Omaha daily bee., 1914-10-21
BIRTHDAY OF POWER LAMP
Electric Light Born Thirty.Five
Years Ago This Day.
LIGHT COMPANY 10 CELEBRATE
Local Power Firm 90 observe AsnI-
ver-sry Of EdisOa Invention ny
KeepinE open House 90
All visitors.

Prior 20 October q. 1872. the electric
light was unknown Prior 70 that time
the richest Of the rich in the larger cities.
where II was manufactured. illuminated
their houses with gas, but the moder-
ateiy rich. the common people and the
poor felt themselves lucky and perfectly
satisfied II they had one Of the old-fash-
Toned kerosene lamps that have long
since gone to the discard and are now
only seen in remote country districts and
the smallest OF the small towns.
In place OF the lamps and the anti
duated methods Of lighting. electricity is
doing the work and Il IL doing II TO such
an extent that one OF the factories at
Harrison. n. j., is turning out incandes-
cent lamps at the rate OF 9O,coO an hour.
THE electric light is the original product
Of Thomas Aivs Edison, born in Milan.
o., February ii, 1sf1 later moving TO Port
Huron. Mich, where he attended school.
always standing at the foot OF his classes
Local. Firm Observes Day.
The anniversary of the birth of the
electric light viii be observed this month
by the Omaha Electric Light company,
and while Il win not be a society func-
ton. the officers will keep open house.
welcoming all who cali, and at the same
time exhibiting scores of the new things
In lighting and electrical appliances The
officers OF the company feel that owing
TO the rapid advances that have bedn
made in applying electricity. it IS meet
and proper that the anniversary OF the
birth OF the electric Hight should be prop
eriy observed.
Referring back to Edison and incidents
connected with his career before he
brought the electric light into existence.
When still q school boy he installed a
laboratory In a room OF his fathers home
and commenced his experiments with
electricity. He installed a telegraph line
between his home and that OF boy
chum a few blocks away. He constructed
Instruments and worked the line Thus
he learned telegraphy and got a position
an an operator but this was too slow for
him. Then he corsmenced to drift about.
working to get money and spending II
making experiments.
works Tvventy-Four Hours.
Along in 1859. Edison invented the stock
market ticker and sold the patent for
$4,000. This money put him on bis feet
and he went TO Newark, N. J. He estab-
lished a laboratory, and with the idea
that he could use electricity for lighting
purposes, commenced working twenty
hours per day. He knew no such word
rs fail, but the discovery of the electric
light was an accident He tried all kinds
OF material and pastes for filament, but
none OF them would illuminate. though
they would carry current
At last, and when he was feeling pretty
Iii A.. II, a
a red wbislSer, from the beard of-one of
the men in the laboratory. This he put
into one OF the little glass bulbs ana
turned on the current. 1t gave q small
wink of light and at once. he knew that
he had solved the problem. Then he car
bombed hairs, but they were not strong
enough to carry current for any length
of time. but this marked the birth Of
the light OF today. The next advancement
came when ne commenced the use of
bamboo splints. some OF which were In
use until few years ago. When metal
tied they proved very satisfactory. but
still Edison wanted better light. This
was followed by the carbon wire and II
came into general use all over the coun-
try. continuing until not many years ago.
when, after an immense amount OF In
vestigation in the field OF rare metals,
he adopted tungsten for fiiaments.
Revelation An LfEhfing.
The discovery upon the part of Edison
brought about tho revolution in lighting.
both interior and exterior, at the same
time reducing the cost OF illumination1
for with the old carbon nlament four TO
five watts of electrical energy per candle
power was required. whereas with the
tungsten fiiament this was reduced to
sic watts. which the Mazda. the present
recognized light. has brought down to
LIS watts per candle power.