Editing Incandescent light bulb (section)

===Early pre-commercial research===
[[File:Edison Carbon Bulb.jpg|thumb|upright|Original carbon-filament bulb from [[Thomas Edison]]'s shop in Menlo Park]]
In 1761, [[Ebenezer Kinnersley]] demonstrated heating a wire to [[incandescence]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Blake-Coleman |first=B. C. (Barrie Charles) |year=1992 |title=Copper Wire and Electrical Conductors – The Shaping of a Technology |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xMvY_v4kMMQC&pg=PA127 |publisher=Harwood Academic Publishers |page=127 |isbn=3-7186-5200-5 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171206142310/https://books.google.com/books?id=xMvY_v4kMMQC&pg=PA127 |archive-date=6 December 2017}}</ref> However such wires tended to melt or oxidize very rapidly (burn) in the presence of air.<ref name="ReferenceA">''Edison's Electric Light: The Art of Invention'' by Robert Friedel, Paul Israel, Bernard S. Finn &ndash; Johns Hopkins University Press 2010 Page 6--7</ref> [[Limelight]] became a popular form of [[stage lighting]] in the early 19th century, by heating a piece of [[calcium oxide]] to incandescence with an [[oxyhydrogen torch]].<ref>[https://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/201811/history.cfm APS News - November 9, 1825: Public Demonstration of the Limelight]</ref>

In 1802, [[Humphry Davy]] used what he described as "a [[Battery (electricity)|battery]] of immense size",<ref>{{cite book|last1=Jones|first1=Bence|title=The Royal Institution: Its Founder and Its First Professors|date=2011|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|isbn=978-1108037709|page=278}}</ref> consisting of 2,000 cells housed in the basement of the [[Royal Institution]] of Great Britain,<ref>{{cite web|title=Popular Science Monthly (Mar-Apr 1879)|url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Popular_Science_Monthly/Volume_14|website=Wiki Source|access-date=1 November 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150910091549/https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Popular_Science_Monthly/Volume_14|archive-date=10 September 2015}}</ref> to create an incandescent light by passing the current through a thin strip of [[platinum]], chosen because the metal had an extremely high [[melting point]]. It was not bright enough nor did it last long enough to be practical, but it was the precedent behind the efforts of scores of experimenters over the next 75 years.<ref name=Davis>Davis, L.J. "Fleet Fire." Arcade Publishing, New York, 2003. {{ISBN|1-55970-655-4}}</ref> Davy also demonstrated the [[electric arc]], by passing high current between two pieces of charcoal.

For the next 40 years much research was given to turning the [[carbon arc lamp]] into a practical means of lighting.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> The carbon arc itself was dim and violet in color, emitting most of its energy in the [[ultraviolet]], but the positive electrode was heated to just below the melting point of carbon and glowed very brightly with incandescence very close to that of sunlight.<ref>''Clinical Medicine and Surgery Volume 35'' by Herman Goodman - American Journal of Clinical Medicine, 1928, Page 159-161</ref> Arc lamps burned up their carbon rods very rapidly, expelled dangerous [[carbon monoxide]], and tended to produce outputs in the tens of kilowatts. Therefore, they were only practical for lighting large areas, so researchers continued to search for a way to make lamps suitable for home use.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

Over the first three-quarters of the 19th century, many experimenters worked with various combinations of platinum or [[iridium]] wires, [[carbon]] rods, and evacuated or semi-evacuated enclosures. Many of these devices were demonstrated and some were patented.{{sfnp|Houston |Kennely |1896 |loc=chapter 2}}

In 1835, [[James Bowman Lindsay]] demonstrated a constant electric light at a public meeting in [[Dundee, Scotland]]. He stated that he could "read a book at a distance of one and a half feet". However he did not develop the electric light any further.<ref name=Challoner>{{cite book|last=Challoner|first=Jack|title=1001 Inventions That Changed The World|publisher=Barrons Educational Series|location=Hauppauge NY|year=2009|page=305|display-authors=etal|isbn=978-1844036110}}</ref>

In 1838, Belgian lithographer [[Marcellin Jobard]] invented an incandescent light bulb with a vacuum atmosphere using a carbon filament.{{sfnp|Friedel |Israel |2010 |p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=8U-Naf4DuzMC&pg=PA91 91]}}

In 1840, British scientist [[Warren De la Rue]] enclosed a coiled platinum filament in a [[vacuum]] tube and passed an electric current through it.<ref name="peke22">{{cite web |title=Who invented the lightbulb? |first1=Elizabeth |last1=Peterson |first2=Callum |last2=McKelvie |date=2022-11-03 |website=Live Science |url=https://www.livescience.com/43424-who-invented-the-light-bulb.html |access-date=2024-11-16 }}</ref> The design was based on the concept that the high melting point of platinum would allow it to operate at high temperatures and that the evacuated chamber would contain fewer gas molecules to react with the platinum, improving its longevity. Although a workable design, the cost of the platinum made it impractical for commercial use.

