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.
List of most inventors modern devices, as a rule, is limited to one or two people (it often happens that two talented inventors come to the embodiment 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 received a voltaic arc using big battery elements, 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 a wire made of refractory tungsten, 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.
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.
For lighting houses in different countries lamps of various designs, torches, candles, splinters 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
Serious work on the invention began in the 1870s. 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 best materials for filament filaments - 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.
The first incandescent light bulb, along with cinematography, telephone and radio, was invented in the 19th century. IN in this case, it is impossible to say for sure who invented the first incandescent lamp, since this process followed several paths at once for a long time.
Who first invented the light bulb
Work on the first and incandescent lamps took place independently, in different countries and at different times. The first experiments were carried out by the Englishman Delarue in 1809, when he managed to construct the very first device equipped with a platinum thread.
Following this, a coal lamp appeared, created by the Belgian Jobard in 1838, and in 1854, the German Heinrich Hebel first used a vessel with a vacuum inside.
The vacuum vessel was finally patented in 1860 by the Englishman Joseph Wilson Swan. However, there were technical difficulties in obtaining a vacuum, therefore, its light bulb was characterized by low efficiency and fragility.
In 1874-1875, Russian engineers Lodygin and Didrikhson produced a lamp with an incandescent filament from a carbon rod placed in a vessel with a vacuum. In one of the designs, several threads were used, duplicating each other when burned out.
In parallel, the same experiments with incandescent light bulbs were carried out by Thomas Edison in the late 70s of the 19th century. He managed to create a lighting device with a service life of up to 40 hours. These lamps replaced gas lighting. Lodygin's improved lamps began to contain in their design tungsten or molybdenum filaments twisted in the shape of a spiral. Better pumping of air from glass flasks was carried out, thereby protecting the threads from premature oxidation and failure.
By the early 20th century, the incandescent light bulb had taken on the final forms that are still in use today. Despite the huge variety of models, the main structural elements in them are exactly the same.
Incandescent lamp elements
Despite the fact that the question of who invented the light bulb remains open, this device ultimately acquired the features that we are accustomed to seeing to this day.
The main element of the lamp is a glass bulb that protects the filament from external influences. The dimensions of the flask depend on the speed at which the spiral material is deposited on the glass. The inside of the bulb of most lamps is filled with inert gases. Vacuum is found in the bulbs of light bulbs with low power.
The filament is made in the form of a spiral of round or ribbon wire. has a thread that differs structurally, depending on the purpose of a particular lamp.
Who invented the light bulb? The answer to this question is not entirely accurate. The light bulb was invented by several people, as different people expressed ideas, described hypotheses, published calculations, made drawings, or put ideas into practice.
Lamps before the advent of the electric analogue
In the world, lighting appeared as soon as fire began to be used. Then it began to evolve when energy began to appear.
The first light bulbs were illuminated using such means as:
- any vegetable oil;
- oil;
- wax;
- animal fat;
- natural gas and so on.
The very first inventions of lamps used fat for lighting. A fabric wick was placed in a container with fat. The fat allowed the fire to illuminate for a long time. What came out was something resembling a candle in a container. The history of the light bulb progressed when oil began to be extracted, at which time the kerosene lamp appeared. She became so in demand in a short period of time. The invention of the light bulb came at a time when electricity began to spread rapidly, first in urban spaces, and then in far corners.
Opening stages
The invention of light bulbs was based on the method of glowing conductors when an electric current passed through them. He was known long before the light bulb was created. But the main problem of effective, long-lasting and affordable lighting from the electrical network was the search for a material that would be used to make an incandescent coil. Back then, when electricity was already a reality, and modern incandescent lamps had not yet been invented, scientists practiced only a few types of materials, including coal, platinum and tungsten. The last two materials were considered rare and expensive. Coal was a more accessible material.
Beginning in the 19th century, events took place that contributed to the creation of the first electric light bulb. In 1820, the French scientist Delarue created a light bulb with platinum wire. The wire warmed up and glowed, but it was just a prototype. But 18 years later, a researcher from Belgium, Jobart, showed a carbon incandescent lamp. In 1854, the German scientist Heinrich Goebel used bamboo as a source of lighting.
Who is the author of the light bulb?
If you are interested in the answer to the question - who invented the lamp, it is necessary to take into account that there was a whole series of successive manipulations when the ideas of predecessors were constantly picked up and subsequently developed. Yablochkov is the first Russian inventor who invented the first light bulb, and he also invented the electric candle, thanks to which they subsequently began to illuminate city streets and squares. They could illuminate for 1.5 hours.
Subsequently, lamps were invented that had automatic replacement of candles. Yablochkov created not very convenient candles. Although they did their job very well.
The history of the invention is connected with the name of such a popular engineer from Russia as Alexander Nikolaevich Lodygin. In 1872, he made everyone's dream of uninterrupted source Sveta. The history of the creation of the incandescent lamp at this stage began to rapidly gain practical use. It burned for about 30 minutes. They were first installed on the streets of the Northern capital in 1873. That same year, the inventor of the light bulb received a patent. We can conclude. The first incandescent lamp appeared thanks to the inventions of this scientist.
