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A better lightbulb ?
By the 1870s, the streets of Paris and other cities were lit by electric arc lamps that worked by forcing a continuous discharge of current across the air space between two conductors. These lights
were harsh, flickering, and hazardous. A better electric light was needed, and inventors set out to make one.
Scientists had noted that a wire or filament heated by electricity would sometimes glow. Unfortunately filaments never survived long enough to be practical as a light source because oxygen in the air quickly oxidized and destroyed them. By 1875, English physicist William Crookes had invented a method for removing much of the air from a tube. It was found that a wire filament placed in a vacuum tube glowed longer, but it still disintegrated too soon to make it useful in a lamp. American inventor Thomas Alva Edison came on the case. He tried hundreds of different materials until, on October 21, 1879, he found his fiIament: a n ordinary scorched cotton thread. A bulb with this carbonfilament burned for forty hours. Edison quickly registered a patent and on New Year’s Eve 1879 lit up the main street of Menlo Parh., New Jersey. Three years later, his Pearl Street Power Station provided electric power to 203 Manhattan customers enjoying the light of more than three thousand electric lamps.
There was one shower on Edison’s parade. A rival English inventor, Joseph Swan, had also discovered the carbonfilament and patented his own lamp in 1878. However, Swan was slower in setting up a system to distribute public electricity, so that Edison received the fame. The two men initially sued each other for patent violations but eventually settled their claims and became partners.
The electric bulb continued to improve. I n 1910 the heat-resisting element tungsten replaced cotton as the filament of choice. I n 1915 the inert gas nitrogen replaced the vacuum as the preferred environment for filaments.
Today’s incandescent bulbs burn for about two thousand hours.
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Contributor's Note
This intel reflects only one of my activities. I also write about and/or have websites on Vespa Scooters, Lambretta Scooters, Hardy Banana plants, Medical memorabilia, reborn baby dolls and much more. Hope you enjoyed the read, Philip Davey
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This intel was contributed by Phildave
Phildave
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May, 2012
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