Electrical engineering

Thomas Alva Edison: inventions and patents

Thomas Alva Edison, born in Milan, Ohio, earned patents for over a thousand inventions, according to the National Inventors Hall of Fame. He set up a laboratory at Menlo Park, New Jersey, in 1876, demonstrated a carbon-filament lamp on 21 October 1879 and received US Patent 223,898 for an electric lamp in 1880. His first patent, in 1868, was for an electrical vote recorder.^1,2

Patents

Inventions

• Electrical vote recorder, 1868. The subject of his first patent.¹
• Carbon-filament lamp, 1879. Demonstrated on 21 October 1879 at Menlo Park.¹
• Industrial research laboratory. The Hall of Fame credits Edison with creating the world's first industrial research laboratory. It says he set up a laboratory at Menlo Park, New Jersey, in 1876.¹

Recognition

• 1973 Inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame¹

Sources

1. National Inventors Hall of Fame, Thomas Alva Edison (accessed 2026-10-27)
2. Google Patents, US223898A Electric lamp (accessed 2026-10-27)