Menlo Park Carbon Shed
Add to SetSummary
Edison's invention of the carbon telephone transmitter in 1877 is what made the telephone commercially practical. This small wooden shed housed a battery of kerosene lamps, kept lit and set to produce carbon soot. The soot was collected and compressed into carbon tablets for telephone transmitters. Edison also used the carbon produced in this shed for various other experiments.
Edison's invention of the carbon telephone transmitter in 1877 is what made the telephone commercially practical. This small wooden shed housed a battery of kerosene lamps, kept lit and set to produce carbon soot. The soot was collected and compressed into carbon tablets for telephone transmitters. Edison also used the carbon produced in this shed for various other experiments.
Artifact
Shed (Storage structure)
Subject Date
circa 1879
Creators
Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village
Place of Creation
United States, Michigan, Dearborn
Creator Notes
Built in Greenfield Village in 1929. Replica of the original 19th century building.
On Exhibit
at Greenfield Village in Edison at Work District
Object ID
29.3048.5
Credit
From the Collections of The Henry Ford.
Material
Wood (Plant material)
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