In 1841, Frederick de Moleyns of England was granted the first [[patent]] for an incandescent lamp, with a design using platinum wires contained within a vacuum bulb. He also used carbon.{{sfnp|Houston |Kennely |1896 |p=24}}{{sfnp|Friedel |Israel |2010 |p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=8U-Naf4DuzMC&pg=PA7 7]}}

In 1845, American [[John Wellington Starr|John W. Starr]] patented an incandescent light bulb using carbon filaments.<ref>[[Charles D. Wrege]] ''J.W. Starr: Cincinnati's Forgotten Genius'', Cincinnati Historical Society Bulletin 34 (Summer 1976): 102–120. Retrieved 16 February 2010.</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Derry|first1=T.K.|last2=Williams|first2=Trevor|title=A Short History of Technology|year=1960|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=0-486-27472-1}}</ref> His invention was never produced commercially.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20030713033647/http://home.frognet.net/~ejcov/starr.html "John Wellington Starr"]. Retrieved 16 February 2010.</ref>{{Better source needed|date=November 2024}}

In 1851, [[Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin]] publicly demonstrated incandescent light bulbs on his estate in Blois, France. His light bulbs are on display in the museum of the [[Château de Blois]].{{efn|1=Many of the above lamps are illustrated and described in {{cite book |first1=Edwin J. |last1=Houston |first2=A. E. |last2=Kennely |name-list-style=amp |title=Electric Incandescent Lighting |url=https://archive.org/details/electricincande00kenngoog |publisher=The W. J. Johnston Company |location=New York |year=1896 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/electricincande00kenngoog/page/n29 18]–42 |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}}}

In 1859, [[Moses G. Farmer]] built an electric incandescent light bulb using a platinum filament.<ref>{{cite book |title=A Streak of Luck |first=Robert |last=Conot |publisher=Seaview Books |location=New York |year=1979 |isbn=0-87223-521-1 |pages=120–121 |url=https://archive.org/details/streakofluckcono00cono/page/120 }}</ref> Thomas Edison later saw one of these bulbs in a shop in Boston, and asked Farmer for advice on the electric light business.

[[File:Stamp of USSR 1634g.jpg|thumb|right|upright|[[Alexander Lodygin]] on 1951 Soviet postal stamp]]
In 1872, Russian [[Alexander Nikolayevich Lodygin|Alexander Lodygin]] invented an incandescent light bulb and obtained a Russian patent in 1874. He used as a burner two carbon rods of diminished section in a glass receiver, hermetically sealed, and filled with nitrogen, electrically arranged so that the current could be passed to the second carbon when the first had been consumed.<ref>''Edison Electric Light Co. vs. United States Electric Lighting Co.'', Federal Reporter, F1, Vol. 47, 1891, p. 457.</ref> Later he lived in the US, changed his name to Alexander de Lodyguine and applied for and obtained patents for incandescent lamps having [[chromium]], [[iridium]], [[rhodium]], [[ruthenium]], [[osmium]], [[molybdenum]] and [[tungsten]] filaments.<ref>{{US patent|575002|U.S. Patent 575,002 ''Illuminant for Incandescent Lamps'' by A. de Lodyguine. Application on 4 January 1893}}</ref>

On 24 July 1874, a Canadian patent was filed by [[Henry Woodward (inventor)|Henry Woodward]] and [[Mathew Evans]] for a lamp consisting of carbon rods mounted in a nitrogen-filled glass cylinder. They were unsuccessful at commercializing their lamp, and sold rights to their patent<ref>{{US patent|181,613}}</ref> to Thomas Edison in 1879. (Edison needed ownership of the novel claim of lamps connected in a parallel circuit.)<ref>{{cite web|title=Patent no. 3738. Filing year 1874: Electric Light|url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/innovations/023020-2710-e.html|publisher=[[Library and Archives Canada]]|access-date=17 June 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130619071150/http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/innovations/023020-2710-e.html|archive-date=19 June 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://home.frognet.net/~ejcov/evans.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050219182908/http://home.frognet.net/~ejcov/evans.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=19 February 2005|title=Henry Woodward and Mathew Evans Lamp retrieved 2010 February 16|work=frognet.net}}</ref> The government of Canada maintains that it is Woodward and Evans who invented the lightbulb.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada |author-link=Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada |date=2021 |title=Discover Canada: The Rights and Responsibilities of Citizenship |publisher=Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada = Immigration, réfugiés et citoyenneté Canada |url=https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/ircc/migration/ircc/english/pdf/pub/discover.pdf |access-date=2024-08-15 |isbn=978-0-660-39273-8}}</ref>
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