the Grand Trunk Railway, he even printed the newspapers himself (Szhlmen, 1). He spent everything he earned on books and chemicals after about one year his mother became so sick of the noises of exploding beakers and the smell of burning flooded the house with smoke that he was no longer allowed to work in the house (Minot). Luckily h e was given permission to move to his lab into the train baggage car. He would be able to experiment during the long five hour layover in Detroit (Minot). Sadly one of chemicals fell off an unstable rack and caught fire. The fire was quickly spotted and only caused minor damage. Tom was then banned from experimenting on the train. Along with chemistry he began to work with telegraphy. When he was fourteen, he and another boy who lived nearby set up a telegraphic connection between their houses. By using the telegrapher so often Tom became equivalent to a second class which could earn a very steady pay. (Vanderbilt, 17). With his knowledge in telegraphy he began working as a full time operator soon after he made his first major invention it was a telegraphic repeating instrument that enabled messages to be transmitted automatically over a second line without the need for an operator. He had invented a machine that does the job he is hired to do. For a while Edison kept this invention secret. He began using it while at work, but was caught asleep with it on. After he was fired he moved to Boston, here he planned to dedicate all of his time to research for new inventions. Soon after he invented an automatic vote counter. Now the presidential votes could be counted in a fraction of the time it used to take. But the government didn't like it, it was too fast. Those who decided not to use it argued that people want time between the time that they vote and the time they hear the results. However, this machine is later used, and the same design is still used today. Since his last invention didn't produc...