Who made the first light bulb? Who invented the first light bulb? Modern incandescent lamp

Hello everyone, dear lovers of interesting facts. I think that none of us can imagine our lives without light. Therefore, today we will find out who was the first in the world to invent a light bulb that resembled a modern one, as well as what and who contributed to this.

The invention of the incandescent light bulb, like all others, was carried out by many people in different countries. The first to demonstrate his brainchild was the Englishman Humphry Davy back in 1806. It was a rather primitive invention. Davy created lighting using electrical sparks between a pair of coal rods. The so-called arc candle was unsuitable for practical widespread use. The device itself did not find support, but the idea of creating it, after this demonstration, excited the “bright” minds of many inventors.

Years passed...

Dozens of people worked on the birth of the light bulb, picking up Davy’s idea:
Year 1840 - Englishman Delarue;
Year 1854 – German Heinrich Goebel;
The year is 1860, English chemist and physicist Joseph Wilson Swan showed his work;
Year 1872-1873 - Alexander Lodygin;
Year 1875 - V.F. Didrikhson improved Lodygin’s work;
Year 1875-1876 – Russian electrical engineer Pavel Nikolaevich Yablochkov, worked on an “electric candle”;
Thomas Edison in 1879 completed what his predecessors could not do.

Russian engineer and his invention

Many people in different countries created their creations. Many were haunted by failure. But Alexander Lodygin’s lamp was able to withstand all the tests. She shone for a full thirty minutes! This was already an unprecedented achievement. As many as two of these “miracle candles” shone on the streets of St. Petersburg! Hundreds of people came specially to see them. It was a real sensation, but... Not everything was so simple. Due to the prevailing circumstances, Lodygin was unable to achieve wide distribution of his creation.

The Russian engineer failed to complete his work, but Thomas Edison succeeded. An American scientist learned about the experiments of his Russian colleague. He decided to improve an existing invention. His work deserves respect - the scientist conducted 1,500 experiments, testing various materials. But this was not the end - 6000 experiments with carbon filaments - this is the contribution that the inventor made to the history of the light bulb.

Is the invention so clear?

Without the ideas of all his predecessors and the invention of Alexander Nikolaevich, Thomas Edison probably would not have succeeded. This fact is obvious, but unprovable. The American's painstaking, persistent work gave humanity a thread that burned for hundreds of hours without burning out. He was also able to organize the production of light bulbs at the first specialized plant; they were distributed throughout all countries of the world, replacing traditional candles. This is how the Edison Electrical Light Company was born.

No one dares to say unequivocally that Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, but no one has yet been able to refute this either. The incandescent lamp was invented before him. However, he created the first practical model along with an electrical system, which is his undeniable achievement. Well, now you know who was the first in the world to invent the light bulb, without which today’s life is simply unimaginable.

The electric incandescent lamp has long become an object without which it is difficult to imagine our lives. In the evening, when entering a house or apartment, the first thing we do is flip the switch in the hallway and within a moment a bright light flashes, dispelling the darkness around us. And at the same time, we don’t think about where such an ordinary light bulb came to us from and who invented the light bulb. The electric lamp has long become commonplace for us, but once upon a time it was akin to a real miracle.

Before the invention of electricity, people lived in twilight. With the onset of darkness, the dwellings were plunged into darkness and their inhabitants, in order to somehow disperse the darkness that frightened them, lit a fire.

To illuminate houses in different countries, lamps of various designs, torches, candles, and torches were used, and fires were lit in the open air, for example, on the road or in military camps. People treasured these light sources; they invented legends and composed songs about them.

However, the inquisitive human mind already in ancient times was looking for an alternative to all these devices. After all, they all gave little light, smoked heavily, filling the room with smoke, and besides, they could go out at any minute. Archaeologists who discovered amazing paintings inside the ancient Egyptian pyramids could not help but wonder how the ancient artists made these drawings despite the fact that natural light did not penetrate into the pyramids, and no soot was found on the walls and ceiling from torches or lamps. It is likely that the answer to this question has already been found in the city of Dendera, in the temple of the goddess Hathor. It is there that there are bas-reliefs, which may depict an ancient electric lamp similar to a gas-discharge lamp.

