La Junta tribune., 1916-10-21
EDISON DAY TODAY
October 2Isi l. the birthday Of the
Incande>cent IamI-story
OF Its Invention

Today is the birthdas OF the lh-
/ candescent lamp and known the
world over as Edison Day II
suddenly and without warning some
unforeseen reversal OF the laws OF
nature should prevent the Edison
| incandescent lamp from filling its
mission in lighting the habitauons
OF mankind there would descend on
! the world a calamity affecting more
people than any catastrophe men,
toned in history. Millions OF homes
would be plunged into darkness, fac
tories would have to stop work, the
signal lights Of railroads would re-
fuse to operate, even the telephone
switchboards would be confused and
only the electric arcs would remain
burning on the streets,
( Such an gccurance happening to-
/ day would make the world stop In
its needless rush and consider for
a moment the importance Of Edi-
sons great invention when, after
working day and night for months
at a time, he invented the first
electric lamp. a lamp which. even IN
It's most improved torm-the Mazda
lamp. operates on the same princi-
pie as the one which Edison COM
/ plctcd thirty-scyen years ago this
month For II was on October 2lst
1879. when Edison announced 10 the
world that he had invented the cleo
tric lamp II was considered marvel
lous when the Edison factory pro-
ducod a thousand lamps a day. Now,
In the great Edison lamp factories,
at Harrison. y. J. lamps are turned
out at the rate OF 5000 lamps an
hour. lamps which give three times
the light for the same amount Of
electricity as the old type carbon
lamps.
Mr.. Edison tells the story OF how
he produced the firs, iucandcscent
lamp as follows:
The first thing to do was to find
out what was the best material to
use for light producer" began
Mr.. Edison. Il soon made up my
mind that Of all the materials
could obtain in 1877 carbon was the
most promising Paper. jute. palm
fiber. grasses. tissue paper coated
with tar and rolled into thin sticks,
chorcoal. hemp-everything. in fact
was tried.
Finally on October 2l, 1879. I
carbonizcd a piece OF cotton sewing
thread bent into loop and sealed
II In a glass globe from which the
air had been pumped out. When
; the current was turned on. that
black thread Elowcd for forty hours.
That was really tho first lncandesc-
ont lamp. II couldn't be put on the
market. OF course. but il showed un-
misfakably that electricity could be
used for iurandescou, lighting /
spent about $4,000 Ia bringing the
inyea,iFauoH up TO that point. and
set 10 way. this vas only a begin
ming \ little later We placed several
hundred papor-filamsHt lamps on
the market, so began to hunt for
the right kind uf carbon. Men were
sent all over the world 10 collect
grasses and fibcFs that looked prom
isinr They brought bach several
hundred. and out Of the lot | Sc
lected certain kind OF bamboo
that grows in Japan. We made IA.
aments out Of that for nine years"
| In these few words MIR. Edison
tells the story Of the first electric
lamp. The twenty.first day OF Oct
ober. now known as Edison Day"
I IL the birthday OF the electric in.
candescent lamp.
NO invention Is perfect, and the
incandesoent lamp Is not an eNeep-
/ ton" continued MIR. Edison. Light
without heat is the ideai. and that Is
still far Off The electric incan-
descent lamp OF today has the cheap
est form Of filament that has ever
been produced, but some day II viii
be cheaper and colder than 1, is.
There Ia good deal OF truth In the
saying that the firefly Is the ideal.
II Is 30 far as ooldness goes But
It's color is against H. You couldn't
use thousand-candlc firefly to
match colors. and you wouldn't
want the insect to lirht up a street.
because his light would be n hid
eous grecnish yellow. But some
day We will get reasonably near the
firefly for efficiency without copy
lns his disagrecablo color. The
task needs much Investigation. much
research OF the kind We did In 1879.
The research that "a. hogan "a stIti