Editing Thomas Edison (section)

==Early career==
Thomas Edison began his career as a [[news butcher]], selling newspapers, candy, and vegetables on trains running from Port Huron to Detroit. He turned a $50-a-week profit by age 13, most of which went to buying equipment for electrical and chemical experiments.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/11/edmund-morris-edison/598357/ |title=Thomas Edison's Greatest Invention |author=Derek Thompson |year=2019 |website=The Atlantic |access-date=October 17, 2019 |archive-date=October 17, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191017045925/https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/11/edmund-morris-edison/598357/ |url-status=live }}</ref> At age 15, in 1862, he saved 3-year-old Jimmie MacKenzie from being struck by a runaway train.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Maranzani |first=Barbara |date=October 15, 2020 |title=Thomas Edison's Near-Death Experience Set Him on the Road to Fame |url=https://www.biography.com/news/thomas-edison-train-accident-young-boy-saved-telegraph |access-date=September 23, 2022 |website=Biography |language=en-us}}</ref> Jimmie's father, [[Station master|station agent]] J. U. MacKenzie of [[Mount Clemens, Michigan]], was so grateful that he trained Edison as a telegraph operator. Edison's first telegraphy job away from Port Huron was at Stratford Junction, Ontario, on the [[Grand Trunk Railway]].<ref>Baldwin, p. 37</ref> He also studied [[Qualitative inorganic analysis|qualitative analysis]] and conducted chemical experiments until he left the job rather than be fired after being held responsible for a near collision of two trains.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bryan |first=Mike |date=2017 |title=Edison the Man and His Life (Part One): The First 30 Years |url=https://www.capsnews.org/apn2017-2.htm |access-date=September 23, 2022 |website=www.capsnews.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.visitstratford.ca/uploads/railwayindustry.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170307123422/http://www.visitstratford.ca/uploads/railwayindustry.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 7, 2017 |title=Stratford's Railway Industry |author-first=L. |author-last=Riedstra |year=2010 |website=Visit Stratford |publisher=Stratford Tourism |access-date=March 6, 2017 }}</ref><ref name="Cite CAB|Edison, Thomas Alva">{{Cite CAB|wstitle=Edison, Thomas Alva}}</ref>

Edison obtained the exclusive right to sell newspapers on the road, and, with the aid of four assistants, he set in type and printed the ''Grand Trunk Herald'', which he sold with his other papers.<ref name="Cite CAB|Edison, Thomas Alva"/> This began Edison's long streak of entrepreneurial ventures, as he discovered his talents as a businessman. Ultimately, his entrepreneurship was central to the formation of some 14 companies, including [[General Electric]], formerly one of the largest [[public company|publicly traded companies]] in the world.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/2266720/ |title=GE emerges world's largest company: Forbes |publisher=Trading Markets.com |date=April 10, 2009 |access-date=February 7, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090805125946/http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/2266720 |archive-date=August 5, 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.indianexpress.com/news/ge-emerges-worlds-largest-company-forbes/445093 |title=GE emerges world's largest company: Forbes |work=The Indian Express |date=April 9, 2009 |access-date=February 7, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100328045221/http://www.indianexpress.com/news/ge-emerges-worlds-largest-company-forbes/445093 |archive-date=March 28, 2010 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1866, at the age of 19, Edison moved to [[Louisville, Kentucky]], where, as an employee of [[Western Union]], he worked the [[Associated Press]] bureau [[news agency|news wire]]. Edison requested the night shift, which allowed him plenty of time to spend at his two favorite pastimes—reading and experimenting. Eventually, the latter preoccupation cost him his job. One night in 1867, he was working with a [[lead–acid battery]] when he spilt [[sulfuric acid]] onto the floor. It ran between the floorboards and onto his boss's desk below. The next morning Edison was fired.<ref>Baldwin, pp. 40–41</ref>

His first patent was for the electric vote recorder, {{US patent|90646}}, which was granted on June 1, 1869.<ref>[http://edison.rutgers.edu/vote.htm The Edison Papers] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070205221024/http://edison.rutgers.edu/vote.htm |date=February 5, 2007 }}, Rutgers University. Retrieved March 20, 2007.</ref> Finding little demand for the machine, Edison moved to New York City shortly thereafter. One of his mentors during those early years was a fellow telegrapher and inventor named [[Franklin Leonard Pope]], who allowed the impoverished youth to live and work in the basement of his [[Elizabeth, New Jersey]], home, while Edison worked for [[Samuel Laws]] at the Gold Indicator Company. Pope and Edison founded their own company in October 1869, working as electrical engineers and inventors. Edison began developing a [[Multiplexing|multiplex]] telegraphic system, which could send two messages simultaneously, in 1874.<ref>[https://www.loc.gov/collections/edison-company-motion-pictures-and-sound-recordings/articles-and-essays/biography/life-of-thomas-alva-edison/ "Life of Thomas Alva Edison"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181017153653/https://www.loc.gov/collections/edison-company-motion-pictures-and-sound-recordings/articles-and-essays/biography/life-of-thomas-alva-edison/ |date=October 17, 2018 }}, ''Inventing Entertainment: The Early Motion Pictures and Sound Recordings of the Edison Companies'', [[Library of Congress]].</ref>