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Who's invention was it? I know Edison was not the inventor of alternating current which many people incorrectly credit him with, that was Tesla, who actually worked for Edison for a while. But I am pretty sure Edison is credited with the invention of the incandescent light bulb (with help of course):
The first person to have gotten the idea seems to be a man named Grove in 1840. Of course, it was little more than a proof of concept, consisting of nothing more than a platinum filiment covered by a drinking glass that sat in a water filled dish. Since the filiment operated in air, it burned up rather quickly. The next attempt was that of De Moleyn, who held the first patent in England for an incandescent light, this from 1841. De Moleyn actually used a glass bulb, filled with nitrogen to protect the filiment from oxygen, this being formed from carbon dust held in place with platinum wires. It had a carbon dust resivoir that could be tapped gently to replenish the carbon filiment when it burned out. Workable, but none too practical.
Where Edison really succeeded, was in perfecting the device. Up till Edison's improvements, most incandescent lamps either burned out too quickly, or ran far too hot, requiring large copper heatsinks, or water cooling, to keep them from melting the glass bulbs, or starting fires. That was the main problem with designs by both Swan and Sawyer. The Edison light bulb ran relatively cool, was not so delicate as other designs, and didn't use up excessive amounts of power to run. Thus, it was practical and not just a laboratory curiousity.
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Live Free or Die: Linux
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