: Surely the intended meaning is: "In Britain, Joseph Swan had been able to obtain a patent on the incandescent lamp. Although he [Swan] had been making successful lamps [for] some time before Edison, he [Swan] was tardy in applying for patents so [a pre-emptive] application was submitted by Edison but [this application] failed due to an oversight in the drafting of Edison's patent application [and therefore Swan's belated patent application succeeded]".