In the 9th century AD. In the Middle East, an oil lamp was invented, which became the prototype of a kerosene lamp, but it did not become widespread and remained a rare curiosity.

Thus, until the middle of the 19th century, the most popular light sources remained oil and fat lamps, candles, lanterns and torches, and in camp conditions - the same fires as in ancient times.

The kerosene lamp, invented in the middle of the 19th century, supplanted all other sources of artificial lighting, although not for long: until the electric light bulb appeared - the most common for us, but absolutely amazing for the people of that time.

At the dawn of discovery

The operation of the first incandescent lamps was based on the principle that conductors glow when electric current is passed through them. This very property of such materials was known long before the invention of the light bulb. The problem was that for a very long time the inventors could not find a suitable material for an incandescent filament that would provide long-lasting and effective, and also inexpensive lighting.

Background to the appearance of incandescent lamps:

Who first invented the light bulb

In the 1870s, serious work began on the invention of the electric light bulb. Many prominent scientists and inventors devoted years and decades of their lives to working on this project. Lodygin, Yablochkov and Edison - these three inventors worked in parallel on the design of incandescent lamps, so disputes still continue about which of them can be considered the world's first inventor of the incandescent electric lamp.

Lamp by A. N. Lodygin

He began his experiments on the invention of the incandescent lamp in 1870 after his retirement. At the same time, the inventor was simultaneously working on several projects: creating an electric plane, a diving apparatus and a light bulb.

In 1871-1874, he conducted experiments to find the most suitable material for an incandescent coil. Having initially tried to use iron wire and failed, the inventor began experimenting with a carbon rod placed in a glass container.

In 1874, Lodygin received a patent for the incandescent lamp he invented, not only Russian, but also international, patenting his invention in many European countries and even in India and Australia.

In 1884, for political reasons, the inventor left Russia. For the next 23 years he worked alternately in France and in the USA. Even in exile, he continued to develop new designs for incandescent lamps, patenting those that used refractory metals as the material for the spiral. In 1906, Lodygin sold these patents to the General Electric Company in the USA. During his research, the inventor came to the conclusion that the best materials for incandescent filaments are tungsten and molybdenum. And the first incandescent lamps produced in the USA were made according to his design and with tungsten filament.

Yablochkov's lamp P. N.

In 1875, finding himself in Paris, he began inventing an arc lamp without a regulator. Yablochkov had begun work on this project even earlier, while living in Moscow, but failed. The capital of France became the city where he was able to achieve outstanding results.

By the beginning of the spring of 1876, the inventor completed work on the design of an electric candle, and on March 23 of the same year he received a patent for it in France. This day became significant not only in the fate of P. N. Yablochkov himself, but also a turning point for the further development of electrical and lighting engineering.

Yablochkov's candle was simpler and cheaper to operate than Lodygin's coal lamp. In addition, it did not have any springs or any mechanisms. It looked like two rods clamped in two separate terminals of a candlestick, which were separated by a kaolin partition, isolating them from each other. An arc charge was ignited at the upper ends, after which the arc flame slowly burned the coal and vaporized the insulating material, at the same time emitting a bright glow.

Later, Yablochkov tried to change the color of the lighting, for which he added salts of various metals to the insulating material for the partition.

In April 1876, the inventor demonstrated his candle at an electrical exhibition in London. The large audience was delighted with the bright bluish-white electric light that flooded the room.

The success was incredible. The scientist and his invention were written about in the foreign press. And already at the end of the 1870s, streets, shops, theaters, hippodromes, palaces and mansions were illuminated with electric candles not only in Europe, but also in the USA, Brazil, Mexico, India, Burma and Cambodia. And in Russia, the first test of Yablochkov’s electric candles took place in the fall of 1878.

