USS Edison (DD-439) USS Edison (DD-439) USS "Edison" (DD-439), a , was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for Thomas Alva Edison, an inventor and businessman who developed many important devices and received the Navy Distinguished Service Medal for his contributions to the Navy during World War I. "Edison" was one of the few U.S. Navy ships to be named for a civilian. "Edison" was launched 23 November 1940 by Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, Kearny, New Jersey sponsored by Mrs. Thomas Alva Edison, widow of the inventor; and commissioned 31 January 1941, Lieutenant Commander A. C. Murdaugh
Thomas Leavitt (inventor) volumes of United States mail. Thomas Leavitt, who set off the stampede with his first design, was married to Martha Elizabeth Whittier of Cornville, Maine, in 1851. The inventor died in 1899 and his wife Martha died in 1910. The couple had four children. Thomas Leavitt (inventor) Thomas Leavitt (1827–1899) patented, along with his brother Martin Leavitt, the first machine in the U.S. that made machine-cancelled postal letters practicable, enabling the United States Post Office to increase the volume of mail it handled, quickening the pace of delivery and allowing customers to more easily send letters of various sizes. Leavitt,