ShmoopTube

00:04

Nobody out there is going to be shocked to hear that railroads [Train goes by]

00:07

weren't the only important technology in the Gilded Age think of seam travel is

00:12

the opening number that sets the stage for what was to come the grand finale

00:16

will probably involve machines that transform us all into pure energy and

00:21

upload us into the interplanetary internet what do you think it's just to [Computer screen appears in space]

00:26

get all right so that would never be possible without the Gilded Age and

00:29

which advances in energy and communication changed everything from

00:32

the speed of business to the way people lived in their home this period of

00:36

technological change is basically why grandmas everywhere now have the [Woman holding phone]

00:40

regrettable ability to text in this lesson we're going to boil it all down

00:44

to two major stories telephone and public electricity well both inventions [Water boils in pan]

00:49

were the work of many men competing with a lot of the same ideas it was like the

00:54

USC but a little less violent and everybody wore bowties the reason we've [Scientists appear in bowties]

01:02

all heard of Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison is that they were the

01:08

first to patent their systems and get them into the market so that nobody else

01:12

could well there were tons of other guys out there where stuff that totally [Books appear on shelf]

01:15

worked but they just weren't quick enough or ruthless enough if Cromwell

01:20

Varley has got his telephone patented first well everybody would know then too

01:24

we do Nobel turns out he experimented with systems for electrification just [Man holding a plug]

01:30

like many others but he focused on the telephone edison got electrification

01:33

casted first making public electric lighting possible for the first time

01:41

edison started the general electric company in 1889 with the help of some [General electric company building]

01:46

mango moolah from JP Morgan yep the company is still around today but to

01:51

only call a general electric or just GE what was Edison's key to success easy

01:56

find smart dudes hire them to work in his labs then when they invented [People working in lab]

02:00

something awesome he put his own name on it tested that sucker sold it and took

02:04

all the money and this was a common story so here we go for an example a [Edison holding pile of cash]

02:08

black employee of Edison named Luis Latimer in

02:12

vented the carbon filament inside the light bulb but it wasn't Lewis

02:16

lattimer's name on that filament it was Edison if Edison was paying the salary

02:22

so he was paid to do so Edison gets keeps all the royalties in fact almost

02:27

all major discoveries happen the same way some employees happy to take a

02:31

hundred thousand dollar a year or more salary and invent stuff they take no

02:35

risk and the guy who did makes all the money welcome to America well another

02:40

one of Edison's genius lackeys Nikola Tesla had the nerve to start his own [Tesla appears in lab]

02:44

company and sell his own inventions it might not be a coincidence that he came

02:51

up with electric generators that used a different currents and Edison a [Electric generator appears]

02:55

different way for electricity to travel well he worked to say this did not make

02:59

Edison a happy camper Edison used a direct current or DC that was pretty low

03:05

voltage but Tesla created sockets and switches and all those other things to [voltage travels across electric wire]

03:09

use an alternating current or AC that was pretty high voltage Edison battled

03:14

against a fee with all his might but it won out over his win PCT after the [AC and DC in a boxing ring]

03:19

switch to AC there was no stopping electricity on its mad rampage through

03:23

society there was also no stopping the band agency business yeah pour some [ACDC band singing on stage]

03:31

sugar on me baby

Full Transcript