Martha+Barksdale　Feronia

Without question， our lives would be very different without the inventions of Thomas Edison. This prodigious1） creator changed our culture in countless ways with the seemingly miraculous devices that flooded out of his New Jersey laboratory. But while the Wizard of Menlo Park2） is remembered for his major inventions， such as the incandescent3） electric light and the phonograph4）， his tireless mind also came up with some ideas that aren't so well-known—and some that weren't welcomed by the public.

Electrographic Vote-recorder

Edison was a 22-year-old telegraph operator when he received his first patent for a machine he called the electrographic vote-recorder. He was one of several inventors at the time developing methods for legislative bodies， such as the U.S. Congress， to record their votes in a more timely fashion than the time-honored voice vote system.

In Edison's vote-recorder， a voting device was connected to the clerk's desk. At the desk， the names of the legislators were embedded5） in metal type in two columns—"yes" and "no". Legislators would move a switch on the device to point to either "yes" or "no"， sending an electric current to the device at the clerk's desk. After voting was completed， the clerk would place a chemically treated piece of paper on top of the metal type and run a metal roller over it. The current would cause the chemicals in the paper to dissolve on the side for which the vote should be recorded. "Yes" and "no" wheels kept track of the vote totals and tabulated6） the results.

A friend of Edison's， another telegraph operator named Dewitt Roberts， bought an interest7） in his machine for $100 and tried to sell it to Washington to no avail8）. Congress wanted no part of any device that would increase the speed of voting—decreasing the time for filibusters9） and political wheeling and dealing—so young Edison's vote-recorder was sent to the political graveyard.

Pneumatic10） Stencil Pen

Edison invented the ancestor of the tattoo gun—the pneumatic stencil pen. This electric pen， which Edison patented in 1876， used a rod tipped with a steel needle to perforate11） paper for printing purposes. It's important on its own as one of the first devices that could efficiently copy documents.

In 1891， tattoo artist Samuel O'Reilly was awarded the first patent for a tattoo machine—a device allegedly12） based on Edison's stencil pen. O'Reilly apparently produced only one of the machines and that was for his own personal use—there is no record of his marketing his device.endprint

Method of Preserving Fruit

Another Edison invention came about from the laboratory's work with glass vacuum13） tubes while developing the incandescent light bulb—a development， we should add， that is not solely Edison's. Many others were involved in the research and labor of the light bulb production—but Edison got the much-sought-after patents.

But getting back to our story. In 1881， Edison filed for a patent for a method to preserve fruits， vegetables， or other organic substances in a glass vessel. The vessel was filled with the items to be preserved， and then all the air was sucked from it with an air pump. The vessel tube was sealed with another piece of glass.

Concrete House

Not satisfied with having improved the average American's life with electric lights， movies， and phonographs， Edison decided in the early part of the 20th century to abolish city slums and get every working man's family into sturdy14）， fire-proof homes that could be built inexpensively on a mass scale. And what would those homes be made of？ Why， concrete， of course， using materials from the Edison Portland Cement company. Edison， recalling his own working-class upbringing15）， said he would take no profit if the venture succeeded.

Edison's plan was to pour the concrete into large， wooden molds the size and shape of a house， let it cure， remove the framework and—voila16）！ A concrete house， with decorative molding， plumbing17） pipes， even a bathtub， molded right in. Edison said these dwellings would sell for around $1200， about one-third the price of a regularly constructed house at the time.

But while Edison Portland Cement was used in a lot of structures around New York City during the building boom of the early 1900s， the concrete houses never caught on18）. The molds and equipment needed to make the homes required a huge financial investment that few builders were able to make. Image was another problem—not many families wanted the social stigma19） of moving to a house that was touted20） as getting people out of the slums. One other factor： some people thought the homes were ugly. While the company did build a few concrete houses around New Jersey—some still standing today—Edison's vision of concrete neighborhoods never took hold.

毫无疑问，如果没有爱迪生的发明，我们的生活将会大不相同。这位天才发明家凭借从他在新泽西的实验室里涌出的看上去不可思议的那些发明，以无数种方式改变了我们的文明。虽然这位“门罗公园的巫师”因他的那些重大发明而被人们铭记在心，比如白炽灯和留声机，但他那不知疲倦的大脑也想出过一些不那么出名和不受公众欢迎的点子。

电子计票器

当爱迪生凭借一种被他称为 “电子计票器”的机器获得生平第一项专利时，他还是一名22岁的电报员。当时，他正和其他几位发明人为一些立法机关（如美国国会）开发新的计票方法，用一种比由来已久的口头表决系统更有效率的方法记录投票情况。endprint

在爱迪生的计票器中，一个投票装置被连接到计票员的桌子上。在这张桌子上有两组圆柱，一组代表“是”，一组代表“否”，上面都嵌有用金属字模制成的立法机关成员们的名字。立法机关成员们将通过扳动该投票装置上的转换器来指向“是”或者“否”，同时向计票员桌子上的设备发送一股电流。投票结束后，计票员会把一张经过化学处理的纸片放在金属字模上，让金属滚轮滚过。那股电流会使应该被记录的投票对应的纸上的化学物质溶解。代表“是”和“否”的两个滚轮会记录所有投票，并将结果制成表格。

爱迪生的一位名叫德维特·罗伯茨的朋友也是一位电报员，他花100美元买下了爱迪生这种机器的一份股权，还试图把电子计票器卖给华盛顿政府，却没有成功。……