The Washington herald., 1914-10-21
Edison I1pented Incandescent Lamp
Just Thirty-tIpe Years Ago

Thirty-hve years ago. almost to a day,
the most wonderful inventive mind Of the
age gave to the world the great bless
ing Of almost faultless illumination.
October p. to be exact, is known and
celebrated as Edison Day, because It was
on that date. in 1873. that Thomas A.
Edison discovered the principle of the
incandescent lamp that now lights the
world. The story Of his struggle to
perfect and market his invention is a
romance that fascinates.
In inventing the electric lamp Edison
searched the world for materials. He
ran. the gamut OF the metals, tried all
kinds Of pastes as bases for the carbon
nlament. as well as cotton thread. paper
or anything that would carbonlze and
hang together as n filament At last he
discovered his filament material in bam-
bco. and the incandescent light was put
upon the market. For nearly ten years
bamboo was used. to be followed by
the "squirted'' fiIament employing car
BOMBED ee'lulose. Then there was the
'metalized" filaments. until the tungsten
lamp came into use.
October seems to be a banner month
in the long list of EdIson's inventions,
numbering altogether more than 1900
Besides the electric light he made in
that month many other important dis
coveries in electricity.
In IsS: Edison took out I07 patents in
the United States. and Of these twenty
one were granted in October. This was
his banner year and also banner month
in the number OF patents. The years
1880. 1881 and 1882 were the big three |
.e6 patents having been granted to Edi- !
son in the three-year period, Of which |
thirty-five were granted in October.
Made Gas stocks Tumble.
Electric lights were truly revolution |
izing. The whole world must bow to the |
inventor, even II that were his sole I
achievement. When It became known /
that Edison had perfected his new light |
gas stocks tumbIed all over the civil !
lied world. and especially in New York. |
until conditions became panicky.
1T may seem strange" says one of |
Edison's biographers. Frank Lewis Dyer
1sl0, that great effort was required to
introduce a light so manifestly conyen-
lent. safe and agreeable and advan-
tageous, but the facts are a matter OF
record, and today the recollection of some
Of the episodes brings a fierce glitter into
the eye and keen Indignation into the
voice Of the man who has gone so vic
through it all"
The sputtering sparks from the car
bons made the new things" highly OBJ
jectionable TO many. The electrical in
dustry had made considerable progress
when Edison started to work upon his
light. Such inventive characters as
Brush, Thomson, Weston and Van De-
poele and scores Of others together had
established electricity in some useful
forms. The opposition Edison met with
from this quarter can readily be i'm
lgined. but 1t only stimulated him the
more True, 1t made matters more difi-
;ult for him. but he and his genius -four
shed upon that.
For a long time the arc light Of the
opposition was supreme in the lighting I
branch of electrical industry. When the I
Electric Light Association was
ISS5-six years after the per- !
ectiOn of Edison's invention. its organ
Zers were stin the acknowledged cap
aims of the arc light industry. Not a {
Jingle Edison company or Iicensee was I
% be found in II and none dared to So I
Opposition FinoIIy Overcome. Z
So the Edison concerns had to go II :
Soon numbering 800 they ,
till had to break through lines which
lad been tensely drawn around them by
he opposition. The rivalry eventually :
ecsme so keen that no impartial man >
ould long remain friendly to both sides. O
he growing popularity Of incandescent
ghts. their safety. fleXibility and the d
ase with which other electrical devices
ould be put indiscriminately on the same n
ircuits with them. at last crushed the
trust" Twenty years after the first
sdison stations were established they
'ere credited with 81 per cent of all Il
entral station income in this coun- c
~. In recent years officers of the Ma II
Onal Electric have been chosen almost /
xclusively from the Edison company. 4
Public ignorance upon even the appear II
nee as well as the meFits of the new IL
ght put a serious obstacle in the in I;
entor's way when time came to intro L
ucs II. Thousands went out to Menlo 81
ark to see the lights in operation and "
'ere truly amazed, but this did not sat "