The basics of the construction of the electric lamp (or light bulb, to nonelectricians) were pretty well known by the 1870s. People knew that if you ran electricity down certain substances, the resistance produced light rather than heat. The problem was finding the right filament. Early versions simply didn’t last long enough to be useful. The lamp needed a long-lasting filament that would provide pleasing, easy-on-the-eye lighting to be practical.
Edison tested thousands of materials before trying a piece of #70 coarse sewing-machine thread in October 1879. He first baked the thread to carbonize it and extend its life to withstand the heat of an electric current. The rest, as they say, is history. Edison and his assistants scrambled to improve his lamp and to create all the myriad components necessary to get it into peoples’ homes.
It was Edison’s invention of a system to deliver and implement electricity and lighting that set him apart from other inventors. His labs designed and manufactured switches, meters, generators, and just about everything else connected with electrification. This is akin to inventing a computer in a laboratory only to discover that, oops, now we need software, monitors, a mouse, printers, scanners, and every other peripheral advertised in the monthly catalogs we all receive from computer suppliers.
Edison tested thousands of materials before trying a piece of #70 coarse sewing-machine thread in October 1879. He first baked the thread to carbonize it and extend its life to withstand the heat of an electric current. The rest, as they say, is history. Edison and his assistants scrambled to improve his lamp and to create all the myriad components necessary to get it into peoples’ homes.
It was Edison’s invention of a system to deliver and implement electricity and lighting that set him apart from other inventors. His labs designed and manufactured switches, meters, generators, and just about everything else connected with electrification. This is akin to inventing a computer in a laboratory only to discover that, oops, now we need software, monitors, a mouse, printers, scanners, and every other peripheral advertised in the monthly catalogs we all receive from computer suppliers.
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