Edison reported that he had almost fainted, but managed to stammer that the offer seemed fair enough. That money was used to set up Edison's first business. Thomas Edison married Mary Stilwell on Christmas Day, 1871. He was 24 years old and she was 16. They had three children: Marion, born in 1873, Thomas, 1876 and William, 1878. Edison's wife died in 1884 from the after-effects of typhoid fever. Thomas Edison's interests varied widely and he received patents in many areas. For example, in 1876 he patented his electric pen which was later used in mimeograph systems and in 1877 he applied for a patent on a carbon telephone transmitter that led to a commercial telephone and later radio broadcasting. Considered his most original invention, the phonograph was patented in 1878. Edison sketched out this new and different idea he had, handed it to two men who worked in his shop, John Kuresi and Charles Batchelor, and they made the machine. Edison took tin foil, wrapped it around the cylinder and casually said, "This machine is going to talk." He recited "Mary had a little lamb" into the strange device and to everyone's amazement (even Edison's) the machine repeated the words exactly. Edison did not return to his work on the phonograph for another ten years for his mind and efforts were occupied with the development of his most well-known invention, the incandescent light bulb patented in 1879. In 1885 while searching for the perfect material for the light bulb ...
