Edison settled on carbonized bamboo which was sturdier and extended the life of his bulb to 600 hours The technology itself was amazing but the revolutionary part was that Edison's bulb provided a kind of light people had never known BETTING ON BEARD As Edison searched for the perfect filament he actually tried hair from the beards of two men working in his lab The contest was enthusiastically followed Employee Francis Jehl later wrote a book about his experiences working for Edison He recalled Bets were placed with much gusto by the supporters of the two men and many arguments held over the rival merits of their beards In the end neither man had to shave his beard for the greater good the hairs were not the solution People were not accustomed to light arriving unaccompanied by sound smell and mess The gaslights that served many people hissed as the gas ran through the lines and the gas had a distinct odor The soot it gave off meant lamps had to be cleaned often Electric light did not come with the hissing sound of gas the smell of kerosene lanterns or the unreliability of flickering candles Nor did it require striking matches dipping wicks or refilling fuel When Edison demonstrated his new light to reporters they were struck by its low maintenance nature and all the qualities it lacked There is no flicker a Washington Post writer told his readers There is nothing between it and darkness It has no odor or color It is simply light Edison applied for a patent for his light bulb on November 1 1879 12
ANKLIN ANCHARD To the Honorable Commissioner of Patents Monr petitioner Micmas Clism Wuls Turkm the Man of Medveded hapthat LETTERS PATENT may be granted to her
MANI ES
The Age of Electricity The ability to see reliably and well long after dark changed the fundamental patterns of human life Work hours got longer Play hours got longer too Electric light illuminated places that had never been THE LONGEST BURNING BULB Since 1901 a light bulb at a fire station in Livermore California has been keeping the night at bay In more than 100 years of operation it has gone out only a handful of times due to power outages earning it the Guinness Book of World Records title for the longest burning bulb ever The bulb has grown dimmer over the years however It began life at 60 watts but now runs at only 4 watts of power seen before from the depths of oceans to outer space It transformed industries that depend on quality lighting including printing and photography People soon realized that electric incandescent lights were to be much more than simply light The light bulb evolved during an era of unprecedented technological advancement and ushered in a new age powered by electricity The first widespread application of electricity was lighting which prompted the creation of an entire infrastructure that powered countless other machines irons and vacuum cleaners washers and dryers radios Even modern incandescent light bulbs are extremely inefficient Approximately 10 percent of the energy is released as light while the other 90 percent is given off as heat and computers Edison s work with the light bulb would change the world 15
