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
Invention of the telephone useful and widespread apparatus it is now. The telephone exchange was an idea of the Hungarian engineer Tivadar Puskás (1844–1893) in 1876, while he was working for Thomas Edison on a telegraph exchange. Puskás was working on his idea for an electrical telegraph exchange when Alexander Graham Bell received the first patent for the telephone. This caused Puskás to take a fresh look at his own work and he refocused on perfecting a design for a telephone exchange. He then got in touch with the U.S. inventor Thomas Edison who liked the design. According to Edison, "Tivadar Puskas was the