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So, who invented the light bulb?
Most people would answer little Tommy Edison,
but they would be wrong.
In fact, they were being used as electric
lights for more than 50 years prior to his patent date.
In addition, Edison was not the first to
patent the modern design of the light bulb.
It seems that an inventor named Joseph Swan
demonstrated the same carbon filament light bulb in Newcastle at least
ten months
prior to
Edison's announcement. In addition, Swan received a British patent in 1878
for the same bulb that Edison patented in the U. S. in 1879.
Did Edison know about Swan's work, or did
they simply work independently and arrive at the same conclusion? There
is no question
that
Edison had seen a Scientific American article on Swan's preliminary work
with carbon filament electric lighting. But Swan's work had not been
perfected at this point, so Edison may have arrived at his invention by
improving on Swan's preliminary designs.
Eventually, Edison was the one making the
big $$$ off this invention and Swan was rightfully upset with this
situation.
So, if you were in Swan's boots, what would
you do?
Sue the pants off of Edison.
And that is exactly what Swan did.
Edison lost in the British courts for infringement of Swan's patent. As
part of the settlement, Edison was forced to take Swan in as a partner in
his British electric works. The company was called the Edison and Swan
United Electric Company. Eventually, Edison acquired all of Swan's
interest in the company.
In the United States, Edison didn't have
the chance to put up a fight. The U.S. Patent Office had ruled on October
8, 1883
that Edison's patents
were based on the prior art of a man named William Sawyer and were
invalid. In addition, Swan had already sold his U.S. patent rights to the
Brush Electric Company in June of 1882.
So why does Edison get all the credit for
the invention of the light bulb?
Very simple, he owned the power company
- what was to eventually become General Electric.
After all, what use is a light bulb without
electricity? Edison set up a system of power distribution in New York
City. He used
the DC (direct
current) system, which is no longer used. |
