Though Thomas Edison is usually credited with the invention of the light bulb, the famous American inventor wasn't the only one who contributed to the development of this revolutionary technology.
Many other notable figures are also remembered for their work with electric batteries, lamps and the creation of the first incandescent bulbs. The story of the light bulb begins long before Edison patented the first commercially successful bulb in In , Italian inventor Alessandro Volta developed the first practical method of generating electricity, the voltaic pile.
Made of alternating discs of zinc and copper — interspersed with layers of cardboards soaked in salt water — the pile conducted electricity when a copper wire was connected at either end. While actually a predecessor of the modern battery , Volta's glowing copper wire is also considered to be one of the earliest manifestations of incandescent lighting. Not long after Volta presented his discovery of a continuous source of electricity to the Royal Society in London, Humphry Davy, an English chemist and inventor, produced the world's first electric lamp by connecting voltaic piles to charcoal electrodes.
Davy's invention was known as an electric arc lamp, named for the bright arc of light emitted between its two carbon rods. While Davy's arc lamp was certainly an improvement on Volta's stand-alone piles, it still wasn't a very practical source of lighting.
This rudimentary lamp burned out quickly and was much too bright for use in a home or workspace. But the principles behind Davy's arc light were used throughout the s in the development of many other electric lamps and bulbs. In , British scientist Warren de la Rue developed an efficiently designed light bulb using a coiled platinum filament in place of copper, but the high cost of platinum kept the bulb from becoming a commercial success.
And in , Englishman William Staite improved the longevity of conventional arc lamps by developing a clockwork mechanism that regulated the movement of the lamps' quick-to-erode carbon rods.
But the cost of the batteries used to power Staite's lamps put a damper on the inventor's commercial ventures. In , English chemist Joseph Swan tackled the cost-effectiveness problem of previous inventors and by he had developed a light bulb that used carbonized paper filaments in place of ones made of platinum.
While the Cooper Hewitt lamps were more efficient than incandescent bulbs, they had few suitable uses because of the color of the light. By the late s and early s, European researchers were doing experiments with neon tubes coated with phosphors a material that absorbs ultraviolet light and converts the invisible light into useful white light.
These findings sparked fluorescent lamp research programs in the U. These lights lasted longer and were about three times more efficient than incandescent bulbs. The need for energy-efficient lighting American war plants led to the rapid adoption of fluorescents, and by , more light in the U. It was another energy shortage -- the oil crisis -- that caused lighting engineers to develop a fluorescent bulb that could be used in residential applications. In , researchers at Sylvania started investigating how they could miniaturize the ballast and tuck it into the lamp.
Two years later in , Edward Hammer at General Electric figured out how to bend the fluorescent tube into a spiral shape, creating the first compact fluorescent light CFL.
Like Sylvania, General Electric shelved this design because the new machinery needed to mass-produce these lights was too expensive. Consumers pointed to the high price as their number one obstacle in purchasing CFLs. Since the s, improvements in CFL performance, price, efficiency they use about 75 percent less energy than incandescents and lifetime they last about 10 times longer have made them a viable option for both renters and homeowners.
I cannot say the same for all my associates. Edison decided to try a carbonized cotton thread filament. When voltage was applied to the completed bulb, it began to radiate a soft orange glow. Just about fifteen hours later, the filament finally burned out. Further experimentation produced filaments that could burn longer and longer with each test. Patent number , was given to Edison's electric lamp.
The Edison lamp from our Attic is dated January 27, It is a product of the continued improvements Edison made to the bulb. Even though it is over a hundred years old, this bulb looks very much like the light bulbs lighting your house right now.
The base, or socket, on this 19th century lamp is similar to the ones still used today. It was one of the most important features of Edison's lamp and electrical system.
The label on this bulb reads, "New Type Edison Lamp. Patented Jan. In the early s, Edison planned and supervised the construction of the first commercial, central electric power station in New York City.
In , Edison began construction of a new laboratory in West Orange, New Jersey, where he lived and worked for the rest of his life. Before he died in , Edison patented 1, of his inventions.
The wonders of his mind include the microphone, telephone receiver, universal stock ticker, phonograph, kinetoscope used to view moving pictures , storage battery, electric pen, and mimeograph. Edison improved many other existing devices as well. From a discovery made by one of his associates, he patented the Edison effect now called thermionic diode , which is the basis for all electron tubes.
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. One of the most important steps prior to Edison was the work of the great British scientist Sir Humphrey Davy. In , 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 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. In , 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.
0コメント