It often happens that the device used in everyday life, which is of great importance to all of humanity, does not remind us of its creator. But in our homes a light bulb was lit thanks to the efforts of specific people. Their merit for humanity is invaluable - our houses were filled with light and heat. The history of incandescent lamps presented below will introduce you to this great invention and the names of those with whom it is associated.
As for the latter, two names can be noted - Alexander Lodygin and Thomas Edison. Although the merit of the Russian scientist was very great, the palm belongs to the American inventor. Therefore, we will briefly talk about Lodygin and dwell on the achievements of Edison. It is with their names that the history of incandescent lamps is associated. It is said that Edison took a huge amount of time to invent a light bulb. He had to conduct about 2 thousand experiments before the design familiar to us all came to light.
The invention made by Alexander Lodygin
The history of incandescent lamps is very similar to the history of other inventions made in Russia. Alexander Lodygin, a Russian scientist, was able to make a coal rod glow in a glass vessel from which air was pumped out. The story of the creation of an incandescent lamp begins in 1872, when he managed to do it. Alexander received a patent for an electric carbon incandescent lamp in 1874. A little later, he proposed replacing a tungsten carbon rod. The tungsten component is now used in incandescent lamps.
Merit of Thomas Edison
However, it was Thomas Edison, an American inventor, who was able to create a durable, reliable and inexpensive model in 1878. In addition, he managed to establish its production. In his first lamps, an incandescent filament had charred shavings made from Japanese bamboo. The tungsten filaments familiar to us appeared much later. They began to be used on the initiative of Lodygin, the aforementioned Russian engineer. If it weren’t for him, who knows how the history of incandescent bulbs of the coming years would have developed.
Edison's American Mentality
The American mentality is significantly different from the Russian. With US citizen Thomas Edison, everything went into business. Interestingly, while pondering how to make telegraph tape more durable, this scientist invented waxing paper. Then this paper was used as a wrapper for sweets. Seven centuries of Western history preceded Edison's invention, and not so much with the development of technical thought, as with an active attitude towards life that gradually formed in people. Many talented scientists stubbornly went to this invention. The history of the origin of the incandescent lamp is associated, in particular, with the name of Faraday. He created fundamental works in physics, without which Edison’s invention would hardly have been feasible.
Other inventions made by Edison
Thomas Edison was born in 1847 in Port Heron, a small American town. In the self-realization of Thomas, the role played by the fact that the young inventor had the ability to instantly find investors for his ideas, even the most daring. And they were willing to risk considerable sums. For example, while still a teenager, Edison decided to print a newspaper on a train while driving and then sell it to passengers. And the news for the newspaper should have been collected right at the stops. Immediately there were people who loaned money to buy a small printing press, as well as those who let Edison into the luggage carriage with this press.
Inventions before Thomas Edison were made either by scientists and were a byproduct of their discoveries, or practices that perfected what they had to work with. It was Edison who made invention a separate profession. He had a lot of ideas, and almost each of them became a germ for subsequent ones, which required further development. Thomas, throughout his long life, did not care about his personal comfort. It is known that when he visited Europe, already at the zenith of fame, he was disappointed with the laziness and dandy of European inventors.
It was difficult to find an area in which Thomas would not have made a breakthrough. It is estimated that this scientist made about 40 major discoveries annually. In total, Edison received 1,092 patents.
The spirit of American capitalism pushed up Thomas Edison. He managed to get rich at the age of 22, when he came up with a quotation ticker for the Boston exchange. However, Edison's most important invention was the creation of an incandescent lamp. Thomas managed to electrify the whole of America with her help, and then the whole world.
Power plant construction and first electricity consumers
The history of the lamp begins with the construction of a small power plant. The scientist built it in his Menlo Park. She had to serve the needs of his laboratory. However, the energy received turned out to be more than was necessary. Then Edison began selling the surplus to his farmer neighbors. It is unlikely that these people understood that they were the first paid consumers of electricity in the world. Edison never aspired to become an entrepreneur, but when he needed something for his work, he opened a small production facility in Menlo Park, which subsequently grew to large sizes and went its own way of development.
