The most interesting facts about lampa. Light bulb: interesting facts from the history of invention
To everyone who knew but forgot, and to those
who wants to satisfy children's interests,
dedicated.
Do you remember how, as a child, you ran around the apartment to your parents with questions: what kind of thread in the lamp burned out? And in general, how can that same burnt thread glow? Why is it that if you put a lamp in your mouth, you can’t get it out without a doctor? Why is the lamp round like a pear? And whose lamp is it, which Ilyich?
And now you and I have grown up and forgotten about all such questions. Let's try to figure it out without boring scientific terms and super-boring theory.
You walk into a store, your eyes widen at the number of different lamps on the shelves. So who is the author of this invention? In fact, more than one generation of scientists have worked to create lighting in our homes.
In any historical facts, inaccuracies appear over time, or they are deliberately turned upside down. Believe me, the creation of the lamp was no exception. Much is far-fetched, much is an attempt to pull the blanket to one’s side. I will not describe everyone who worked on the creation of the lamp at different times. Let's look at the most basic development milestones. Due to discrepancies in facts in the huge number of sources studied, I will indicate the time period somewhere in order to avoid mistakes.
It all started back in 1802, when experiments were carried out on such a physical phenomenon as the electric arc in the Russian Empire. The scientist Vasily Petrov conducted these experiments. The consequence was the creation of an arc lamp based on carbon electrodes.
By the beginning of the second decade of the nineteenth century, the English scientist Humphry Davy conducted very similar experiments. Later it turns out that both Petrov and Davy wrote science articles, which described the possibility of using electric current in lighting.
The next milestone is considered to be the creation of a lamp by the famous astronomer and corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences - Warren De La Rue. His lamp looked like a tube with a platinum spiral. The air was pumped out of the tube as much as possible. Even then it was believed that light diverges better in a vacuum, and the light source does not oxidize. The generally accepted version is that this lamp was introduced in 1820, but this is not so. Warren De La Rue was born in 1815, and it turns out that he invented the lamp at age 5. This is how facts become distorted over time. In fact, the lamp was created in 1840.
Next, we will try to lift the veil of secrecy over who first invented the image of the modern lamp - Lodygin or Edison? Actually Lodygin. But not everything is so simple. In 1872, the first example of a lamp similar to the modern one appeared. It looked like a ball with evacuated air, in which a thread was placed between the conductors. Yes, you heard right, this was the progenitor of the incandescent lamp, although at that time the filament was carbon. The inventor received patent number 1619 only two years later, on July 11, 1874. Then, for the first time, a filament incandescent lamp was patented, and it was done by the great Russian engineer Alexander Nikolaevich Lodygin. About a year later, V.F. Didrikhson improved the lamp by adding several more filaments; if one burned out, the next one was automatically turned on.
But then Thomas Edison entered the game. He spent the then astronomical sum of one hundred thousand dollars, and tried more than six thousand thread materials before returning to charred bamboo fiber. He produced not much more than two dozen lamps. But they were incredibly expensive to produce. Later he used a cotton-based thread placed between platinum electrodes. These were very short-lived and expensive lamps, but this did not stop them from being sold successfully for the next few decades.
Simultaneously with Edison's research, Alexander Nikolaevich Lodygin continued to work on improving the lamp. Lodygin spent a long time researching lamps with filaments made of refractory materials. He received several more patents for lamps of different shapes and operating principles. But events occurred that forced Alexander Nikolaevich to leave his homeland for 23 years. In 1884, mass arrests and executions of people involved in the revolutionary movement began, among whom were many friends of our engineer, and this was the reason for his departure. In the same year, lamp production was organized in Paris, where he went. The inventor was worried that he would not be able to personally participate in the Third Electric Exhibition in St. Petersburg, but he still sent a batch of lamps to the exhibition. In 1893, he began producing lamps with a brightness of “100-400 candles”, and a year later he opened the lamp manufacturing company Lodygin and de Lisle. In 1906 Lodygin sold the patent to a US company - General Electric. Alexander Nikolaevich himself moved to the USA and continued to research refractory metals, and in the same year he opened a plant in America for processing titanium, chromium and tungsten, which became the main supplier of tungsten for incandescent lamps. By the way, there is another little-known fact: he invented the induction and resistance furnaces that melted metal at his plant himself.
Since the sale of the patent to General Electric, it began to develop lamp production. After some time, the company's engineers made the lamp as we see it today. In Russia, an incandescent lamp appeared in every home after the electrification of the entire country was carried out according to Vladimir Ilyich Lenin’s plan. Hence the name – Ilyich’s Light Bulb.
