Invention of the electric lamp: Who inspired whom?

In Russia, the inventors of the electric lamp are considered to be Alexander Lodygin [1] and Pavel Yablochkov [4], in the USA - Thomas Edison [2], in Great Britain - Joseph Swan [5], in Germany - Heinrich Goebel [3]. Who actually created it? 

Mark Beygelzimer, PhD, systems analyst, head of the Trust but Verify project.

Reference: 

Goebel, Heinrich (April 20, 1818 - December 4, 1893) was a German watchmaker and optician and inventor. He learned his trade in his hometown. He did not receive a formal university education. But his professional skills enabled him to establish connections with professors at the University of Hanover, which facilitated his experiments and inventions. 

Lodygin, Alexander Nikolaevich (October 6 (18), 1847 - March 16, 1923) was a Russian electrical engineer, inventor and entrepreneur. He studied at the Moscow Junkers Infantry School. After his retirement he became interested in electrical engineering. In the early 1870s he attended classes in physics, chemistry and mechanics at the St. Petersburg Institute of Technology as a free student.

Yablochkov, Pavel Nikolaevich (September 2 (14), 1847 - March 19 (31), 1894) was a Russian electrical engineer, military engineer, inventor, and entrepreneur. He graduated from the Technical Galvanic Institute in Kronstadt (at that time - the only school in Russia, which trained military specialists in the field of electrical engineering).  

Swan, Joseph Wilson (October 31, 1828 - May 27, 1914) was an English physicist, chemist and inventor. He showed interest in science while still at school. He did not receive formal university education. He achieved his successes through self-education and experiments. 

Edison, Thomas Alva (February 11, 1847 - October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and entrepreneur. He received no formal education (in the traditional sense). He attended school for only a few months, after which he was educated at home under the guidance of his mother. Edison was self-taught and gained most of his knowledge through independent study and practical experience.

Let's use the same approach we used in answering the question about the invention of radio. The essence of this approach is to trace which of the potential authors was the first at each stage of the electric lamp creation: from idea to commercially successful mass production. These stages can be represented as a TRL (Technology Readiness Level) scale:

TRL 1 — an idea is proposed,

TRL 2 — conceptual solutions to implement the idea are developed,

TRL 3 — the reality and usefulness of the idea is confirmed experimentally or by calculations,

TRL 4 — conceptual solutions are tested in laboratory conditions,

TRL 5 — a pilot prototype is created,

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TRL 6 — a pre-production prototype has been created,

TRL 7 — a pre-production prototype is used in practice,

TRL 8 — a production prototype has been created, i.e. a prototype ready for commercially successful mass production,

TRL 9 — commercially successful serial production is realized.

Facts

The table below summarizes, in chronological order, the key events in the activities of each of the five listed electric lamp developers. The events are numbered and briefly described below the table. Each event is assigned to a different level of TRL. Events of different TRL levels are indicated by different background colors. The numbering of each event consists of two basic symbols: a letter corresponding to the researcher's surname and a number corresponding to the TRL level number. If several events correspond to one TRL level, an additional ordinal number in brackets is entered. For example, L-4 is a TRL 4 event associated with Lodygin, G-5 (2) is the second of the TRL 5 events associated with Gobel.

Event Description

Goebel

G-4. In 1846, began her first experiments to improve the incandescent lamp patented by the American C.W. Starr [6, 7].

G-5 (1). In 1848, Heinrich Goebel installed a zinc-coal battery on the roof of his watch store and obtained a bright electric arc to attract customers [6].

G-5 (2). In 1854, Goebel developed a prototype of the “modern” lamp: a charred bamboo filament placed in a glass cylinder in a vacuum. The longevity of such lamps was several hours [8].

Lodygin

L-4. In 1872, Lodygin applied for a filament lamp with a carbon filament (he was granted a Russian patent with a priority of 1872 in 1874) [9, p. 27].

L-5 (1). In 1874 Lodygin founded in St. Petersburg his own company “Russian Electric Lighting Partnership Lodygin and K°” [9, p. 27] [9, с. 27]. The first samples of his lamps worked for 30 minutes, subsequent improvements brought their service life to 700-1000 hours [10].

L-5 (2). In the 1890s, Lodygin invented several types of lamps with filaments made of refractory metals (tungsten, molybdenum) [19].

Yablochkov

Y-4. In 1874, Yablochkov installed a searchlight with an arc lamp on a steam locomotive of the Tsar's train to illuminate the tracks at night. The work of the searchlight required constant regulation of the interelectrode distance, so Yablochkov, standing on the front platform of the locomotive, monitored its work all the way [9, p. 32; 11].

