Thomas Alva Edison, American inventor, sitting beside his improved machine Shoe Lane Over a hundred years later

Over a hundred years later it was moved back to London again and re-erected as an entrance to the Paternoster Square redevelopment near St Paul's Cathedral

Full length portrait showing him holding a letter in his right hand

Two reference tables appear in the side margins and lists of watermen's and hackney coach fares and the arms of twelve principal livery companies

Design for a city of London barge

'An Unexpected Cut'

Thomas Alva Edison, American inventor, sitting beside his improved machine Shoe Lane Over a hundred years laterThomas Alva Edison, American inventor, sitting beside his improved machine, 1889. Dubbed The Wizard of Menlo Park by a newspaper reporter, Edison (1847 1931) was one of the first inventors to apply the principles of mass production to the process of invention, and therefore is often credited with the creation of the first industrial research laboratory. Edison is considered one of the most prolific inventors in history, holding 1093 US patents in his