The answer to the question: why is the lamp round is actually simple. It’s just that the bulb is equidistant from the hot filament so as not to overheat on one side and burst. In addition, this form eliminates as much as possible the deposition of tungsten evaporation products on one side. The thread is very thin, so any sudden movement can cause the thread to break. The flask is filled with an inert gas to minimize oxidation and destruction of the filament. There are 2 wires inside the base, one is the input of electricity from the base (from the thread), and the second is under the base, the current output from the lamp is isolated from it. The base is of this shape simply because it is easier to replace the lamp.
The last question remains: why can’t you get a lamp that a child (or maybe not a child) put in his mouth without a doctor? It's actually quite simple. It’s just that the muscles of the oral cavity are designed in such a way that the mouth can open to its maximum width only after it has been completely closed, in otherwise muscle spasm occurs. And then the doctors will either open the mouth completely with a special device, or give a relaxing injection. Do not try to check the validity of the statement for yourself, it can be dangerous.
I hope you had a good time, see you again on the pages of our blog!
To everyone who knew but forgot, and to those
who wants to satisfy children's interests,
dedicated.
Do you remember how, as a child, you ran around the apartment to your parents with questions: what kind of thread in the lamp burned out? And in general, how can that same burnt thread glow? Why is it that if you put a lamp in your mouth, you can’t get it out without a doctor? Why is the lamp round like a pear? And whose lamp is it, which Ilyich?
And now you and I have grown up and forgotten about all such questions. Let's try to figure it out without boring scientific terms and super-boring theory.
You walk into a store, your eyes widen at the number of different lamps on the shelves. So who is the author of this invention? In fact, more than one generation of scientists have worked to create lighting in our homes.
In any historical facts, inaccuracies appear over time, or they are deliberately turned upside down. Believe me, the creation of the lamp was no exception. Much is far-fetched, much is an attempt to pull the blanket to one’s side. I will not describe everyone who worked on the creation of the lamp at different times. Let's look at the most basic development milestones. Due to discrepancies in facts in the huge number of sources studied, I will indicate the time period somewhere in order to avoid mistakes.
It all started back in 1802, when experiments were carried out on such a physical phenomenon as the electric arc in the Russian Empire. The scientist Vasily Petrov conducted these experiments. The consequence was the creation of an arc lamp based on carbon electrodes.
By the beginning of the second decade of the nineteenth century, the English scientist Humphry Davy conducted very similar experiments. Later it turns out that both Petrov and Davy wrote scientific articles in which they described the possibility of using electric current in lighting.
The next milestone is considered to be the creation of a lamp by the famous astronomer and corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences - Warren De La Rue. His lamp looked like a tube with a platinum spiral. The air was pumped out of the tube as much as possible. Even then it was believed that light diverges better in a vacuum, and the light source does not oxidize. The generally accepted version is that this lamp was introduced in 1820, but this is not so. Warren De La Rue was born in 1815, and it turns out that he invented the lamp at age 5. This is how facts become distorted over time. In fact, the lamp was created in 1840.
Next, we will try to lift the veil of secrecy over who first invented the image of the modern lamp - Lodygin or Edison? Actually Lodygin. But not everything is so simple. In 1872, the first example of a lamp similar to the modern one appeared. It looked like a ball with evacuated air, in which a thread was placed between the conductors. Yes, you heard right, this was the progenitor of the incandescent lamp, although at that time the filament was carbon. The inventor received patent number 1619 only two years later, on July 11, 1874. Then, for the first time, a filament incandescent lamp was patented, and it was done by the great Russian engineer Alexander Nikolaevich Lodygin. About a year later, V.F. Didrikhson improved the lamp by adding several more filaments; if one burned out, the next one was automatically turned on.
But then Thomas Edison entered the game. He spent the then astronomical sum of one hundred thousand dollars, and tried more than six thousand thread materials before returning to charred bamboo fiber. He produced not much more than two dozen lamps. But they were incredibly expensive to produce. Later he used a cotton-based thread placed between platinum electrodes. These were very short-lived and expensive lamps, but this did not stop them from being sold successfully for the next few decades.