Y-5. In 1876, at the exhibition of physical devices in London, Yablochkov for the first time publicly demonstrated his arc lamp, which did not require regulation of the interelectrode distance. It went down in history under the name of “Yablochkov's candles” [9, с. 32; 11].

Y-6. In October 1877, the first wide presentation of Yablochkov's lighting system took place, when “Yablochkov's candles” illuminated the fashionable stores of the Louvre [9, p. 32; 11].

Y-7. During the Paris exhibition in 1878, Yablochkov illuminated part of the Avenue Opera, and later the Paris indoor hippodrome and part of the Thames embankment in London. Stores and luxury hotels in the two European capitals installed his arc lamps by the hundreds. They were used to illuminate the seaport in Le Havre and many cities, including Marseille and Rome [9, p. 33].

Swan

S-4. In 1860, Swann demonstrated the first results and received a patent, but due to difficulties in obtaining a vacuum, Swann's lamp was short-lived and inefficient [12, 13].

S-5. Beginning in 1878, after improvements in vacuum technology, Swann returned to work on the lamp, received a new patent, and publicly demonstrated a working carbon filament lamp in February 1879. [12].

S-6. In 1880, the Lit & Phil Library in Newcastle became the first public room to be illuminated by electric light during Swann's lecture [13].

S-7. In 1881, Joseph Swan founded the Swan United Electric Light Company, a company that manufactured electric lamps. That same year, London's Savoy Theater became the first public building in the world to be completely lit by electricity (Swan's lamps) [13].

S-8. In 1883, the Swan and Edison companies merged in Great Britain to form the Edison & Swan United Electric Light Company, which became known as “Ediswan”. Ediswan became a major manufacturer of light bulbs and other electrical products in Great Britain and Europe [13].

S-9. In 1886, the Edison & Swan United Electric Light Company moved its production to the shops of a former textile factory in Ponders End, north London, and increased output [20].

Edison

E-6. In 1879, Edison patented an incandescent lamp with a carbon filament and a run time of 40 hours [14]. That same year, Edison and his partners founded the Edison Electric Light Company in New York City [15].

E-7 (1). In 1880, selecting the material for the filament, Edison conducted about 7500 tests of different materials and experiments on carbonization of various plants [8]. He eventually created a lamp with a strong filament [16].

E-7 (2). In 1881, Edison, based on the lamp with a strong filament he created, created a feasible system of electric lighting with the possibility of simultaneous use of multiple lamps [16, 17].

E-8. In 1882, Edison founded Edison General Electric to manufacture electric generators, light bulbs, cables, and lighting fixtures. In the same year, Edison opened the world's first commercial power plant in New York City, which provided electricity to 58 customers, and began mass production of electric light bulbs [18].

E-9. In 1886, Edison General Electric reached an annual production of 1 million light bulbs, allowing the company to break even for the first time. At the same time in Great Britain, the Edison & Swan United Electric Light Company significantly increases output by moving production to new shops [20].

Analysis of the table

The table above shows that:

• Göbel was the first to test the basic technical components of the electric lamp (TRL 4) and to build a working prototype (TRL 5).

• Yablochkov was the first to bring his lamp design to the level of mass application (TRL 6) and came close to creating a commercially successful prototype (TRL 7).

• Edison and Swan went through the stages of prototyping (TRL 8) and commercially successful production (TRL 9) almost simultaneously.

Additional Facts

The technological prerequisites for mass production and use of electric lamps - creation of deep vacuum and continuous power generation - were formed only in the second half of the 19th century: in 1865 a mercury vacuum pump was invented (Hermann Sprengel), in the 1870-80s - the first commercially successful DC generators (Zenoba Gramm's dynamo machine). Therefore, all inventors of eletric lamps up to this time (including Heinrich Goebel) could not advance beyond prototypes.

The zinc-coal battery that Goebel installed on the roof of his watch store produced arcs of light so bright that neighbors called the fire department. After several visits from the fire department, the court enjoined Goebel from using the arc lamp on the roof. This was probably the reason why he became involved with the incandescent lamp [6].

Thomas Edison, in response to a remark about the many failures he suffered in finding an efficient design for the electric lamp, said: “I did not fail. I have simply found 10,000 ways that don't work” [ref].