It was a real triumph for the Russian inventor. After all, before his candle, there was not a single invention in the field of electrical engineering that would so quickly become popular throughout the world.

Edison lamp T.A.

He conducted his experiments with incandescent lamps in the late 1870s, that is, he worked on this project simultaneously with Lodygin and Yablochkov.

In April 1879, Edison experimentally came to the conclusion that without a vacuum, none of the incandescent lamps would work, or if they did, it would be extremely short-lived. And already in October of the same year, an American researcher completed work on a project for a carbon incandescent lamp, which is considered one of the most important inventions of the 19th century.

In 1882, together with several prominent financiers, the inventor founded the company Edison General Electric c, where they began to manufacture various electrical appliances. To win the market, Edison even went so far as to set the selling price of the lamp at 40 cents, despite the fact that its production cost 110 cents. Subsequently, the inventor suffered losses for four years, although he tried to reduce the cost of incandescent lamps. And when the cost of their production dropped to 22 cents, and the output reached a million pieces, he was able to cover all previous costs within a year, so that further production brought him only profit.

But what was Edison's innovation in inventing the incandescent lamp, other than the fact that he was the first to consider this subject as a means of making a profit? His merit lies not at all in the invention of lamps of this type, but in the fact that he was the first to create a practical and widespread system of electric lighting. And he came up with the modern, familiar shape of the lamp to all of us, as well as a screw base, socket and fuses.

Thomas Edison was distinguished by his high efficiency and always took a very responsible approach to business. So, in order to finally decide on the choice of material for the incandescent filament, he tried more than six thousand samples until he came to the conclusion that the most suitable material for this was carbonized bamboo.

Based on chronology, the inventor of the light bulb is Lodygin. It was he who invented the first lamp for lighting, and he was the first who guessed to pump out air from a glass bulb and use tungsten as an incandescent filament. Yablochkov’s “electric candle” is based on slightly different operating principles and does not require a vacuum, but for the first time, streets and premises began to be illuminated en masse with his candles. As for Edison, it was he who invented the lamp of modern forms, as well as the base, socket and fuses. Therefore, while giving the palm of invention to the first of these three inventors, the role of other researchers cannot be underestimated.

Humanity has been trying to safely illuminate their homes ever since they got their hands on fire. Initially, these were fires in the cave, then - torches and other fire-hazardous objects. With the development of humanity and technology, lighting methods have changed and improved.

We won’t make deep excursions into history and find out the entire evolution of lighting devices: more than one book could be written on this topic. We will take into consideration one of perhaps the most interesting questions - who and when invented or came up with the modern incandescent electric light bulb.

A little history

This question, asked in different countries, can give a completely different answer. Americans, with their characteristic self-confidence, will argue that this is the inventor of the first incandescent lamp - their fellow countryman Edison, who received a patent for his invention in 1880. The French will name the Russian scientist Yablochkov: with the help of his invention they began to illuminate the squares and theaters of the capital of this country. Perhaps someone will remember Lodygin, an inventor from St. Petersburg, whose lamps began to illuminate the streets of the city in 1873. Most likely, there will be other answers: it all depends on the person’s awareness of this issue.

What is most surprising is that in this case everyone will be right. How is this possible?

With the invention of electricity (the discovery of electric current), scientific discoveries followed one after another. Moreover, they were made by completely different scientists and inventors, in completely different countries. Gradually, electrical engineering became a separate science (initially all this related to physical phenomena).

The beginning of the development and search for solutions for the invention of the electric light bulb was the receipt by the Russian academician Petrov in 1802 of an electric arc from the most powerful electric battery at that time. In turn, the creation of this battery became possible thanks to the invention of a chemical energy source by the Italian Volt - a galvanic cell. Thus, one invention gave rise to other discoveries, which in turn gave rise to new ideas and experiments.

