The History of the Light Bulb

Craig Kline

Table of Contents

• What People Used for light before the Light Bulb

• The Inventors of the Light bulb

• The Improvements of the Light Bulb

What People Used for light before the Light Bulb

• Two things people used back then for light were oil lamps and candles, but they caused a problem with how dirty and how expensive they were.

• Then in the 1800s, people started using gas lamps which was a lot cleaner than the candles and oil lamps, however they were more expensive because you needed to fuel them with coal or wood. The gas lamps were also dangerous because of the smoke it caused.

The Inventors of the Light bulb

• In 1802, a British chemist named Sir Humphry Davy discovered that running electricity through a material will make it glow brightly. Then another British chemist named Joseph Swan made a light bulb but seconds later the glass turned black from the carbon it produced.

Joseph Swans version of his light bulb

Joseph Swan

• Finally in October 1879 an American inventor named Thomas Edison made a successful light bulb that lasted for hours. On New Years Eve 1879 more than 3,000 people went to see his invention at his workshop.

Joseph Swans version of his light bulb

Thomas Edison

The Improvements of the Light Bulb

• In 1882, Edison opened the Pearl Street Power Station in New York City. It was the first central electrical power station. Then the station sold the light bulbs to theaters, hotels, and other businesses.

Pearl Street Power Station

• After that, Edison started improving his invention by using a new filament. A filament is the material inside the light bulb that has electricity running through it to make it glow. Edison tried over 6,000 materials, but ended up using bamboo for the new filament in 1881. In 1910, William David, an American engineer, found a new filament which was a metal named tungsten.

Tungsten William David

Conclusion

• The Light bulb came through many phases to become the light bulb it is today. The light bulb might even go through more phases. That’s how the light bulb came to be the most used household item.

Work cited

• “Facts.” Livermore, California’s Contennial Light. Livermore Light bulb Cennial Committee. May 9, 2013. WWW.Contennialbulb.org/facts.htm#anchor2433.

• Nobleman, Marc. Great Inventions, the Light Bulb. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution, 2004.