1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:03,000 Speaker 1: All right, have you ever idolized somebody? And what would 2 00:00:03,040 --> 00:00:05,840 Speaker 1: you do to keep them close to you? Well, Henry 3 00:00:05,880 --> 00:00:09,959 Speaker 1: Ford felt that way about Thomas Edison. He admired his creativity, 4 00:00:10,080 --> 00:00:13,560 Speaker 1: but most of all, he admired his work ethic. Ford 5 00:00:13,640 --> 00:00:17,200 Speaker 1: was sixteen years younger than his idol So when Edison 6 00:00:17,280 --> 00:00:20,880 Speaker 1: was nearing his final days, Henry Ford asked Edison's son 7 00:00:21,040 --> 00:00:25,240 Speaker 1: to give him one thing. I'm Patty Steele capturing Thomas 8 00:00:25,360 --> 00:00:33,960 Speaker 1: Edison's dying breath. Literally, that's next on the backstory. The 9 00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:38,120 Speaker 1: backstory is back. Thomas Edison may not have invented everything 10 00:00:38,159 --> 00:00:41,280 Speaker 1: he gets credit for, but nobody knew how to take 11 00:00:41,320 --> 00:00:44,400 Speaker 1: a simple invention turn it into a product he could 12 00:00:44,400 --> 00:00:48,680 Speaker 1: mass produce and change the everyday lives of people worldwide. 13 00:00:49,080 --> 00:00:52,839 Speaker 1: And he did it with multiple inventions, including the phonograph, 14 00:00:52,960 --> 00:00:57,600 Speaker 1: movie cameras, movie projectors, and most impactfully, the light bulb 15 00:00:57,680 --> 00:01:02,680 Speaker 1: with which he lit the world. Thomas Edison established the 16 00:01:02,720 --> 00:01:08,200 Speaker 1: first industrial research laboratory, which completely changed the way inventions 17 00:01:08,240 --> 00:01:13,200 Speaker 1: were brought to market in a rapidly industrializing world. Edison 18 00:01:13,400 --> 00:01:16,880 Speaker 1: was the ultimate business man, and that's why Henry Ford, 19 00:01:17,080 --> 00:01:21,240 Speaker 1: who was sixteen years younger, idolized him. For his part, 20 00:01:21,640 --> 00:01:25,760 Speaker 1: Edison never stopped working. He was famous for rarely sleeping 21 00:01:25,800 --> 00:01:28,760 Speaker 1: more than three or four hours a night, saying that 22 00:01:28,880 --> 00:01:31,679 Speaker 1: sleep was a waste of time, but he would take 23 00:01:31,720 --> 00:01:35,320 Speaker 1: short naps, which he said sparked his creativity. There are 24 00:01:35,319 --> 00:01:38,720 Speaker 1: even photographs of him taking power naps under a tree. 25 00:01:39,319 --> 00:01:43,039 Speaker 1: He said those short daytime naps helped to recharge his mind. 26 00:01:43,600 --> 00:01:46,479 Speaker 1: Those close to him said he was capable of falling 27 00:01:46,520 --> 00:01:50,560 Speaker 1: asleep in under a minute, anytime, any place. If he 28 00:01:50,600 --> 00:01:53,960 Speaker 1: couldn't solve a problem, he'd nap and then wake up 29 00:01:54,000 --> 00:01:58,600 Speaker 1: to try a completely different approach. Not everything Edison tried 30 00:01:58,760 --> 00:02:02,760 Speaker 1: was successful. He tried to improve on X ray technology 31 00:02:02,920 --> 00:02:05,560 Speaker 1: when it was in its very early stages, but he 32 00:02:05,600 --> 00:02:09,399 Speaker 1: had absolutely no idea what he was doing. During one experiment, 33 00:02:09,720 --> 00:02:14,160 Speaker 1: his assistant, Clarence Dally, who was severely burned, lost both 34 00:02:14,200 --> 00:02:18,240 Speaker 1: of his arms and eventually died from radiation poisoning. At 35 00:02:18,280 --> 00:02:21,920 Speaker 1: the same time, Edison permanently damaged his left eye and 36 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:25,440 Speaker 1: his stomach, and he was emotionally scarred by what had 37 00:02:25,520 --> 00:02:29,560 Speaker 1: happened to his trusted assistant. Toward the end of his life, 38 00:02:29,800 --> 00:02:34,360 Speaker 1: Edison was suffering from complications of diabetes, which ultimately killed 39 00:02:34,400 --> 00:02:37,360 Speaker 1: him at the age of eighty four. So we have 40 