Incandescent lamp device change history
An electric incandescent lamp is a light source, where the conversion into electrical light energy occurs due to the incandescence of a refractory conductor with an electric current. Light energy was first obtained in this way by passing current through a carbon rod. This rod was placed in a vessel from which air had previously been evacuated. Thomas Edison in 1879 created a more or less durable construction using carbon fiber. However, there is a rather long history of the emergence of an incandescent lamp in its modern form. As a glow body in 1898-1908 tried to use different metals (tantalum, tungsten, osmium). The tungsten thread, zigzag located, began to be used since 1909. Incandescent lamps began to fill in 1912-13. inert gases (krypton and argon), as well as nitrogen. At the same time, tungsten filament began to be made in the form of a spiral.
The history of the development of an incandescent lamp is further noted by its improvement by improving light output. This was carried out by increasing the temperature of the body of the filament. The lamp life was maintained. Filling it with inert high molecular weight gases with the addition of halogen led to a decrease in the contamination of the flask with tungsten particles sprayed inside it. In addition, this reduced the rate of evaporation. The use of a glowing body in the form of a bispiral and trispiral led to a reduction in heat loss through the gas.
This is the story of the invention of incandescent lamps. Surely you will be interested to learn about what its various varieties are.
Modern varieties of incandescent lamps
Many varieties of electric lamps consist of certain parts of the same type. They vary in shape and size. A filament body (that is, a spiral made of tungsten) is fixed to a metal or glass plug inside the bulb using holders made of molybdenum wire. The ends of the spiral are attached to the ends of the bushings. In order to create a vacuum tight connection with a blade made of glass, the middle part of the bushings is made of molybdenum or platinum. The bulb of the lamp is filled with inert gas during vacuum treatment. Then the stem is brewed and a spout is formed. The lamp for mounting in the cartridge and protecting the nozzle is supplied with a base. It is attached with a pin mastic to the flask.
Appearance of lamps
Today, there are many types of incandescent lamps, which can be divided into areas of application (for car headlights, general purpose, etc.), the lighting properties of their bulbs or in the structural form (decorative, mirror, with a scattering coating, etc.), as well as the form that the glow body has (with a double helix, with a flat spiral, etc.). As for the dimensions, they distinguish large-sized, normal, small-sized, miniature and super-miniature ones. For example, the latter include lamps having a length of less than 10 mm, the diameter of which does not exceed 6 mm. As for large-sized ones, they include those whose length is more than 175 mm and a diameter of not less than 80 mm.
Lamp power and life
Modern incandescent lamps can operate at voltages from fractions of a unit to several hundred volts. Their power can be tens of kilowatts. If you increase the voltage by 1%, the luminous flux will increase by 4%. However, the service life will be reduced by 15%. If you turn on the lamp for a short time at a voltage that exceeds 15% of the rated voltage, it will be disabled. That is why voltage fluctuations so often cause the bulbs to burn out. From five hours to a thousand or more, their service life varies. For example, airplane headlights are designed for a short time, while transport lamps can work for a very long time. In the latter case, they should be installed in places that provide ease of replacement. Today, the luminous efficiency of lamps depends on the voltage, design, duration of combustion and power. It is about 10-35 lm / W.
Incandescent bulbs today
Incandescent lamps in their luminous efficiency, of course, lose to light sources working from gas (fluorescent lamp). However, they are easier to operate. Incandescent lamps do not require complex fittings or starting devices. In terms of power and voltage, there are practically no restrictions for them. In the world today, about 10 billion lamps are produced every year. And the number of their varieties exceeds 2 thousand.
LED lamp
The history of the origin of the lamp has already been written, while the history of the development of this invention is not yet complete. New varieties are emerging that are becoming increasingly popular. This is primarily about LED lamps (one of them is shown in the photo above). They are also known as energy efficient. These lamps have a light output exceeding more than 10 times the light output of incandescent lamps. However, they have a drawback - the power source must be low voltage.