By the mid-19th century, many scientists and inventors were conducting experiments to obtain a stable and long-lasting glow. The diversity of ideas led to the emergence of three areas of development. Some scientists tried to improve the electric arc lamp, others worked on an incandescent lamp, and still others worked with gas-discharge sources.

Nevertheless, the electric arc was considered the most promising in terms of lighting: it was in this direction that most of the research was carried out and various experiments were carried out. However, all researchers faced the same problem: there is a bright arc between the electrodes, and a stable arc is formed at a certain distance between them. Most experiments were carried out using carbon electrodes, which burned out quite quickly and the arc distance was constantly changing.

An automatic regulator was required. Various options were offered, but all had one drawback: each incandescent electric lamp required a separate power source. A big breakthrough in this direction was made by the inventor Shpakovsky in 1856: he managed to assemble an installation of 11 arc lamps that operated in one circuit from a single power source.

Thirteen years later, in 1869, Chikolev invented and successfully tested a differential regulator for arc lamps. This invention (in its improved form) is successfully used in powerful installations today. An example is in marine searchlights and lighthouses.

Yablochkov's breakthrough

In the middle of the second half of the 19th century, there was a relative calm in the avalanche of technical breakthroughs and new inventions. Inventors and electrical engineers still could not solve the main problem: the uneven combustion of carbon electrodes. Also, an efficient and compact regulator has not been found. But it is worth noting that there were certain achievements: the electrodes were placed in a glass flask, which gave them some protection from mechanical and atmospheric influences.

As often happens with great inventions, chance helped. Being extremely thoughtful about solving this problem, Yablochkov placed an order to the waiter and thoughtfully watched him arrange the plates and cutlery. Imagine the waiter’s surprise when the respectable gentleman suddenly jumped up and, muttering something under his breath, ran out of the cafe. Perhaps he never knew that he had unwillingly become a co-author of a revolutionary solution that got the invention of the efficient light bulb off the ground.

The fact is that until that time, all researchers placed the electrodes horizontally in the flask, which led to uneven arc formation between them. Looking at the parallel cutlery, it dawned on Yablochkov: this is exactly how the electrodes should be placed. In this case, the distance between them will be the same: the need for regulators simply disappears by itself.

Of course, the final solution to the problem was still very far away, but the main thing had been achieved: a new impetus for inventive thought had been received and the barrier of many years of marking time had been broken.

First of all, electrical engineers were faced with a new problem: parallel rods began to burn along their entire length: the arc kept rolling towards the current-carrying terminals. The problem was solved only after placing an insulating pad between the electrodes. After numerous experiments, kaolin was recognized as the best in this quality: it melted evenly with the electrodes;
The next problem that Yablochkov's team faced was the question of how to light the electrodes? The solution was a carbon jumper placed on top of the lamp, which, when current was applied, burned out, creating an arc;
The problem of unequal thinning of the electrodes was solved by creating a positive rod that was thicker than the negative one. Only the use of alternating current could completely solve this issue.

In 1876, presented at an exhibition held in the English capital, Yablochkov's candle had a fairly simple design: two vertically located electrodes gave a bright and soft-matte light. A year after the exhibition, a joint-stock company was created, dealing with the study of electric lighting, based on Yablochkov’s research and achievements.

Also, during these two years, the necessary patents were obtained for the production of Yablochkov candles to begin in France, which in Europe were called “Russian light”. The production of electric generators was also launched, which powered the first mass-produced light bulb.

Incandescent lamps

Almost in parallel with this, inventions and research with incandescent lamps advanced. Edison gained worldwide fame: it is believed that it was he who invented the first lamp operating on the principle of an incandescent filament. All this is both true and slightly untrue. As in the previous case, the work was carried out by different scientists in different parts of the globe. Each new discovery and achievement moved all inventors one step forward.

