Unsung Heroes

You probably know that Edison invented the phonograph.  You might even know that the first thing he recorded on it was himself reciting "Mary had a little lamb".  Pretty rock and roll.

What you might not know is that Edison didn't actually build the phonograph: he had a mechanic, John Kreusi, build it.  Edison and Kreusi worked closely together on nearly all of the inventions Edison is credited with, including the light bulb.

Edison's favoured way of working was to draw a sketch of an idea, and give it to John Kreusi with a note saying "Make this".  Kreusi would make a prototype, the two men would test it together and agree changes to the design,  Kreusi would scurry off and make another model and they would test again, and so on.  Einstein might have been the ideas man, and there's no doubting he was a great ideas man, but without John Kreusi his inventions would have remained exactly that - ideas.  

I had never heard of him until today.