Simultaneously with Edison's research, Alexander Nikolaevich Lodygin continued to work on improving the lamp. Lodygin spent a long time researching lamps with filaments made of refractory materials. He received several more patents for lamps of different shapes and operating principles. But events occurred that forced Alexander Nikolaevich to leave his homeland for 23 years. In 1884, mass arrests and executions of people involved in the revolutionary movement began, among whom were many friends of our engineer, and this was the reason for his departure. In the same year, lamp production was organized in Paris, where he went. The inventor was worried that he would not be able to personally participate in the Third Electric Exhibition in St. Petersburg, but he still sent a batch of lamps to the exhibition. In 1893, he began producing lamps with a brightness of “100-400 candles”, and a year later he opened the lamp manufacturing company Lodygin and de Lisle. In 1906 Lodygin sold the patent to a US company - General Electric. Alexander Nikolaevich himself moved to the USA and continued to research refractory metals, and in the same year he opened a plant in America for processing titanium, chromium and tungsten, which became the main supplier of tungsten for incandescent lamps. By the way, there is another little-known fact: he invented the induction and resistance furnaces that melted metal at his plant himself.
Since the sale of the patent to General Electric, it began to develop lamp production. After some time, the company's engineers made the lamp as we see it today. In Russia, an incandescent lamp appeared in every home after the electrification of the entire country was carried out according to Vladimir Ilyich Lenin’s plan. Hence the name – Ilyich’s Light Bulb.
The answer to the question: why is the lamp round is actually simple. It’s just that the bulb is equidistant from the hot filament so as not to overheat on one side and burst. In addition, this form eliminates as much as possible the deposition of tungsten evaporation products on one side. The thread is very thin, so any sudden movement can cause the thread to break. The flask is filled with an inert gas to minimize oxidation and destruction of the filament. There are 2 wires inside the base, one is the input of electricity from the base (from the thread), and the second is under the base, the current output from the lamp is isolated from it. The base is of this shape simply because it is easier to replace the lamp.
The last question remains: why can’t you get a lamp that a child (or maybe not a child) put in his mouth without a doctor? It's actually quite simple. It’s just that the muscles of the oral cavity are designed in such a way that the mouth can open to its maximum width only after it has been completely closed, otherwise a muscle spasm occurs. And then the doctors will either open the mouth completely with a special device, or give a relaxing injection. Do not try to check the validity of the statement for yourself, it can be dangerous.
I hope you had a good time, see you again on the pages of our blog!
Starting from 2014, Russia plans to stop the production of incandescent light bulbs and systematically replace them with more modern analogues. However, at one time the incandescent light bulb made a real breakthrough, and within a few years after its invention it conquered the whole world. The history of incandescent light bulbs has lasted for more than two centuries, and during this time it has acquired legends and fun facts. Today we invite you to the wonderful world of light to find out what you have never heard about light bulbs.
Even the invention of the light bulb itself is a topic of long debate. Of course, most people know that the light bulb was patented by Thomas Edison in the 70s of the 19th century, and some have even heard about the Russian engineer Lodygin, who received a patent for the invention of this warm light source a couple of years earlier. However, it has been scientifically proven that the first light bulb appeared in the laboratory of the British Delarue back in 1809, that is, 65 years earlier than the one that was later patented by Edison. Delarue's light bulb contained a platinum filament (tungsten is used in modern incandescent lamps).
After 1809, one Belgian scientist distinguished himself - Jobard - who in 1838 created a carbon incandescent light bulb. But this invention did not receive active distribution, and the name of the inventor is known to only a few today. In 1854, Germany got its own light bulb. Its inventor, Gebel, was a watchmaker, and used bamboo thread for the incandescent lamp. Five years later, he also designed the prototype of the first lamp.
In general, Thomas Edison was wrong to take credit for the invention of the light bulb, since before him this wonderful lighting device was already known in Britain, Belgium, and Germany. However, Edison was the first to propose a base, a socket and a switch, so his fame as an inventor was not in vain. By the way, Edison generally adored his inventions and treated each of them with reverence. It is known that over the years of his creative activity he patented 1093 inventions in his homeland, and about three thousand more abroad. No scientist in the history of mankind has been so productive with patents. Although, as historians know, Edison did not shine with knowledge as a child. His first school teacher even called the future inventor a “brainless idiot,” after which the boy was transferred to home schooling.
In the meantime, incandescent lamps have not yet entered our daily life, people preferred to sleep longer. Thus, the average European resident slept 10 hours a day since the 19th century. After the invention of light bulbs, sleep became shorter, and after they came into use personal computers and the Internet, people sleep even less.
