by Zoë Pollock
Michelle Legro describes Thomas Edison's other invention, the failed phonograph doll:
The doll was meant to be hand-cranked, just like a phonograph, and had a large handle sticking out of its side. It cost $10 in 1890 -- more than $200 in today's money -- an adult sum for a child's toy. The toy weighed four pounds, too heavy for a small child, because its torso was metal -- the head was porcelain, the arms and legs wood, but the chest looked a jet engine and there was a speaker where the heart should be. Edison's doll was about as cuddly as a carburetor.