history of the light bulb, who invented the light bulb | DelMarFans.com

1878

In 1878, William E. Sawyer and Albion Man received the first U.S. patent for “improvement of Electric Lights.” The lamp consisted of a nitrogen-filled globe with a carbon conductor, supported by large zigzagging radiators. The lamp’s rigid design prevented the carbon conductor from expanding and contracting, causing the lamp to break frequently. The first Westinghouse light bulbs were based on the Sawyer-Man incandescent lamps.

Who Invented The Incandescent Light Bulb: Edison v. Swan

In many textbooks, Thomas A. Edison is solely credited with inventing the modern incandescent light bulb after 10,000 attempts. Edison, an undisputed visionary, was not the only one competing to develop the first commercial incandescent bulb. Countless chemists, physicists, and inventors clamored for the honor and substantial payoff.

In 1878, a young Edison stated that he could create a safer, cheaper, and more reliable incandescent light to replace existing gas lights in just six weeks. The announcement caused gas company stocks to plummet. At 31 years old, Edison had already earned the nickname of the Wizard of Menlo Park for his innovation and inventions, including the stock ticker, quadruplex telegraph and phonograph. He gathered financial backing and assembled a team of 14 engineers, machinists, and physicists known as the “muckers” in Menlo Park, NJ, to research and develop an incandescent light bulb. Notable team members included American mathematician and physicist Francis Upton, American mechanic Charles Batchelor, and Swiss-born machinist John Kruesi.

During this time, Edison and his team created several incandescent light bulb prototypes, including a lamp with a platinum filament, which oxidized slowly and had a high melting point. To prevent the filament from overheating and burning out, a problem that plagued earlier inventors, he created a regulating system that intermittently diverted the current away from the filament, permitting it to cool. The system was difficult to manufacture and operate, and the light bulb itself would shut off every few minutes, rendering the lamp impractical for commercial development.

At the same time, Sir Joseph Wilson Swan, an English chemist and physicist, was independently working on an incandescent light bulb with a carbon filament. Swan began working on the incandescent bulb three decades earlier, but like other early inventors, he lacked a reliable vacuum and a suitable electric source to create a practical light bulb. In late 1878, he reported to the Newcastle Chemical Society that he had created a working incandescent lamp and he received a UK patent that same year. In February 1879, Swan demonstrated a working lamp during a lecture at the Newcastle Literary and Philosophical Society. His lamp design included an enclosed bulb with the air removed, platinum lead wires, and light-emitting carbon element.

Swan’s original incandescent lamp, while functional, was not practical for real-world use. The carbon rod had low electrical resistance and required a large amount of current to heat up and make the filament glow, which meant that the electric conductors to the lamp had to be short or unreasonably thick. The rod also released gasses when the lamp was turned on and dark soot quickly accumulated inside the glass, blocking light output. Swan improved his design and eventually established his own electric lighting company, The Swan Electric Light Company, in 1881.