Beginning in 1890, Lodygin began experimenting with the use of various refractory metals in filaments. Ultimately, he was able to use tungsten for the first time here. In addition, at his suggestion, they began for the first time to pump air out of the lamps and fill them with gas.
In 1878, Joseph Swan helped pioneer the modern version of the light bulb. It consisted of a glass bulb with a carbon filament. Little is known about the creator of Hiram Maxim lamps. They created a machine gun called “Maxim”. In addition, he is the creator of the original model based on materials such as coal and gasoline.
Thomas Edison and Ilyich
If we take into account the chronological order of events, then electric lamp created by Lodygin. But Yablochkov was the founder of a series of ideas that became the reason for the emergence of a lighting source that is popular today. It was these Russian inventors and the subsequent developments of researchers from Great Britain and America that were able to use the first electric light bulb so widely and it turned out to be an ordinary device that produced light. But when an idea develops, there is the one who gave birth to it, and the one who received the patent. But the invention of the arc lamp is not so well known.
In 1879, Edison's light bulb with a platinum filament was first demonstrated. A year later, he was given another patent for a model with a carbon thread that worked for 40 hours. In addition, he made a certain contribution to the manufacture of the incandescent light bulb, creating the base, socket and switch.
That is, Thomas Edison received a patent for an electric incandescent lamp as his own invention a year later, as Maxim’s model was used, and almost 6 years later after the general display of Lodygin’s lamp. T. Edison's patent work had its own results: when he teamed up with Joseph Swan, he founded a company producing the very first model of incandescent electric lamps. T. Edison, together with H. Maxim, when they competed against each other, were in bureaucratic proceedings among themselves.
T. Edison was more accessible. H. Maxim did not receive a single patent in this fight, and he also had huge financial losses, for this reason he left the country and went to Europe. Everything is clear with Edison's light bulb.
But who is the founder of Ilyich’s light bulb? For the current generation, the answer is ambiguous. Such a name was known only on the territory of the Soviet Union; this term ended up in the vocabulary of Russians. Ilyich's light bulbs are the name of not just a lighting device, but a whole series of phenomena. In 1921, a deep economic crisis reigned on the territory of Russia, which broke out here as a result of the well-known civil war. And at this time, the State Commission for Electrification of the Russian Federation adopted the GOELRO plan. It was a plan for the development of the economy, which was based on the creation of an energy base. At this time, they began to electrify the country on a huge scale. Soon, electric light bulbs began to appear in villages where mainly beam or kerosene lamps were used.
The idea of this plan was voiced by Lenin. For this reason, incandescent lamps began to be named after him. Such models began to heat up very quickly. Edison's light bulbs are known today for the reason that he was able to patent his invention in time. In our country, light bulbs with incandescent rods began to be associated with the name of Lenin, because he was the first to supply Russia with economical electricity.
This episode charts some of the brightest moments in the history of the light bulb, from Edison's early experiments to our "fluorescent" future.
(Total 13 photos)
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1. "Bright idea."
Thomas Edison was not the only inventor of the incandescent lamp. But it was the light bulb, patented by Edison in 1880, that became popular on the market, brought light into homes and made Edison, who was 33 years old at the time, rich.
2. "Light work."
At the end of the 19th century, Edison merged with the Thompson-Houston Electric Company to create the General Electric Company. The lamp plant, located in Harrison, New Jersey, was originally built to produce light bulbs invented by Edison, but was renovated in 1930 into a radio plant for a subsidiary of General Electric. The plant was closed in 1976 and is currently located on this site shopping mall.
3. "Golden time."
In the 1928 film Our Dancing Daughters, Joan Crawford and Johnny Mack Brown danced under tungsten lamps. Tungsten filaments, invented in 1903, made lamps brighter and more durable, ideal for lighting up Hollywood's newly minted stars.
4. Bright light and big crash.
The year 1929 was marked by the 50th anniversary of Edison's light bulb. A nationwide celebration was planned on this occasion. From May to October, events were held to commemorate the anniversary. The culmination of the Golden Jubilee celebrations was a carefully planned banquet for 500 of America's distinguished scientists and intellectuals. The evening, organized by President Hoover, was a brilliant success. In essence, the anniversary was a farewell toast to the golden age of American invention, as nine days later...
5. Lighting the way.
In the 1930s, electric light became widespread in everyday life, including the very first headlights. Not elegant, yes, but no worse than Dadaist fashion.
7. Luxury.
The post-war American boom did not stop solely with the improvement of light bulbs. Many manufacturers have spent decades improving camera flash. And in 1955, General Electric proved that there was no the best way advertising a new invention than demonstrating it in the ears of a beautiful girl.
8. In the 50s and 60s, the Line Club, located in Miami, announced one local girl who became the representative of the annual charity campaign "light to see" "Miss Light". In 1954, the Miss Light crown was awarded to a student at the University of Miami, who passed the baton to Sandy Werch. In 1955, Werch reached the finals of the Miss America Championship.