Founding the Edison General Electric Company in 1882, Edison set the selling price of a light bulb at 40 cents with a production cost of 110 cents. For four years, Edison increased the production of light bulbs, lowering their cost, but suffered losses. When the cost of the bulb fell to 22 cents, and their production increased to 1 million pieces, he covered all costs in one year. In 1892, Edison's company merged with other companies to form General Electric [15].

In 1877-1878, thanks to Yablochkov's lighting system, Paris became so bright that it was called “the city of light”. This name has survived to this day [9, p. 33].

At the height of his worldwide recognition, Pavel Yablochkov returned to Russia in 1878 and founded a new company to produce arc lamps in St. Petersburg. But the Russian authorities and private enterprises did not show proper interest in Yablochkov's lamps. The electrification of St. Petersburg and Moscow would not begin until many years later, at which time the city authorities would contract the German company Siemens and Halske to do the work. By that time Yablochkov was no longer able to compete with firms producing incandescent lamps, which had already become much cheaper than his arc lamps and could burn several times longer [11; 9, p. 33].

One reason why Yablochkov did not develop his success in Russia was that the authorities were suspicious of him. The Tsarist government was afraid of the political independence that successful entrepreneurs inevitably gained, and Yablochkov's ties to revolutionaries only increased their anxiety. In addition, Russian business was not interested in technological innovation. Even the luxury hotel where Yablochkov lived for a short time in St. Petersburg in 1878 did not want to buy his lamps, preferring them to traditional gas lanterns [9, p. 34].

Alexander Lodygin in Russia due to the lack of assistance from the state and business could not develop even his “breakthrough” solution of using refractory metals for filaments (see above event L-5 (2)). Therefore, in 1908, Lodygin sold his patent for a lamp with a tungsten filament to his direct competitors, General Electric [9, p. 29].

Conclusion

As in many other technical innovations (e.g. radio), the electric lamp does not have a single author. At different stages from idea to mass use, different researchers had priority: Heinrich Goebel (the first prototype), Pavel Yablochkov (the first industrial prototype), Thomas Edison and Joseph Swan (the first commercially successful lamps). But on the bottom line, i.e. in terms of practical utility for the mass consumer, the main credit certainly goes to Edison and Swan.

The reasons why other researchers did not succeed in this race are quite revealing. Heinrich Goebel, despite his priority in creating a prototype, had no objective possibility to outrun younger inventors (in his time there were no means of providing deep vacuum and continuous electric power yet). But two Russian inventors - Alexander Lodygin and Pavel Yablochkov - were not older than Swan and Edison, but they could not compete with them, because unlike the United States and Europe, the authorities and entrepreneurs in Russia were not interested in supporting domestic developments of electric lamps. Therefore, at the time when the wave of electrification reached Russia, Russian developments could no longer compete with world firms.

References

1. History of the invention of the light bulb in Russia. Site History of the State [in Russian].

2. Edison Light Bulb. Smithsonian. 

3. Wer erfand die Glühbirne? Wissen.de

4. Yablochkov vs. Edison: who was the first to invent the electric light bulb and why there was really no dispute. July 2, 2018. Zen [in Russian].

5. Joseph Swan. English physicist and chemist. Britannica.

6. Heinrich Goebel. Brief biography. Peoples.ru [in Russian].

7. S. Stanovoy. Heinrich Goebel - watchmaker who created the first usable lamp. Popular electronics [in Russian].

8. History of the invention and development of electric lighting. electrolibrary.info. Archived October 13, 2016 [in Russian].

9. Loren Graham. Lonely Ideas: Can Russia Compete? The MIT Press, 2013. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/9634.001.0001

10. Alexander Lodygin. Wikipedia.

11. Pavel Yablochkov. Wikipedia.

12. Joseph Swan. Wikipedia.

13. Joseph Swan - The Lightbulb. British Heritage.

14. Incandescent light bulb. Wikipedia.

15. V.P. Samokhin. In Memory of Thomas Alva Edison Archived November 17, 2015 at the Wayback Machine [in Russian].

16. Thomas Edison. Wikipedia.

17. 125 years of Edison's light bulb: an invention that turned the world upside down. 27.01.2022. TechInsider [in Russian].

18. Who invented the light bulb? 13.08.2024. Lifetime [in Russian].

19. A. de Lodyguine, U.S. Patent 575,002 «Illuminant for Incandescent Lamps». Application on January 4, 1893. 

20. Edison and Swan United Electric Light Co. Grace's Guide to British Industrial History.

Cover image: Dewald Van Rensburg, source: Wallpaper  

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