Light bulbs or incandescent lamps come in many models. Whilst there are standard ones that we are familiar with, there are also those that are created for a certain use. Projector bulbs, for example, are being used for projectors. Then there is the full-spectrum light bulb, which produces a specific light known as the white light and are being used to remedy sickness caused by lack of exposure to sunlight.

But, it would be remarkable to learn how cheap light bulbs is now available. Keep in mind that “cheap” at this point is being used to signify commercial or that any regular consumer can afford. We take this into consideration for the reason that before the commercialization of light bulbs, there were a chain of experiments and inventions that took place. Even though the creation of the incandescent lamp is usually attributed to Thomas Edison, there are many other scientists that have played a part to what we have now.

It was in 1802 that Humphry Davy of Great Britain created the first incandescent light. The current traversed a thin strip of platinum, a metal that has a really high melting point. The light may have not been bright enough and did not go on lengthy enough, but this led to more experiments and discoveries up until the number one practical light bulb was created by Thomas Edison in 1879.

Another endeavor was from Warren de la Rue, who contained a coiled platinum filament in a vacuum tube where electric current traversed it. It was an effective design, but as you know, platinum costs high and, thus, not sensible for commercial use. More experiments and styles were created, and these are those by Frederick de Moleyns (1841), John W. Starr (1845), Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin (1851), and A.N. Lodygin (1872).

Further efforts to producing practical incandescent lamps were done prior to Edison. Connected with these efforts are Joseph Wilson Swan (1850) and Henry Woodward and Matthew Evans (1874). While Swan used carbonized paper filaments in an evacuated glass bulb, Woodward and Evans created their incandescent lamps with different sizes and shapes of carbon rods held between electrodes in glass cylinders that were filled with nitrogen.

Then there came Thomas Edison, who, in 1879, started to do major study on developing a useful light bulb. He performed many experiments with platinum as well as other metal filaments, but after a while, he returned to using a carbon filament. The exclusive rights for his design was given to him in 1880.

Throughout the years, more improvements have been made concerning incandescent lamps. We nowadays enjoy different types of light bulbs, examples of which include halogen light bulbs, compact fluorescent light bulbs, and other types of light bulbs. Needless to say, we would not have been using them if not for the great thinkers responsible for the concept of practical incandescent lamps.

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