There are certain aspect of our history that every single person in America seems to know because they’ve been taught about it in school. Like the person who invented the light bulb was…
“Sir Joseph Wilson Swan”
WHAT???? You mean Thomas Edison, right?
Thomas Edison was one of the most prolific inventors of the 19th and 20th centuries. He acquired over 1,000 patents—record-setting for that time, but the crown jewel of King Edison’s patent portfolio, the incandescent light bulb, was actually just an improvement on the design that British inventor Joseph Swan had patented 10 years earlier.
Both Swan’s and Edison’s bulbs worked on the same principle that when electric current flows through a filament, it heats up and glows, which produces light. The bulb itself has the oxygen vacuumed out of it so the filament doesn’t oxidize, making it to last longer.
Swan used a carbonized paper filament. And while it worked, it only lasted for a whopping thirteen-and-a-half hours.
Edison, after years of trying different materials for the filament, had the bright idea to use a filament derived from bamboo. That, along with the improved vacuum technologies of the time, resulted in a light bulb that lasted for 1,500 hours.
So Swan did what every successful inventor does… He invented something better, right? Nope… He sued Edison for patent infringement. The British courts side with Swan and ruled against Edison. The punishment for Thomas Edison?? He was forced to make Swan a partner in his electric company.
The new company would be called The Edison & Swan United Electric Light Company… rolls off the tongue doesn’t it? They sold bulbs in Britain that were based on Swan’s design with Edison’s filaments. But in the U.S… well, they were basically Edison’s bulbs. The merger also created a group of products sold under the brand name Ediswan…. Hey it’s better than Swanison… right??
So, how does Edison get all the credit for inventing the light bulb when he really didn’t actually invent it? The answer is pretty simple, Thomas Edison made the previously invented light bulb more practical and useable by the masses. Edison made the first light bulb that lasted a long time, was able to be mass produced, and created a system of sockets, safety fuses, on-off switches, and most importantly–helped create the U.S. electrical grid.
The Wizard of Menlo Park would go on to fame and fortune and would come to be known by everyone who has completed a junior high science class as the inventor of the incandescent light bulb. And Swan… well he didn’t do too badly either…
In 1904 he was knighted by King Edward and received the Royal Society’s Hughes Medal for original discoveries.
Featured image courtesy of All That’s Interesting.