Light bulbs arrived in the USSR during the era of widespread electrification. In 1920, Lenin visited the village of Kashino on the occasion of the opening of a new power plant, and after this year the concept of “Ilyich’s light bulb” came into use among Soviet citizens. This phrase refers to the simplest lighting device - a light bulb without a shade, hanging from the ceiling on a long cord.
But no matter how complex the history of the appearance of light bulbs was, now they are gradually fading into oblivion. the main problem lamps is that they do not shine, but heat. Yes, in reality, only 5 to 15% of energy is spent on lighting - everything else is wasted uselessly. The second problem with incandescent lamps is their fragility. On average, they work for about 1000 hours, and after 750 hours worked, they begin to lose their luminosity. But is this really so?
The fact is that from time to time information comes to light that there are “eternal” light bulbs in the world that do not burn out for many years and even decades. The most striking example is a light bulb self made from California, which covers a fire station in the city of Livermore. This example is known as the "Century Light Bulb" because it has been continuously shining since 1901 and has yet to burn out.
In connection with the stories of eternal light bulbs, there is a theory about a “global conspiracy” among lamp manufacturers. According to this theory, light bulbs are specially designed so that their service life does not exceed the cherished 1000 hours. After all, if a light bulb could shine longer, it would be bought once every hundred years, which means that industrialists who work in this area would simply go bankrupt. The Frenchman Jacques Bergier, in particular, writes about this conspiracy in his book “Industrial Espionage,” however, both before and after the writer, rumors about eternal light bulbs endlessly flew around the world.
In 1801, English physicist Sir Humphrey Davy showed that a filament of platinum was capable of emitting light. True, the sample evaporated too quickly, and it was not possible to benefit from the process. Today we’ll talk about the types of lamps and the history of their creation. Let's go over foreign resources. We hope the review about the history and types of lighting lamps will be interesting.
Incandescent light bulbs
The first in history were incandescent lamps. Before Thomas Alva Edison, inventors attempted to create working devices, following in the footsteps of Humphrey Davy cheese, but it was difficult to call their efforts successful. The difficulty lay in the instantaneous oxidation of the filament material by atmospheric oxygen. It was much easier with lightning. In 1809, Sir Humphrey Davy received a shock between two carbon rods. A similar prototype of discharge lamps was used recently, and successfully. The invention, demonstrated in 1810 to the Royal Institution of Great Britain, was called the arc lamp.
Something similar to an electric lantern was made by James Boehman Lindsay in 1835. He studied other solutions; in addition, little information remains about the activities of the inventor, but his attempts to read a book from a great distance were recorded. Lindsay achieved results by illuminating the book. Then the attention of the scientific luminary turned to the wireless telegraph, where dots and dashes were recorded by the duration of the glow. The distance turned out to be amazing for those times, and the speed was instantaneous.
Five years later, the advantages of electricity came to the liking of the British scientist Warren de la Roux, who guessed to place a platinum thread in a vacuum flask. His invention was based on the guesswork that the high melting point of platinum means that the spiral does not just evaporate, but burns and oxidizes. Therefore, it is necessary to isolate the thread from oxygen. The creation was almost an incandescent light bulb, except for the lack of a threaded base. The commercial effect of using platinum as a lighting source clearly did not promise to be sky-high.
In 1841, the design of the first incandescent light bulbs changed slightly. The brainchild of Frederic de Moleyn was seen as a hybrid between the inventions of Sir Humphrey Davy: fine coal chips were called upon to glow between two platinum electrodes enclosed in a vacuum flask. There are attempts to reduce the cost of installing incandescent light bulbs. Until, finally, in 1845, the brilliant American John Wellington hit upon the idea of making filaments entirely from carbon (which is used today in carbon heaters). The invention did not add years to the scientist’s life; work on creating incandescent lamps was continued by Robert Nudi, demonstrating new products, most of which are now available for viewing in the museum of the Château de Blois.
Our compatriot Alexander Nikolaevich Lodygin invented the incandescent light bulb in 1872 and two years later took out a patent for the device. Having quickly realized that iron and coal rods were of little use in this regard, the Russian inventor continued his research. Fate turned out that Lodygin left Russia due to the government's persecution of the revolutionary movement. Since 1883, along with other areas, he was involved in the production of the first incandescent lamps in France. I worked on things from the field of construction and technology. Lodygin first came up with the idea of using refractory metals (tungsten, chromium, titanium) as a filament, which still work today.
