Wills Thomas Edison: Success and Innovation through Failure

1. Auflage 2020
ISBN: 978-3-030-29940-8
Verlag: Springer International Publishing
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 1 - PDF Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, Band 52, 257 Seiten

Reihe: Studies in History and Philosophy of Science

This book develops a systematic approach to the role of failure in innovation, using the laboratory notebooks of America's most successful inventor, Thomas Edison. It argues that Edison's active pursuit of failure and innovative uses of failure as a tool were crucial to his success. From this the author argues that not only should we expect innovations to fail but that there are good reasons to want them to fail. Using Edison's laboratory notebooks, written as he worked and before he knew the outcome we see the many false starts, wrong directions and failures that he worked through on his way to producing revolutionary inventions. While Edison's strengths in exploiting failure made him the icon of American inventors, they could also be liabilities when he moved from one field to another. Not only is this book of value to readers with an interest in the history of technology and American invention, its insights are important to those who seek to innovate and to those who employ and finance them.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Wills, Ian

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1;Acknowledgments;6
2;Contents;7
3;Chapter 1: Introduction;8
3.1;1.1 Part I: Edison and Failure;11
3.2;1.2 Part II Edison, Science and Invention;12
3.3;1.3 Part III Edison´s World;13
3.4;1.4 Part IV Reversing Edison;13
3.5;1.5 Citing the Thomas A. Edison Papers;14
3.6;1.6 The Thomas A. Edison Book Edition (TAEB);14
3.7;1.7 The Thomas A. Edison Papers Digital Edition (TAED);14
4;Part I: Edison and Failure;16
4.1;Chapter 2: Success, Failure and Innovation: The Carbon Microphone;17
4.1.1;2.1 Edison´s Dilemma;17
4.1.2;2.2 Edison and the Telephone;18
4.1.3;2.3 Challenges to Western Union;19
4.1.4;2.4 Edison Starts Work on the Telephone;21
4.1.5;2.5 Greenwich, England, 1873;22
4.1.6;2.6 Exploring Induction;23
4.1.7;2.7 Bell´s Telephone;26
4.1.8;2.8 Edison´s 1876 Telephone Experiments;33
4.1.9;2.9 January 1877: Carbon Enters the Telephone;36
4.1.10;2.10 July 1877: Fluff;41
4.1.11;2.11 Failure as a Tool;43
4.1.11.1;2.11.1 Failure as a Source of Negative Examples;45
4.1.11.2;2.11.2 Using Failure Through Trial and Error;45
4.1.11.3;2.11.3 Failure as a Source of New Phenomena;45
4.1.11.4;2.11.4 Failures Provide Direction;46
4.1.11.5;2.11.5 Hypotheses and Failure;47
4.1.11.6;2.11.6 Failure Points to Ways of Changing Devices;48
4.1.11.7;2.11.7 Failures Suggest New Possibilities to Build and Test;49
4.1.11.8;2.11.8 Failure Provides Motivation;49
4.1.12;2.12 Calculation and Experiment;50
4.1.13;2.13 Seeking Failure;52
4.2;Chapter 3: Failure and Success;54
4.2.1;3.1 Edison Takes a Break;54
4.2.2;3.2 Failure;55
4.2.3;3.3 Success Criteria;56
4.2.4;3.4 Success Clues;57
4.2.5;3.5 Problem Redefinition;58
4.2.6;3.6 Success Frameworks;58
4.2.7;3.7 Identifying Failures;60
4.2.8;3.8 Identifying Success Criteria;61
4.2.9;3.9 Identifying Limits;61
4.2.10;3.10 Everyday Use of Failure;62
4.2.11;3.11 Failure as Paradox;63
4.3;Chapter 4: Innovation and Systems;65
4.3.1;4.1 Systems;65
4.3.2;4.2 Functional Systems;67
4.3.3;4.3 Systems, Components and Interactions;68
4.3.4;4.4 Systems, Functions and Means;68
4.3.5;4.5 The Phonograph as a Functional System;71
4.3.6;4.6 Even Simple Functional Systems Are Complex;74
4.3.7;4.7 Using Functional Systems to Identify Novelty and Innovation;75
4.3.8;4.8 Functional Systems and Innovation: Newcomen´s Engine;78
4.4;Chapter 5: Innovation Must Fail;84
4.4.1;5.1 Innovation;84
4.4.2;5.2 Inventions, Functions and Means;85
4.4.3;5.3 Novelty, Functions and Means;87
4.4.4;5.4 The Phonograph as Novelty;88
4.4.5;5.5 Success Criteria and Novelty;89
4.4.6;5.6 Novelty Lies in Identifying and Meeting New Success Criteria;90
4.4.7;5.7 No Functions, No Invention, No Means, No Invention;91