Experiments with electric current began immediately after its discovery. Already at the beginning of the 19th century, experiments were carried out with the incandescence of various conductors. The goal of using this technique for lighting was set in 1844 by the inventor de Moleyn. For incandescence, he used platinum wire, which he placed inside a glass flask. However, such wire quickly melted. In 1845, the English scientist King proposed replacing platinum with carbon rods.

The first light bulb suitable for lighting and operating for about 200 hours was presented to the public by G. Gebel. For incandescence with electric current, a bamboo thread was installed in a vacuum lamp. You might ask, how was it possible to obtain a vacuum at that time? It's actually simple. Goebel used the principle used for barometers: he poured mercury into a flask, and after pouring it out, a vacuum formed in it. But due to the lack of money for a patent, this quite successful experiment was soon forgotten.

After this, the great scientist A. Lodygin began his experiments in the field of electric lighting in St. Petersburg. The experiments began in 1872, and ended with real success: the lamps designed by Lodygin began to be used in many areas, and the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences even awarded the author a prize of 1 thousand rubles.

In 1875, V. Didrikhson improved Lodygin's lamp: he pumped out air from the flask where the carbon filament was located, and also came up with a mechanism for automatically replacing a burnt-out filament. In the same year, Didrichson invented a completely new and unique at that time method for making lamp embers: vacuum carbonization using graphite. However, the chairman of the partnership that financed all the research soon died, so experiments and further improvement of the lamp ceased.

In 1876, N. Bulygin picked up the idea and began to develop it. He invented a self-retracting mechanism, which, as the carbon rods burned out, gradually pushed them into a vacuum flask to continue the glow process. The technology was complex and therefore expensive to produce.

By the end of the 19th century, the Lodygin lamp taken as a basis was known in Russia, Great Britain, France, Belgium and other countries. At the same time, in America, T. Edison was working on the creation of sustainable lighting from electricity. In 1878, Khotinsky came to North America on official business, and he had with him several lamps brought from Russia. Now it is not known for sure whether the meeting between Khotinsky and Edison was accidental or not, but they met, and Edison had the opportunity to study Lodygin’s development.

After this, Edison improved the lamp: through trial and error, he selected the most suitable material for the filament. This material, according to this inventor, was bamboo thread. In 1880, Edison received a patent for his invention and put it into mass production. In addition, it was he who came up with an analogue of the modern screw base, and also developed and introduced a lamp socket. So the first electric lamp produced on an industrial scale was indeed invented by Thomas Edison.

Around the same time, J. Swan was working on a similar invention in England. He used a cotton thread as a filament, which glowed in a flask with a vacuum. After receiving a patent in 1878, Swan lamps began to be installed in London homes. The development of production prompted the English inventor to create a large company producing incandescent lamps. Later, both original manufacturers joined forces and created a common company for the production of incandescent lamps.

Further development

Naturally, the development and improvement of incandescent lamps did not stop there: they were still quite ineffective. That is, they had low efficiency and did not last long. All developers and inventors made attempts to improve their inventions.

For example, Lodygin found a solution and began to use alloys of various refractory metals as an incandescent filament. He used tungsten, iridium, molybdenum and other metals. In 1890, he patented such an incandescent filament, and at the Paris Exhibition of 1900 he presented improved lamps to the general public.

An interesting fact in the entire history of the correspondence confrontation and competition between two inventors - Lodygin and Edison, is the purchase of a patent from Lodygin for his invention by the American company General Electric. What is interesting is not the fact of the purchase itself, but the fact that the founder of this company is Thomas Edison. Thus, we can say that Edison monopolized not only the production of incandescent lamps, but all the glory from its invention.

But even light bulbs put into mass production were constantly being improved, made more efficient and durable. So, in 1909, the decision was finally made to use tungsten filament. Also from that time on, it began to be placed in a zigzag pattern on several insulating rods.

