RSS Feed
Recognizing innovation
When new ideas are discovered, or presented to us, it is our nature to compare this new input with what we already understand. We see things in the context of our existing experience or knowledge. If you only recognize the colors blue and red, you may interpret green as a shade of blue. Your ability to comprehend something new is limited by your past associations.
Edison, the world’s most prolific innovator, was a victim of his own limited perception initially with his invention of The Edison Speaking Phonograph. The phonograph was a result of his involvement on two other breakthrough technologies, the telegraph and the telephone. In the telegraphic world, there was always a paper record of the communication transmitted. In 1877, Edison worked on a machine which would transcribe telegraphic messages through indentations on a paraffin and paper tape, which could later be sent over the telegraph repeatedly.
One year earlier, Bell filed a patent for the harmonic telegraph -- the telephone. Voice transmitted through wires left no tangible evidence of what was communicated. Edison’s telegraphic roots led him to believe that a record of telephone conversations was essential. This was the catalyst that led Edison to extend his exploration of parrafin and paper as audio recording devices – the phonograph.
The “record” as we know it today came years later. The flat disc that became the music industry standard was the product of Columbia Records, Edison’s one time partner and later competitor. The format Columbia Records perfected, the LP (long playing disc) is still somewhat evident in the shape and functionality of the CD and the DVD.
But, Edison didn’t recognize the potential for entertainment or a multibillion dollar music recording industry at first. When questioned about recording famous singers on his recording device, Edison is rumored to have asked why anyone would want to hear the same song over and over again? So much for vision…
Edison eventually did embrace the idea of recording for entertainment. But, his original fixation on telegraphy proves that even the most innovative minds can be caught in closed-loop thought patterns, assumptions and lack of perception beyond their own experience.
Eventually, the novelty of this invention lost its fascination for Edison, and he moved on to concentrate on another bright idea, the incandescent light bulb. But, that’s another story…
Chas Martin
2 Comments
1 Reference
View Printer Friendly Version
Email Article to FriendReferences (1)
-
Response: Light Bulb ResourceInteresting read, plus I like your template. Thanks!
Reader Comments (2)
Bell, as your link reveals, has since been discredited after years of debate about the real inventor of the phone.
History is littered with inventors who received credit for inventions when their real accomplishment was their ability to adapt and market ideas of other less savy inveentors. Who ever heard of Richard T. Farnsworth? Although he is the inventor of the most used device in American homes, few recognize him as the inventor of the TV.