http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761563582_2/Thomas_Alva_Edison.html
"Edison, like others before him, conceived the idea of a light with a glowing wire, or filament, made of a substance that could endure very high temperatures without fusing, melting, or burning out. After hundreds of trials and more than a year of steady work, Edison developed a high-resistance carbon-thread filament that burned steadily for more than 40 hours. Although not the first incandescent electric light, it was the first practical one because it used a small current and, in addition, lasted a long time without burning out."
I love the failure quote here: http://web.mit.edu/Invent/iow/edison.html
In 1876, in Menlo Park, New Jersey, Edison founded his famous "invention factory." "The Wizard of Menlo Park" was a workaholic and a demanding employer, but he did not resent failures in the lab: "That's one more way it won't work, so we're closer to a solution." Edison's first great Menlo Park invention was the phonograph (1877), although he did not bring it to market for ten years. He was busy with his greatest project: a workable electric light system that would replace candles and gaslight forever, at home and in public.
In 1878, Edison created his prototype incandescent light bulb: a thin strip of paper, attached to wires, enclosed in a vacuum inside a glass bulb. When electricity flowed into the paper "filament," it heated up, and glowed. The only problem was that the paper burnt out very quickly. After thousands of tests, an "Edison Pioneer," Lewis H. Latimer, found the optimal filament material: carbonized cotton thread (1897). |
|
|