4.4.8;5.8 Who Invented the?;92
4.4.9;5.9 Invention as System Creation;97
4.4.10;5.10 Why Do Some Innovations Not Fail?;97
4.4.11;5.11 Innovation and Risk;98
4.5;Chapter 6: Catastrophic Failure;100
4.5.1;6.1 Recognising Catastrophic Failure;100
4.5.2;6.2 The Space Shuttle Challenger;100
4.5.3;6.3 Catastrophic Failure in Complex Systems;102
4.5.4;6.4 Eclipsing the Weakest Link;104
4.5.5;6.5 In Complex Systems, Innovation Will Probably Fail;105
5;Part II: Edison, Science and Invention;106
5.1;Chapter 7: Inventive Success: The Phonograph;107
5.1.1;7.1 The Phonograph Introduces Itself;107
5.1.2;7.2 The Beginnings of the Phonograph;110
5.1.3;7.3 Edison´s First Phonograph Patent;110
5.1.4;7.4 The Invention of the Phonograph;111
5.1.5;7.5 Conceptual Origins of the Phonograph;113
5.1.6;7.6 The Phonograph Begins with a Misconception;114
5.1.7;7.7 Edison´s First Phonograph Experiments;115
5.1.8;7.8 Edison Develops the Phonograph into a Patentable Invention;116
5.1.9;7.9 Kruesi´s First Phonograph;125
5.1.10;7.10 Repeating Edison´s Early Recording Experiments;126
5.1.10.1;7.10.1 The Hand Phonograph Mark 1;127
5.1.10.2;7.10.2 The Hand Phonograph Mark 2;127
5.1.10.3;7.10.3 The Waxed Tape Phonograph Mark 1;129
5.1.10.4;7.10.4 Recording Medium;130
5.1.10.5;7.10.5 Recording Points;130
5.1.10.6;7.10.6 Finally, a Credible Recording;131
5.1.10.7;7.10.7 The Waxed Tape Phonograph: Mark 2;132
5.1.10.8;7.10.8 The Waxed Tape Phonograph: Mark 3;133
5.1.11;7.11 What Edison and Batchelor Heard;135
5.1.12;7.12 Edison Pursues Sound Recording and Reproduction;136
5.1.13;7.13 Why Edison?;138
5.1.14;7.14 Some Reflections on Experimental History of Technology;139
5.1.15;7.15 Innovation;141
5.2;Chapter 8: Scientific Failure: Etheric Force;143
5.2.1;8.1 Edison Patents a Wireless Communication System;143
5.2.2;8.2 The Etheric Force Debate;145
5.2.3;8.3 Thomas A. Edison, Inventor;159
5.2.4;8.4 Experiments in Science and Invention;160
5.2.5;8.5 Edison´s Failure;162
5.2.6;8.6 Artefacts in Science;164
5.2.7;8.7 Science and Technology;169
6;Part III: Edison´s World;171
6.1;Chapter 9: Thomas Edison and Patents;172
6.1.1;9.1 Patents Make Edison;172
6.1.2;9.2 The Patent System;173
6.1.3;9.3 Patent Priority;177
6.1.4;9.4 Why So Many Patents?;180
6.1.5;9.5 Edison´s Patents;181
6.1.6;9.6 Patterns in Edison´s Patents;184
6.1.6.1;9.6.1 Electric Light and Power Patents;186
6.1.6.2;9.6.2 Ore Processing, Mining, Cement and Concrete Patents;191
6.1.6.3;9.6.3 Phonograph Patents;193
6.1.6.4;9.6.4 Motion Picture Patents;195
6.1.6.5;9.6.5 Battery Patents;196
6.1.6.6;9.6.6 Electroplating Patents;197
6.1.6.7;9.6.7 Telegraph Patents;197
6.1.7;9.7 Patents and Systems;199
6.1.8;9.8 Inventing Systems;200
6.1.9;9.9 Deciding What to Invent;200
6.2;Chapter 10: The Edisonian Method: Trial and Error;203
6.2.1;10.1 ``His Method Was Inefficient in the Extreme´´;203
6.2.2;10.2 Edison´s Use of Trial and Error;204
6.2.3;10.3 Trial and Error Techniques;206
6.2.4;10.4 Blind Trial and Error;206
6.2.5;10.5 Simple Trial and Error;207
6.2.6;10.6 Informed Trial and Error;207
6.2.7;10.7 Using Trial and Error Instead of Theory;208
6.2.8;10.8 The Use of Trial and Error in Exploratory Experiments;212
6.2.9;10.9 Transmitting Trial and Error Knowledge;213
6.2.10;10.10 Scientists´ Use of Trial and Error;216
6.2.11;10.11 Problematic Aspects of Trial and Error;220
6.2.12;10.12 Not the First or the Last Resort;221
7;Part IV: Reversing Edison;223
7.1;Chapter 11: Reverse Engineering;224
7.1.1;11.1 Reverse Engineering Is Ubiquitous;224
7.1.2;11.2 Reverse Engineering the Engineered;225
7.1.3;11.3 Reverse Engineering the Non-engineered;230
7.1.4;11.4 Problems with Analytical Reverse Engineering;232
7.1.4.1;11.4.1 Problem 1: One Means, Many Functions;232
7.1.4.2;11.4.2 Problem 2: One Set of Functions, Many Means;234
7.1.4.3;11.4.3 Problem 3: Unknown Failures;235
7.1.4.4;11.4.4 Problem 4: Unknown Success Criteria;238
7.1.4.5;11.4.5 Problem 5: Function Without Context;240
7.1.5;11.5 Biology as Reverse Engineering;241
7.2;Chapter 12: Epilogue;242
7.2.1;12.1 Death;242
7.2.2;12.2 Immortality;243
7.2.3;12.3 Legacy;245
8;Bibliography;247