Thomas Alva Edison is generally considered among the greatest inventors/innovators in modern history. He was awarded 1,073 patents. The list of what he created or improved includes the automatic telegraph, carbon telephone transmitter, the light bulb, phonograph, movie camera and viewer, and alkaline storage battery.

It is important to note that Edison was seldom the first to think of a new device but is widely viewed as a creative genius who could make a device sufficiently durable (e.g. the filament of a light bulb) so that it could achieve commercial success.

Curious, I selected a time frame (1800-1916) and compiled a list of inventions that various persons (including Edison) brought to market. They include:

1800  Battery
1809  Electric lamp
1814   Locomotive
1825  Electromagnet
1829  Typewriter

1831   McCormick reaper
1835  Wrench
1837  Telegraph
1839  Photography
1842  Grain elevator

1846  Dental anesthesia
1850  Dishwasher
1852  Gyroscope
1854  Fiberoptics
1857  Sleeping car on train

1861  Elevator brakes
1867  “Modern” typewriter
1873  Mail-order catalog
1876  Telephone
1879  First practical light bulb

1881   Metal detector
1884  Cash register
1887  Gramophone
1892  Diesel engine
1895  Movie camera

1898  Rollercoaster
1901  Safety razor
1903  Crayons
1905  Theory of Relativity
1907  Helicopter

1911  Electric ignition
1913  Crossword puzzle
1915  Pyrex
1916  Radio circuit
1920  Thompson machine gun

Success has many parents but failure is a orphan. These and other inventions eventually succeeded because of the efforts of many people whose names are unknown. Edison is probably the best example of someone who completed the design and enabled the production of something that would then attract profitable acceptance.

In this context, I am again reminded of Steven Wright’s insight: “The early bird may get the worm but the second mouse gets the cheese.”