00:02:37,480 --> 00:02:40,080 Speaker 1: to take a look at how such a driven guy 41 00:02:40,720 --> 00:02:44,520 Speaker 1: felt about death itself. He famously said he wished he 42 00:02:44,560 --> 00:02:48,120 Speaker 1: had more years left, more time to work on new ideas, 43 00:02:48,600 --> 00:02:52,000 Speaker 1: especially solar energy, which he thought would be a powerful 44 00:02:52,080 --> 00:02:55,520 Speaker 1: source of power. He said he loved figuring out what 45 00:02:55,639 --> 00:02:59,840 Speaker 1: the world needed and then creating it. Edison also became 46 00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:03,320 Speaker 1: fascinated with spiritualism toward the end of his life. It 47 00:03:03,400 --> 00:03:06,720 Speaker 1: was a really popular movement in the eighteen hundreds. He 48 00:03:06,760 --> 00:03:10,520 Speaker 1: believed that the human spirit was composed of tiny energy 49 00:03:10,560 --> 00:03:13,639 Speaker 1: particles that would be released at the time of death, 50 00:03:14,240 --> 00:03:16,400 Speaker 1: and he thought that there may one day be a 51 00:03:16,400 --> 00:03:22,880 Speaker 1: way to capture those particles and reconstitute individual personalities. A 52 00:03:22,960 --> 00:03:24,800 Speaker 1: question I think I'd have to ask him would be 53 00:03:25,240 --> 00:03:29,480 Speaker 1: reconstitute into what where would you put it? Anyway, back 54 00:03:29,480 --> 00:03:33,600 Speaker 1: to Henry Ford in his Edison connection, Edison was Ford's 55 00:03:33,680 --> 00:03:36,680 Speaker 1: role model. So Ford took a job with the Edison 56 00:03:36,760 --> 00:03:40,720 Speaker 1: Illuminating Company in Detroit in eighteen eighty eight when he 57 00:03:40,760 --> 00:03:43,880 Speaker 1: was twenty five years old. Three years later, he was 58 00:03:43,960 --> 00:03:47,080 Speaker 1: made an engineer, and he stayed with the company through 59 00:03:47,160 --> 00:03:50,920 Speaker 1: most of the eighteen nineties. He actually never met Edison, 60 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:54,160 Speaker 1: who mostly worked at his lab and factory in West Orange, 61 00:03:54,160 --> 00:03:57,520 Speaker 1: New Jersey, until he'd worked for him for several years 62 00:03:57,680 --> 00:04:00,920 Speaker 1: out in Michigan. When they did meet at a company event, 63 00:04:01,360 --> 00:04:04,960 Speaker 1: he told Edison about the experimental automobile he was building, 64 00:04:05,280 --> 00:04:08,960 Speaker 1: which he called the Ford Quadricycle. He had just finished 65 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:12,760 Speaker 1: the prototype and was working to perfect it. Edison was 66 00:04:12,800 --> 00:04:17,000 Speaker 1: fascinated and really encouraged him to keep developing it. Not 67 00:04:17,120 --> 00:04:20,600 Speaker 1: long after, Ford left the Edison Company to devote his 68 00:04:20,720 --> 00:04:24,960 Speaker 1: full attention to the Quadricycle, which would eventually become the 69 00:04:25,040 --> 00:04:30,120 Speaker 1: Model t He used Edison's manufacturing in business principles to 70 00:04:30,160 --> 00:04:33,760 Speaker 1: create the Ford Motor Company, where he mass produced an 71 00:04:33,800 --> 00:04:37,920 Speaker 1: affordable car for the Messes. Andry stayed close to Edison 72 00:04:37,960 --> 00:04:40,800 Speaker 1: for the rest of his life. They even bought neighboring 73 00:04:40,960 --> 00:04:44,560 Speaker 1: estates in Fort Myers, Florida. In fact, they built another 74 00:04:44,600 --> 00:04:47,839 Speaker 1: research lab down there in which they worked on creating 75 00:04:47,880 --> 00:04:52,040 Speaker 1: a rubber like latex material for car tires. And Ford 76 00:04:52,160 --> 00:04:55,560 Speaker 1: was also extremely interested in the afterlife. As a lot 77 00:04:55,560 --> 00:04:59,480 Speaker 1: of powerful people are, they always want more. Right. He 78 00:04:59,560 --> 00:05:02,240 Speaker 1: was said to believe that a person's soul is located 79 00:05:02,320 --> 00:05:06,200 Speaker 1: in their final breath, so toward the end of Edison's life, 80 00:05:06,360 --> 00:05:10,560 Speaker 1: Ford was apparently a bit obsessed with capturing Thomas's last breath. 