With the development of technology and new discoveries, first nitrogen, then inert gas, began to be pumped into the flasks of already sealed lamps. This made it possible to increase the brightness and glow time, which also became a technological breakthrough at the beginning of the century. Later, around the 20s of the 20th century, the tungsten filament was replaced by a spiral made of the same material. This reduced the number of filament burnouts and increased service life. Subsequently, with the development of technical potential, the spiral was improved: first the bispiral appeared, and then the trispiral.

Let's sum it up

As you can see, many outstanding scientists and inventors of the 19th and 20th centuries took part in the invention of the electric light bulb. It is not possible to answer unequivocally when the first light bulb was invented: all the work was carried out in parallel and almost independently of each other, because the means of communication at that time did not allow one to quickly share their achievements with the general public. Sometimes it took years for the whole world to know about a new invention or discovery.

In the 9th century AD. In the Middle East, an oil lamp was invented, which became the prototype of a kerosene lamp, but it did not become widespread and remained a rare curiosity.

Thus, until the middle of the 19th century, the most popular light sources remained oil and fat lamps, candles, lanterns and torches, and in camp conditions - the same fires as in ancient times.

At the dawn of discovery

Background to the appearance of incandescent lamps:

Who first invented the light bulb

Lamp by A. N. Lodygin

In 1874, Lodygin received a patent for the incandescent lamp he invented, not only Russian, but also international, patenting his invention in many European countries and even in India and Australia.

Yablochkov's lamp P. N.

Later, Yablochkov tried to change the color of the lighting, for which he added salts of various metals to the insulating material for the partition.

In April 1876, the inventor demonstrated his candle at an electrical exhibition in London. The large audience was delighted with the bright bluish-white electric light that flooded the room.

Edison lamp T.A.

He conducted his experiments with incandescent lamps in the late 1870s, that is, he worked on this project simultaneously with Lodygin and Yablochkov.

Thomas Edison was distinguished by his high efficiency and always took a very responsible approach to business. So, in order to finally decide on the choice of material for the incandescent filament, he tried more than six thousand samples until he came to the conclusion that the most suitable material for this was carbonized bamboo.

It is difficult for a modern person to imagine that just a little over a hundred years ago, electric light bulbs took their first steps in our everyday life.

The list of inventors of most modern devices is usually limited to one or two people (it often happens that two talented inventors come to the realization of the same idea with a short time gap from each other). But there are very interesting exceptions to this rule. For example, an incandescent lamp. It’s quite difficult to believe that a simple light bulb was invented by not one, not two, or even three, but thirteen scientists. But this is actually true. And the reason for this is simple: the fact is that the first patented incandescent lamp, and the lamp that we use today, are separated by exactly 100 years of constant improvements, which were carried out by a variety of inventors from around the world.

And each of them made his own contribution to the history of the invention of a simple household light bulb. This means that, alas, it will not be possible to answer the question unequivocally: who invented the light bulb.

The transformation of electrical energy into light began with the experiments of the scientist Vasily Petrov, who observed the phenomenon of a voltaic arc in 1803. In 1810, the same discovery was made by the English physicist Devi. Both of them produced a voltaic arc using a large battery of cells between the ends of charcoal rods.

Both of them wrote that the voltaic arc can be used for lighting purposes. But first it was necessary to find a more suitable material for the electrodes, since charcoal rods burned out in a few minutes and were of little use for practical use.

In the 19th century, two types of electric lamps became widespread: incandescent and arc lamps. Arc lights appeared a little earlier. Their glow is based on such an interesting phenomenon as a voltaic arc. If you take two wires, connect them to a sufficiently strong current source, connect them, and then move them apart a few millimeters, then between the ends of the conductors something like a flame with a bright light will form. The phenomenon will be more beautiful and brighter if, instead of metal wires, you take two sharpened carbon rods.

The Englishman Delarue created the first incandescent light bulb with a platinum filament in 1809. The first arc lamp with manual adjustment of the arc length was designed in 1844 by the French physicist Foucault. He replaced charcoal with sticks of hard coke. In 1848, he first used an arc lamp to illuminate one of the Parisian squares.