As a result, the patents were purchased by the American corporation General Electric. And the inventor of the incandescent light bulb returned to Russia with a bunch of drawings and inventions. He worked as a teacher, but after the revolution he emigrated to the USA, where he died. Meanwhile, the world did not stand still. Do not think that the first electric light bulb was born by the efforts of a single scientist. Many people worked in this direction. For example, since 1854, Heinrich Goebel worked on carbonized bamboo threads. A bottle with evacuated air was used as a bulb for an incandescent lamp. The man mentioned is considered the inventor of the first digestible version of the lamp.
Who actually invented the incandescent light bulb?
Many historians believe that it is permissible to seriously consider the pros and cons of incandescent lamps, starting with the works of Joseph Wilson Swan. In 1850, an English physicist began work on (!) paper filaments coated with coal dust. By 1860, the first efficient device had matured; its disadvantages included:
- High quality requirements for creating a vacuum in the bulb of an incandescent lamp.
- Short device lifetime.
- Wasteful energy consumption.
Please note that among the disadvantages of incandescent lamps there is no longer high price. Fortunately, new and improved vacuum pumps became available in the mid-70s, allowing Swan to continue his work. In 1878, the scientist demonstrated his own developments at lectures in Newcastle, but took out a patent for a new device for incandescent light bulbs only two years later - in 1880. The main innovation was complete removal oxygen from the flask, the thread was heated white-hot without burning. The spiral exhibited low resistance and required extremely thick copper wires to supply the device with energy.
It turns out that Swan solved the problem of arranging lighting by using incandescent lamps. Ultimately, he suggested using cotton (instead of paper) as the base for the thread. Swan's house in Low Fell was the first in the world to be illuminated by electricity. Historians credit Joseph for pioneering the commercial production of incandescent light bulbs, which led to further interest in the topic among academia and the general public. The Savoy Creative Theater in Westminster became the first public institution to use an electric generator (88 kW) to illuminate the hall. 1200 incandescent light bulbs were used, made according to the design proposed by Swan.
As eyewitnesses noted, the advantage of the new technique was the absence of the need to burn gas. Oxygen stopped being wasted, and much less heat was released. In addition, observers noted the relative fire safety of the devices. To demonstrate this quality, an incandescent light bulb was broken (right in the chandelier) during the performance, and on December 29, 1881, the Times noted the described lighting method was more promising than gas jets. Incandescent light bulbs quickly gained popularity in the navy and in mines, where, for obvious reasons, combustion was considered unprofitable. Historians note the complete independence of Swan's research from Edison's studies.
At the same time, a Canadian patent for incandescent light bulbs was taken by Henry Woodward. His products were distinguished by a special flask shape and were filled with inert nitrogen. This greatly reduced the strength requirements for the glass part of the incandescent light bulb. IN commercial use Henry Woodward's inventions were not included. However, they were noticed by Edison, who bought the Canadian patent for $5,000. To find money, Edison took a grant, telling the press that he had already invented new incandescent light bulbs, and now he was simply seeking funds to produce products.
Edison's first test on a carbon fiber lasted 13.5 hours. By 1880, the inventor took out a patent for an incandescent light bulb and a bamboo filament that could last 100 times longer. It was Edison who realized that the thread needed to be made of refractory metals with high resistance in order to reduce the supply current. The operating voltage of 110 V, recommended by Edison, is still used today in the United States. US patent number 223898 described a number of forms for creating the thread, ultimately using bamboo coated with coal dust. Here are the possible options, according to Edison’s presentation:
- Cotton.
- Paper.
- Wood cotter pins.
I wonder why it was proposed to use exotic materials as a filament. Platinum electrodes were used to supply electricity. In today's times, an incandescent light bulb would cost a fortune. The reason is simple - the resistance of the thread was already low, and metals with high resistance were not in use at that time. The new patent (1883), which had difficulties in approval, still used carbon as a spiral. Ultimately, in order to avoid conflicts with Swan, Edison invited the latter to create the Edisvan company to market products in the UK.
The first metal spiral for incandescent light bulbs, made from osmium, was patented by the Austrian scientist Karl Auer von Welsbach. Working version The device came out by 1898. In 1897, a lamp with a ceramic globe was introduced by the German chemist Walter Nernst. Carbon is twice as effective; it has been displaced from the shelves by incandescent light bulbs with metal filaments. In the course of short attempts, one after another, recipes were issued to cover carbon fibers with a layer of conductor, then tungsten appeared, which is still used today. Note that Edison’s research formed the basis for the creation vacuum tubes, thanks to which all high-tech technology is now developing.