81 00:05:11,080 --> 00:05:14,480 Speaker 1: He wasn't the only one. The story goes that Edison's son, 82 00:05:14,880 --> 00:05:18,680 Speaker 1: maybe at Thomas's or Ford's request, had anywhere from eight 83 00:05:18,839 --> 00:05:22,560 Speaker 1: to over forty test tubes by his father's bedside as 84 00:05:22,600 --> 00:05:27,920 Speaker 1: death approached, all to capture Thomas's final breath. Sources from 85 00:05:27,960 --> 00:05:31,560 Speaker 1: the Ford Museum say that in nineteen thirty one, mister 86 00:05:31,640 --> 00:05:35,520 Speaker 1: Ford asked Charles Edison to catch his father's final breath 87 00:05:35,800 --> 00:05:38,640 Speaker 1: and sit beside him with test tubes close to his mouth. 88 00:05:39,200 --> 00:05:42,520 Speaker 1: They say Ford was a man with many eccentricities as 89 00:05:42,640 --> 00:05:47,719 Speaker 1: was Edison, including some interest in reanimation and spiritualism, and 90 00:05:47,800 --> 00:05:51,040 Speaker 1: some say that he was attempting to capture Edison's soul 91 00:05:51,240 --> 00:05:54,880 Speaker 1: as it escaped his body in hopes of later reanimating him. 92 00:05:55,760 --> 00:05:59,080 Speaker 1: After Edison died, the test tubes were sealed with paraffin 93 00:05:59,160 --> 00:06:02,480 Speaker 1: wax and one of them sent to Henry Ford. You 94 00:06:02,480 --> 00:06:05,599 Speaker 1: can actually see it if you visit the Henry Ford 95 00:06:05,960 --> 00:06:09,120 Speaker 1: that's a museum dedicated to Ford's life and inventions. In 96 00:06:09,360 --> 00:06:13,160 Speaker 1: Dearborn Michigan. Thomas Edison died at the age of eighty 97 00:06:13,200 --> 00:06:17,160 Speaker 1: four on October eighteenth, nineteen thirty one, at his home 98 00:06:17,200 --> 00:06:20,400 Speaker 1: in Llewellyn Park in West Orange, New Jersey, just a 99 00:06:20,440 --> 00:06:24,400 Speaker 1: short walk from his laboratory and factory. But according to 100 00:06:24,480 --> 00:06:28,840 Speaker 1: the Definitive Biography of Edison by Neil Baldwin, called Edison 101 00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:33,640 Speaker 1: inventing the century. Just before he died, Thomas briefly awakened 102 00:06:33,680 --> 00:06:37,159 Speaker 1: from a coma. Looking up at his wife Mina. He 103 00:06:37,240 --> 00:06:41,360 Speaker 1: said his final words, which may have referenced the afterlife, 104 00:06:41,440 --> 00:06:52,599 Speaker 1: He said, it is very beautiful over there. Hope you 105 00:06:52,680 --> 00:06:55,000 Speaker 1: like the Backstory with Patty Steele. I would love it 106 00:06:55,040 --> 00:06:58,000 Speaker 1: if you would subscribe or follow for free to get 107 00:06:58,040 --> 00:07:01,680 Speaker 1: new episodes delivered automatically, and feel free to dm me 108 00:07:01,760 --> 00:07:03,440 Speaker 1: if you have a story you'd like me to cover. 109 00:07:03,800 --> 00:07:08,040 Speaker 1: On Facebook, It's Patty Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele. 110 00:07:10,080 --> 00:07:14,880 Speaker 1: I'm Patty Steele. The Backstories a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, 111 00:07:15,080 --> 00:07:18,960 Speaker 1: the Elvis Durand Group and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer 112 00:07:19,000 --> 00:07:22,280 Speaker 1: is Doug Fraser. Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new 113 00:07:22,320 --> 00:07:25,840 Speaker 1: episodes every Tuesday and Friday. Feel free to reach out 114 00:07:25,880 --> 00:07:29,320 Speaker 1: to me with comments and even story suggestions on Instagram 115 00:07:29,520 --> 00:07:32,560 Speaker 1: at real Patty Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele. 116 00:07:32,960 --> 00:07:35,920 Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to the backstory with Patty Steele, the 117 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:38,920 Speaker 1: pieces of history you didn't know you needed to know.