CP wrote --

> True -- just like the lightbulb was parallel 'discovered'/invented on both sides of the Atlantic

  True, but there are those who take others ideas and improve on them.
  Benz invented the automobile c. 1885.  But by the mid 1890s others were
taking that invention, changing this and that, improving something else,
until they came up with a more reliable machine.  
  People like Charles Duryea were building one or two hand made cars at a
time. c. 1895.  Eli Ranson Olds had a stationary assembly line where the cars
were pushed from one area to another around 1900.
  Ford took it a step further with interchangeable parts and used the
moving assembly line to make a lot of cars c. 1908.  He didn't invent the
assembly line, I think that was Colt in the 1860s, nor did he invent
interchangeable parts.  He just took the idea 
   During Edison's time people here and in England were working on the idea
of an electric light.  The idea was old then, it just how to do it.
   Edison came up with a filament that would last longer than a few hours.  
   And yes he had a whole staff working for him and took the best idea,
maybe made a minor change and claimed it as his own.
   And don't forget Tesla who wanted alternating current and not Edison's
direct current as the standard which led to a split.
  Edison's thinking if it works, fine, don't tinker with it.  
  But others took his ideas and improved on them.
  Bell, while not actually working on a telephone, was the first to make it
practicable. 
  The list goes on and on.

> If it ain't broke, don't fix it -- normal perople If it ain't broke, fix it til it is 

  LOL.  Gotta remember that one!
  Joe
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