ation.' ".
Early on, Nancy provided Edison with physical science and chemistry books, from which he would experiment. This set in motion Edison's interest and fascination with the scientific and inventive processes.
At the age of twelve, Edison began his work as a railroad concessionist, selling newspapers and snacks on trains. During his breaks, Edison would experiment in the baggage cars, one of which he later set on fire. Edison's shift in career to telegraphy was a fortunate event for him. "One day he saved a boy's life and in gratitude the father taught Edison how to become a telegraph operator. " Later, Edison migrated to New York and found himself in a high paying job for having repaired a broken stock ticker machine during a financial crisis. In 1869, Edison swore to move from being a simple operator to a scientific inventor, and later, he sold an improved stock ticker, which allowed him to open a workshop in New Jersey to become a full-time inventor. "The laboratory was a forerunner of today's modern research facility, and itself was a great invention. " Here, Edison improved the typewriter, making it possible for the first time to type faster than could be written by hand. And in 1876, Edison moved to the famous Menlo Park in New Jersey, where one of his first inventions included an improved telephone with a carbon transmitter so people would no longer need to shout into the phone.
Over the next six years, Edison and the Menlo Park team produced more than 400 patents. One such major invention includes the phonograph, Edison's personal favorite and "one of the most original inventions ever devised ", which he again later improved for commercial use. He was trying to find a way to record telegraph messages automatically with the application of a paraffin-coated paper tape, embossed by a stylus with dots and dashes. The tape made a similar sound to human speach, and so Edison attempted to connect a telephone diaphragm...