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From: "::darkshadows::" <bat@cave.org>
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Subject: Did Thomas Edison really invent the light bulb?
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Date: Wed, 29 Apr 2009 00:21:32 -0500
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That Explains It
Did Thomas Edison really invent the light bulb?
The history of the light bulb reads like a story straight out of a
tabloid magazine. Contrary to what schools have taught for years, the
American icon, Thomas Edison, neither invented the light bulb, nor
held the first patent to the modern design of the light bulb.
Apparently, the we gave the esteemed Mr. Edison credit for the
invention solely because he owned a power company, later known as
General Electric, and a light bulb is just a bulb without a source of
electricity to light it. In reality, light bulbs used as electric
lights existed 50 years prior to Thomas Edison's 1879 patent date in
the U.S.
Additionally, Joseph Swan, a British inventor, obtained the first
patent for the same light bulb in Britain one year prior to Edison's
patent date. Swan even publicly unveiled his carbon filament light
bulb in New Castle, England a minimum of 10 years before Edison
shocked the world with the announcement that he invented the first
light bulb. Edison's light bulb, in fact, was a carbon copy of Swan's
light bulb.
How do two inventors, from two different countries the invent exact
same thing? Very easily, if one follows in the others footsteps.
Swan's initial findings from tinkering with carbon filament electric
lighting, and his preliminary designs, appeared in an article
published by Scientific American. Thomas Edison Without a doubt,
Edison had access to, and eagerly read this article. Giving Mr. Edison
the benefit of the doubt, and stopping short of calling him a
plagiarist, we can say that he invented the light bulb by making vast
improvements to Swan's published, yet unperfected designs.
Swan, however, felt quite differently, as he watched Edison line his
pockets with money made from his invention, and took Edison to Court
for patent infringement. The British Courts stood by their patent
award for the light bulb to Swan, and Edison lost the suit. The
British Courts forced Edison, as part of the settlement, to name Swan
a partner in his British electric company. Eventually, Edison managed
to acquire all of Swans' interest in the newly renamed Edison and Swan
United Electric Company.
Edison fared no better back home in the U.S., where the U.S. Patent
Office already ruled, on October 8, 1883, that Edison's patents were
invalid, because he based them upon the earlier art of a gentleman
named William Sawyer. To make matters worse, Swan sold his U.S. patent
rights, in June 1882, to Brush Electric Company. This chain of events
stripped Edison of all patent rights to the light bulb, and left him
with no hope of purchasing any.
Edison dusted himself off, and went into business setting up a direct
current (DC) system of power distribution in New York City, and
selling the light bulbs that used this electricity. The light bulb
business only flickered between 1879 and 1889, until word-of-mouth
advertising of lower electricity costs fanned the flame, and business
boomed. Edison's client base rapidly expanded to three million
customers over the span of 10 years.
Always at the center of controversy, Edison next found himself in
competition with Westinghouse for the sale of the first electric chair
to execute criminals to New York. Edison's chair used the DC system of
electricity, while Westinghouse used the AC (alternating current)
system, designed especially for it by Nickola Tesla. Both Edison and
Westinghouse emphasized the humanity of electrocution and the safety
of their electrical system as selling points when pitching their
chairs to New York.
Edison's bid for the sale of his chair was a mere formality and a ploy
to have the Westinghouse system of electricity chosen by New York for
the electric chair. He endorsed the Westinghouse AC system of
electricity as the system of choice to be used for the electric chair,
reasoning that the public would associate the Westinghouse AC system
with the killing power of the electric chair, and would see the system
as unsafe for household use.
Edison made this strategic move in anticipation that the public and
would flock to the safety of his DC system, as he needed increased
sales of the system, because of the great monetary investment he had
made in the system. Edison's plan succeeded, in part, as New York did
select the Westinghouse electric chair over his model.
What he could not take into account, was the fact that, unbelievably,
Westinghouse never tested the chair, and the chair failed on its
"Maiden Voyage." Though Edison's carefully laid plan went up in smoke,
he did get the last laugh, as for years people referred to being
electrocuted as being "Westinghoused," even though its chair was no
longer in use.
It only took a matter of years before the public realized that the
benefits of the AC system far outweighed those of the DC system.
Edison's DC system took back seat, and the AC system took center
stage. People in the U.S. and worldwide chose the AC system over the
DC system, because AC currents deliver electricity to power lines with
greater efficiency. The DC system is no longer in use today.
DID YOU KNOW?
The first light bulbs lasted a mere 150 hours, and that ten years
later, Edison introduced one that lasted 1,200 hours? The average
light bulb today lasts approximately 1,500 hours.
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