Gas discharge lamps
At one time, incandescent lamps were filled with bromine or iodine compounds to prevent combustion of the filament. Gas discharges are based fundamentally on different laws of physics. It is curious that the effect of the glow of a mercury barometer was noticed back in 1675 by the French astronomer Jean Picard. 30 years later, the first version of a gas-discharge lamp was demonstrated by Francis Hawksby. The idea was to inject a small amount of mercury into a glass ball charged with static electricity after vacuuming. There was enough light for reading.
While our compatriot Vasily Petrov was describing the phenomenon of the electric arc, Sir Humphrey Davy was demonstrating carbon rods to the Royal Institute in 1802. Further research in the field of low-pressure gas-discharge lamps was carried out by Heinrich Geisler, who in 1857 created artistic light sources of different shades based on a gas filler. A vacuum is necessary to facilitate the ionization process. Argon, neon, mercury vapor and air were used as the discharge medium.
The bright descendants of Heusler lamps were electronic diodes, triodes, etc. During experiments with gas-discharge lamps, Johann Hittorf noticed that the movement of carriers is formed in a complete vacuum. This is how the knowledge of cathode rays formed by electrons was born. The sources were further developed in fluorescent lamps daylight, where mercury vapor emits in the infrared range, and the visible spectrum is obtained by pumping the energy of the phosphor.
The prehistory of these types of electric lamps goes back hundreds of years. For a long time people noticed that certain rocks shimmered for unknown reasons. The phenomenon was first described by Sir George Stoke using the example of fluorite. The varieties of light bulbs described have acquired polarity, having excellent specifications, for example, low energy consumption. But the disadvantages remained obvious until recently: large sizes, the need for a driver (power source).
Some are sure that the light bulb was invented by Pavel Yablochkov, others argue that it appeared thanks to the genius of another Russian inventor - Lodygin, others say that the main credit for the invention of this useful thing belongs to the German chemist Auer, who lived in the 18th century.
As for Yablochkov, he created the arc lamp, and Edison created the incandescent light bulb, which we still use today. But Lodygin could well argue with Mr. Edison about priorities. He actually invented the incandescent lamp in 1872, for which the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences awarded him the Lomonosov Prize. And the first patent for an incandescent light bulb belonged to Lodygin. However, he was never able to put his invention on an industrial footing.
But Auer did not invent any lamps at all. This was not part of his task. It’s just that one day he conducted a series of experiments on the oxidation of various substances - he applied them to a small piece of fabric and placed them in the flame of a burner. Checking the next connection, Auer discovered that the fabric was not burned through, but only heated and glowing with a bright orange light. The principle of using a hot object as a light source formed the basis first of oil and kerosene lamps, and then of incandescent light bulbs. Therefore, it would be more correct to say that Edison did not invent the light bulb, but only improved the developments that existed before him. Moreover, contrary to popular belief, even the socket for light bulbs was invented not by Edison, but by his employee Sterizher, and the socket and plug were again the merit of Lodygin. And the best material for incandescent filaments - tungsten - was also suggested by Lodygin (Edison used ordinary sewing threads coated with charcoal for this purpose, which burned for no more than 40 hours).
But despite everything, it would be absurd to deny Edison’s merits in the electrification of humanity. After all, it was he who gave us the light bulb, having put a lot of effort into it. Today it seems strange, but the light bulb was initially met with hostility. What objections have been raised against its use! At the end of the 19th century. opponents of using electricity in everyday life gave various arguments in favor of kerosene and gas lamps. Some, for example, believed that the use of light bulbs was problematic until tools such as a needle for cleaning the nozzle and a brush for removing soot from the lamp glass were developed. Others believed that a standard kerosene lamp could do everything an electric lamp could do and much more. In addition, electric light had to compete in price, brightness and convenience with a gas burner.
Therefore, Edison, before starting to make a light bulb, had to study the gas industry in detail. On paper, he developed a plan for a central power station and a diagram of radial lines to houses and factories. Then he calculated the cost of copper and other materials that would be needed to make lamps and generate electricity using steam-driven dynamos. Analysis of these figures determined not only the size of the lamp, but also its price, which was 40 cents.
And so in 1879, on special trains ordered by Edison, three thousand people arrived to look at hundreds light bulbs, which burned in his workshop and on the surrounding roads; energy was supplied to them from a central dynamo through underground wires. This demonstration was followed by a sharp decline in the shares of gas companies... Edison then began making dynamos, cables, light bulbs and lighting fixtures. And, in the end, the light bulb conquered the world.
