history of the incandescent bulb is centered on the development of filament types, so we will organize it by filaments. and Iridium Filaments: 1802 -1880's Humphry Davy created the first incandescent light by passing current through a platinum strip. It caused a glow and did not last long, but marked the beginning of incandescent light development. Experimenters continued over the next 70 years to use platinumFrederick de Moleyns used a platinum filament in an evacuated glass tube to make a light bulb. It was only mildly successful due to a blackening of the bulb, which blocked lightCombustion of the filament material and blackening on the upward side of the bulb was a frustrating consistent problem for early lamp inventors. The platinum material was also expensive. inventors knew that making a vacuum in a bulb would help reduce blackening and lengthen bulb life, the problem was ways to better create a vacuum had to be developed.

Heinrich Geissler was one of the early physicists to develop a good pump and system. early bulb inventors 1802 - 1879 lacked a system good enough. As is typical with invention, many know the answer, but other technological developments are needed to move forward. of the incandescent bulb, video: Threads and Paper: 1860's - 1883 Joseph Swan and Thomas Edison independently hit success by making a bulb that would last a reasonable number of Swan used carbonized paper to create his early filaments. first used carbonized sewing thread as a filament, he managed to get it inside a vacuum. This made his first practical lightbulb. He used carbonized sewing threads until 1880. Then he used paperThis move increased lamp life Edison Triumphed: Joseph Swan worked on the incandescent lightSwan did not succeed because he used only a partial vacuum in his bulb. He also used a carbonized paper filament. Edison figured out how to create a pure vacuum in his bulbs.

did this by heating up the bulb at the same time that he pumpedHe used a Sprengle Pump to the left was used by Swan and Edison to pump air from the first light bulbs. Read more about the pump by Scientific American article above. See our collection of bulbs at the Edison Tech Center on display. Bamboo brings great improvements: 1883: As the story goes Edison was using a fan on a hot day, he unwound fine bamboo on a fold-out oriental fan. Sonic The Hedgehog Full Size Bedding Set it and tested it as a filament. Phil'S Moving Service LebanonHe send assistants to Japan toBathtub Drain Extractor Tool Home Depot find the type of bamboo that was used in that fan. it and imported the filaments.

first bamboo filaments had a square shape because they were cut from larger pieces using a certain process. bamboo directly to the lead in wires to avoid the high cost ofLater he used carbon paste to adhere the bamboo to the lead in wires. video about early Edison Bulbs with cellulose and bamboo filaments: Filaments: 1881 - 1904 Joseph Swan developed the cellulose filament in 1881, however Edison continued to use bamboo filaments until the creation of General Electric in 1892. Cellulose filaments were replaced by Willis Whitney's GEM lamp filaments. about the Mazda Bulb: move to metallic filaments: The Era of Tantalum was the first metal filament on the market. it has a very high melting point, so it can be heated to incandescence without destroying itself like most metals. Tantalum was so vastly superior to all other filaments that it became king from 1902 - 1909. After 1909 the sintered tungsten lamp really began to gain popularity.

of a ductile tungsten finally ended the reign of tantalum. Werner von Bolton(a Georgian living in Germany) discovered that using tantalum for a filament allowed for lower energy consumption and greaterSiemens and Halske Company produced theseThe tantalum filament became successful and became a major threat to General Electric's sales. GE to invest more in it's recently formed research lab to try to come up with a better lamp. A lit Tantalum Lamp on display at Siemens Forum in Munich, The hooks used to hold filament WOTAN Lamp, made with a drawn-tungsten trademarked name owned by Siemens & Halske Lamp Metallized Filaments: 1904 - 1907 Whitney of GE Schenectady develops a way to bake a carbon filament at 3000 C to create a filament that behaves much likeThis improves efficiency by 25 %. This filament was used in the famous Mazda lamps which produced a very bright Tungsten Filaments: 1904 -1911 1904 sintered tungsten is developed by Alexander Just and Franz

Tungsten improves the lamps efficiency by 100 % and is used by GE in 1907 after it buys the rights for it. *Tungsten and Molybdenum filaments were used by A.N. Lodygin (Russia) in a 1900 "Exposition Universelle" in Paris D. Coolidge had been working with tungsten which proved to be a superior material for a long lasting lightbulb over any otherPrevious sintered tungsten filaments had been efficient, but brittle and not practical. how to heat tungsten and draw it out through heated dies of decreasingThe result of his work was a workable, bendable (ductile) wire that was high strength and made a great filament material. The new material was used in bulbs in 1911 and this is still usedSee our inventors section below for more advancements in the incandescent bulb. future of incandescent lamps: Incandescent lamp has been in the average household for more thanIn the last decade a major initiative to develop more efficient lightbulbs has replaced much of the world's bulbs