb, he only
> > "perfected" it. I couldn't believe they were spreading this garbage to
> > every visitor. Since when does it count when other people try to invent
> > something and fail? I think the US Patent Office agrees with me on the
> > light bulb. It's bad enough that they said that Edison didn't invent the
> > light bulb. But they had to gall to have an actor playing Edison say it
> > out loud. That is an unbelievably inaccurate portrayal of Edison. The
> > actor did get in one jab, however. He pointed out that unlike the others
> > who worked on the light bulb, his actually worked.
> >
> > 2. I'm unhappy that Edison is downplayed compared to how it used to be at
> > the museum. The large phonograph display that was there in the 1970's
> > wasn't there in 2009. The worst thing is that they renamed the complex
> > "The Henry Ford" instead of using Ford's name for it: "The Edison
> > Institute".
> >
> > 3. I am very impressed that they have a Chrysler Turbine car there. As a
> > kid, I saw one of the 50 produced that Chrysler was showing in a local
> > shopping mall. Almost all of them were scrapped on purpose shortly
> > thereafter. I just found out this week that Jay Leno has one (see video on
> > YouTube).
> >
> > 4. I didn't see the Edison Waterpower Phonograph in 2009, but I believe I
> > saw it there on my previous trip in 1997.
> >
> > Jim Nichol
> >
> >
> > On Jul 3, 2011, at 2:54 PM, Dennis Back wrote:
> >
> >> For those interested in this book, the title is "Expiration Date" and
> >> written by Tim Powers. It's a very good read, I might add.
> >> And Jim...I very much enjoyed your posts about the Menlo Lab and Ford's
> >> residence.
> >>
> >> Dennis
> >
> >
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>
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