The Invention of the Electric Light

Abstract

This case study is a historic analysis of the developments that resulted in the electric light. The range of inventions that started with the demonstrations of a sparkling bright light by the Englishman Humphry Davy and the Russian Vasilii Petrov in the early nineteenth century, over the next century culminated into the invention of the incandescent lamp. Originally the early arc-light - due to its complex mechanism quite maintenance sensitive - illumination was restricted to light houses and some public areas. Then the Jablochkoff ‘arc light’ massively started illuminating brightly the streets, theaters, restaurants, factories. It sparked an enormous interest among the flabbergasted people. However, the arc-light was having its drawbacks that were part of the concept of bridging the ‘voltaic gap’ with a spark. When the inventive engineers and experimenters all over the western world (from America to Russia) were able to bridge this gap differently (with a filament), a new range of innovations appeared: the incandescent lamp. In the end it was Edison’s superior design that became the standard for the electric lamp used upon our present time. Both the basic innovations of the Jablochkoff arc-light and the Edison incandescent lamp appeared in the 1870s-1880s. It was the availability of electricity, creation by the newly developed self-exciting dynamo, that made is possible. They both were part of clusters of innovations that in totality represents the invention of the electric light. The book describes the work of the many individual engineers and scientists. It places the inventions in the context of Europe in the second half of the nineteenth century; the 'madness of times', its wars and revolutions as well as 'the gentlemen of science' and the ‘engineers’ who explored the nature of light. Their contributions resulted in several 'clusters of innovations', described in detail (including patent wars, businesses, and applications). Both from the micro-perspective of the individual scientist and inventor, as well as the macro-perspective of their influence on society, the basic innovations are described. The book gives the reader a view on the effects of technical change caused by ‘electricity’, how it influenced daily private and working life, and how it affected society. It shows an important aspect of the Second Industrial Revolution that created the foundations for our present society. This book is part of series of books (the Invention Series) that covers the inventions within the General Purpose Technologies that fueled breakthrough technological changes. Other titles include: 'The Invention of the Steam Engine', 'The invention of the electro-motive Engine', ‘The Invention of the Electric Light’, ‘The Invention of the Communication Engine ‘Telegraph’’, and ‘The Invention of the Communication Engine ‘Telephone’’. Commercial versions are available through Amazon.