american inventor whose prolific ingenuity earned him the epithet "wizard of menlo park". the incandescent lamp, the phonograph, carbon telephone transmitter and motion pictures are some of the inventions accredited to him. he also developed storage batteries, dictating machines and the mimeograph duplicating machine. several industries, including the electric light and power industry, were based on his inventions. in all, he was granted 1097 US patents. in 1882, he applied for "141" patents, or about one every three days.