In 1875, Pavel Nikolaevich Yablochkov proposed a reliable and simple solution for arc lamps. He placed carbon electrodes in parallel, separating them with an insulating layer. The invention was a huge success. In 1877, with their help, street electricity was first installed on Avenue de L'Opera in Paris. The World Exhibition, which opened the following year, gave many electrical engineers the opportunity to become acquainted with this wonderful invention. Under the name “Russian light”, Yablochkov’s candles were later used for street lighting in many cities around the world.

In 1874, engineer Alexander Lodygin patented a “filament lamp”. A carbon rod, again placed in a vessel with a vacuum, was used as a filament. In 1890, Lodygin came up with the idea of replacing the carbon filament with refractory tungsten wire, which had a filament temperature of 3385 degrees. In 1906, Lodygin sold a patent for a tungsten filament to General Electric. Due to the high cost of tungsten, the invention is of limited use.

The first cases of using electricity in Ukraine for lighting needs have been known since the 70s of the century before last.

In 1878, engineer A.P. Borodin equipped the turning shop of the Kyiv railway workshops with four electric arc lamps. Each lantern had its own electromagnetic Gram machine. The lanterns were arranged in two rows in a checkerboard pattern. The coals are designed for 3 hours of operation.

In 1886, electric lighting was installed in the Chateau de Fleurs park in Kyiv. In 1996, the first public power station began operating in the same city.

A real revolution in the creation of the light bulb was made by the experiments of the American inventor Edison. Before starting the experiments, he studied all the experience of gas tank companies in lighting cities and premises. He drew up on paper detailed diagrams of the power plant and communication lines to homes and factories. He calculated the cost of all materials and calculated that the price of a light bulb for the consumer should not exceed 40 cents.

Since 1878, he has conducted more than 12 thousand experiments in his laboratory. It is estimated that his assistants tested at least 6,000 different substances and compounds, and over 100 thousand dollars were spent on experiments.

First, Edison replaced the brittle coal with a stronger one made from coal, then he began to experiment with various metals and finally settled on a thread made from charred bamboo fibers. In 1879, in the presence of three thousand people, Edison publicly demonstrated his electric light bulbs, lighting up his home, laboratory and several surrounding streets with them.

It was the first long-life light bulb suitable for mass production.

Edison’s merit is not that he “invented” the light bulb, but that he gave rise to the industrial production of lamps and its components: cables, two-phase generators (invented by Edison), and electric meters. The socket and base, as well as many other elements of electric lighting that have survived unchanged to this day - switches, fuses, electric meters and much more - were also invented by Edison.
In business, after finishing work on inventions, he remained on principle: he promised to bring the selling price to 40 cents. Sold his company to the Edison General Electric Company when the price of a lamp reached 22 cents.

Electricity charges were charged for 1 hour of burning a lantern lamp. The price was no problem increasing the number of consumers. City homeowners were willing to install electric lighting.

The average lifespan of an Edison light bulb was 800-1000 hours of continuous burning. For almost thirty years, light bulbs were made using the method developed by Edison, but the future lay in light bulbs with a metal filament.

The beginning of the 20th century saw the first attempts to put the production of light bulbs with tungsten filaments on stream and to organize their mass production. Alas, this became possible only in 1906 thanks to the efforts of Alexander Lodygin and William Coolidge, who worked hard on accessible methods for producing tungsten filament. In 1910, William Coolidge invented an improved method for producing tungsten filament. Subsequently, the tungsten filament displaces all other types of filaments.

The last stage in the improvement of the light bulb was the use of noble inert gases (in particular argon) to fill the cavity of the lamp. Thanks to this innovation, pioneered by Irving Langmuir, modern light bulbs are not only bright, but also durable.

Now modern science is making such a simple and irreplaceable invention as a light bulb even simpler and more effective, but the names of those who worked on its creation in the past are already written in golden letters in the history of world science.