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The Incandescent Light Bulb
Who Actually Invented The
Incandescent Light Bulb?
By Christopher
McFadden
Who created the light bulb? Was it Thomas Edison
or someone else? Let's find out.
The electric light bulb, specifically the
incandescent light bulb, has become synonymous with the term light bulb for
many years.
Whilst it is but one of various artificial lighting solutions available, it is
the one that most think of when the term light bulb is used.
But who invented it, and when?
Was it Thomas Edison, as most
claim, or Joseph Swan, as others claim? Did Nikola Tesla have a
hand in the process?
As you will soon find out, the answer to this
conundrum is less than clear cut. It also depends on what you would consider a
'real' light bulb.
But, like many inventions throughout
time, the final product is the cumulative work of many
inventors throughout history, the same is true for the light bulb.
In the following article, we'll take a quick
tour through the history of the light bulb, and stop off at some of the key
players. Hold on tight.
Who invented the lightbulb and when?
The invention of the lightbulb
(specifically the incandescent bulb) is a rather contentious issue,
to say the least.
Whilst Thomas Alva Edison often
gets all the credit, is this actually true?
Like many inventions throughout history, the
modern lightbulb is actually a combination of many tiny steps.
Many historians claim that no less than 20 inventors had produced various designs of
incandescent lightbulb long before Edison.
Thomas Edison's contribution to the lightbulb's
evolution was the production of the first commercially practical one. As his
design was so successful it effectively dominated the market and outstripped
all other versions.
In this sense, it might be more accurate to call
him the "perfector of the light bulb."
But let's delve a little deeper first.
One of the most important steps prior to Edison
was the work of the great British scientist Sir Humphrey
Davy.
In 1802, he was able to produce the world's
first true artificial electric light.
Using his recently invented electric battery,
Davy connected a set of wires to a piece of carbon to it. Davy was amazed to
find that the piece of carbon began to glow and gave off a lot of light.
The world's first arc light had just been
created. The only problem was that it didn't last very long and the light given
off was too bright for practical use.
Over the following 70 years or so, many other
inventors created their own versions of light bulbs.
Whilst they all showed promise, most, if not
all, proved too expensive to produce or had other issues that prevented them
from becoming commercially viable.
One of the most notable versions was created by
another British Scientist Warren de la Rue in
1840. He enclosed a coil of platinum filament inside a vacuum tube and ran some
current through it.
As platinum was such an expensive metal, this
seriously limited the commercial viability of his design.
Did Joseph Swan invent the light bulb before
Edison?
In 1850, another British inventor, Joseph Wilson Swan, put his considerable talents to the
challenge. To countenance the problems de la Rue experienced, Swan decided to
experiment with less expensive filament materials.
He finally settled on using carbonized paper to
replace platinum which showed some promise.
By 1860 he had a working prototype, but the lack
of a good vacuum and an adequate supply of electricity resulted in a bulb whose
longevity was much too short to be considered an effective producer of
light.
It also tended to blacken, or soot, the inside
of the vacuum tube which was less than ideal (as you can see in the image
above).
Despite these setbacks, Swan continued
to work on his design.
As vacuum tube technology improved in the 1870s,
Swan was able to make some further significant breakthroughs.
The culmination of all his work was his 1878
development of a long-lasting light bulb. Like its predecessors, it used a
filament contained within an evacuated tube except he replaced carbonized paper
with cotton thread.
He patented his design in
1879 and would later come into direct conflict with Thomas Edison.
Another interesting attempt was made in 1874 by
a pair of Canadian inventors. Henry Woodward and Mathew Evans,
both Toronto-based, designed and built their own light bulbs.
The pair created a range of bulbs of different
sizes and shapes that used carbon rods held
between electrodes in glass cylinders filled with nitrogen.
Woodward and Evans attempted to commercialize
their lamp but were unsuccessful.
They eventually sold their patent to Thomas
Edison in 1879.
How Thomas Edison invented the lightbulb?
In 1879, the same year Swan filed and was
awarded his patent in England, Thomas Edison decided
to turn his attention to the development of electric light bulbs.
Edison, ever the keen businessman, wanted to
develop a commercially viable and practical version to bring to market.
He hoped to muscle in on the lucrative gas and
oil lighting market in the United States. If he could break the hegemony of
these two systems, he might just be able to make a fortune.
In October of 1879, he finally patented his
first application for an "Improvement In Electric Lights" with
the patent office. But he didn't stop there.
Edison continued to work on and refine his
designs. He experimented with different metals for filaments to improve the
performance of his original patent.
In 1879, Edison filed another patent for an
electric lamp that used "a carbon filament or strip coiled and
connected ... to platina contact wires."
This solution sounds very similar to that
of Joseph Swan almost 20 years prior.
This patent also described the possible means of
created said carbon filament. These included the use of "cotton or
linen thread, wood splints, and papers coiled in various ways."
Just a few months after his later patent, Edison
and his team were able to discover that carbonized bamboo did the trick. This
material appeared to be able to last for well over 1200 hours.
This discovery marked the beginning of
commercially manufactured light bulbs and in 1880, Thomas Edison’s
company, Edison Electric Light Company began marketing its new
product.
Impressive, but all was not plain sailing.
So similar was Edison's own invention that Swan
decided to sue Edison for copyright infringement. British courts ruled against
Edison and as punishment Edison had to make Swan a partner in his electric
company.
Later, even the U.S. Patent Office decided in
1883 that Edison’s patent was invalid, as it also duplicated the work of
another American inventor.
But, despite all this, Edison would forever be
remembered as the inventor of the light bulb.
Thomas Edison would go on to become one of the
most prolific inventors and businessman of the 19th and 20th Century.
By the time of his death, he had acquired a
mind-boggling 2,332 patents with 389 alone
for electric lighting and power.
Who invented the light bulb Tesla or Edison?
Whilst Thomas Edison does, rightfully so, get
some 'heat' for 'stealing' many of Nikola Tesla's inventions and developments,
the light bulb is not one of them.
In fact, Tesla spent little, if any, of his
time, developing incandescent electrical lighting of any kind.
Tesla did, however, make contributions to the
development of arc lighting. He also conducted some interesting experiments
into the possibility of wireless lighting.
But claims regarding Edison's own invention of
the light bulb, as we have seen, is arguable. But what cannot be denied is the
fact that Edison, unlike all inventors of the light bulb before him, was able
to create a commercially viable and reliable design.
For this reason, and his business acumen in
general, it would be Edison's design (and Joseph Swan's) that would become
ubiquitous around the world.
Christopher
McFadden
Author
Christopher
graduated from Cardiff University in 2004 with a Masters Degree in Geology.
Since then, he has worked exclusively within the Built Environment,
Occupational Health and Safety and Environmental Consultancy industries. He is
a qualified and accredited Energy Consultant, Green Deal Assessor and
Practitioner member of IEMA. Chris’s main interests range from Science and
Engineering, Military and Ancient History to Politics and Philosophy.
Did Thomas Edison really invent the light bulb?
Davy's Arc Lamp and battery
Swan's carbon filament lamps.
Edison's first successful light bulb design.
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