His work was fundamental to the improvement of the telephone, and he was given 34 patents in that realm, including one for a carbon transmitter used to this day. Among his other inventions: the mimeograph and the microphone. He also was a key figure in the development of the electric chair. In 1885, Thomas Edison first visited Florida . He purchased property along the Caloosahatchee River and built a vacation home. The vernacular structure, completed in 1886 and dubbed "Seminole Lodge" by the Edisons , served as a winter retreat and work place for the prolific inventor until his death in 1931. The Thomas Edison Oleander blooms at his Ft. Myers , Florida estate.