Evening star., 1926-10-21
LIGHTING INDUSTRY
/ GROWTH IS HUGE
47 Years Ago Today Edison
Made First IncandeScent
Electric Bulb.
BY j. G. ROYLE.


Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK. October 2i.---F'orty
seven years ago today Thomas A
Edison made a discovery that has
revolutionized the lighting of the
world. On October q. 1879. a feeble
flickering streak of brilliance in q
glass bulb in the Edison Laboratories
proved that q tiny loop Of C=4rboniZed
cotton sewing thread, sealed in a va
ouum. would transform electrical
energy into light. That streak OF
incandescent bulb
. In the same year the first parts OF
the Statue Of Liberty erlishtenine
the world were completed. But he
fore the statue was unveiled, October
20, 1886. electricity had been lighting
the world for four years. The first
central power station was established
in New York City In 1882. Since that
time an industry has grown up which
serves 100000 consumers In the
United States alone, with s 900 central
stations producing more than 10000,
00o.0 kilowatts Of current year
and capital investment or over
7is billion dollars.
Huge Lamp Production.
In the last year the lamp manu-.
facturers turned out over half bill
lion lamps, Of which 300. 900 900 went
into the household and industrial use,
10000 900 were miniature bulbs used
in medicine. surgery and the arts. and
100000 900 were OF special sizes and
for special purposes. Fifteen million
homes were lighted, and 1t Is esti-
mated that the cost of the power to
turn these millions Of bulbs into
flashing radiators Of light waves TO-
tailed about $500. 100000.
The United States uses more cleo
trio light bulbs than any other nation.
About . a lamps are in use by every
citizen e this country. This COM
pares with 1852 per capita in SwitZer
land. 0.88 per capita in Germany. 0.72
1n France. and 0.42 in Great Britain.
In the latter country only about 10
PER cent OF the population Is cleo
tx1cally lighted.
Bulb Sizes Vary.
Fifty million lamps are utilized in
electric signs. The United States
Government uses 10000 bulbs a
year for its purposes. The bulbs vary
from the so-called the grain Of
wheat" size. which may be swallowed
to illuminate the stomach. to the
billion candle-power searchlight just
built by the Engineer Corps Of the
United States Army. and the Kleig
lights used in the motion picture stu
dos.
When the incandescent bulb was
invented electric lighting was no new
thing Sir Humphrey Davy had pro
duced the arc light in the early nine
teenth century, and his method had
been improved upon by Michael Fara
in
many defects. Gas was the common
form Of illumination. One of Edi-
sons 10000 pages of notes on the
incandescent bulb bore the following
notation: "Object, Edison to effect
exact imitation Of all done by gas SC
as to replacing lighting by gas by
lighting by electricity"
Prices Are Reduced.
During his experiments his work
room was lighted by gasoline gas.
The first carbon tilament light burned
4n hours But the carbon filament
type was expensive 10 operate and
fragile and Edison continued his
search for Il proper fiber. He final
ly settled upon bamboo and this ma
terial was used until we'll into the
eos. On Edison's fundamental work
experiments of others were based.
The bamboo was followed by q Cellu
lose filament and then a turn was
made to refractory metals. Tanta
lum was supplanted by tungsten and
the modern mazda lamp was
produced.
1t took 80 years TO develop. but the
modern bulb Is four and one.half
times as efficient rs the carbon fila
ment bulb. If the latter were now
in use 1t is estimated the annual
cost to users in the United States
would be $4,000 600 higher than II is
The cost Of the bulbs themselves is
less than one-twentieth of the cost in
1882 and current also Is cheaper Fo'
the eighth time since 1890 the price
OF mazda bulbs has been reduced re
Gently. This cut. averaging about
per cent, brings the cost to the user
TO ~ per cent below pre-war costs
A.