History of incandescent lamps. The origin and creation of an incandescent lamp

It often happens that the device used in everyday life, which is of great importance for all mankind, does not remind us of its creator in any way. But in our houses an electric light bulb was lit up thanks to the efforts of concrete people. Their merit for humanity is invaluable - our houses were filled with light and warmth. The history of incandescent lamps, presented below, will acquaint you with this great invention and with the names of those with whom it is associated.

As for the latter, you can note two names - Alexander Lodygin and Thomas Edison. Although the merit of the Russian scientist was very great, the palm of primacy belongs precisely to the American inventor. Therefore, we will briefly describe the Lodygin and elaborate on the achievements of Edison. It is with their names that the history of incandescent lamps is associated. It is said that the invention of an electric bulb in Edison took a huge amount of time. He had to spend about 2,000 experiments before the familiar construction appeared to us.

The invention, made by Alexander Lodygin

The history of incandescent lamps is very similar to the history of other inventions made in Russia. Alexander Lodygin, a Russian scientist, was able to make the coal rod glow in a glass vessel, from where the air was pumped. The history of the incandescent lamp begins in 1872, when he managed to do it. Alexander received a patent for an electric charcoal lamp in 1874. A little later he suggested replacing the tungsten carbon core. The tungsten part is now also used in incandescent lamps.

The merit of Thomas Edison

However, it was Thomas Edison, the American inventor, who was able to create a durable, reliable and inexpensive model in 1878. In addition, he managed to establish its production. In its first lamps, the role of a filament was charred shavings made from Japanese bamboo. Tungsten filaments, familiar to us, appeared much later. They began to be used on the initiative of Lodygin, mentioned above the Russian engineer. Do not be him, who knows how the history of incandescent lamps would develop.

The American mentality of Edison

The American mentality differs significantly from the Russian one. The US citizen Thomas Edison had everything to do. It is interesting that, thinking about how to make a more solid telegraph tape, this scientist invented waxing paper. Then this paper was used as a wrapper for sweets. Seven centuries of Western history preceded the invention of Edison, and not so much by the development of technical thought, as the people's active attitude to life gradually formed by people. Many talented scientists stubbornly went to this invention. The history of the origin of the incandescent lamp is associated, in particular, with the name of Faraday. He created fundamental works on physics, without support on which it would hardly be feasible to invent Edison.

Other inventions made by Edison

Thomas Edison was born in 1847 in Port Haron, a small American town. In the self-realization of Thomas, the young inventor had the ability to instantly find investors for his ideas, even the most daring ones. And they were ready to risk considerable sums. For example, while still a teenager, Edison decided to print a newspaper on the train while driving and then sell it to passengers. And news for the newspaper should be collected directly at the stops. Immediately there were people who lent money for the purchase of a small printing press, as well as those who let Edison into the baggage car with this machine.

The inventions before Thomas Edison were made either by scientists and were a by-product of the discoveries they made, or by practices that perfected what they had to work with. It was Edison who made the invention a separate profession. He had many ideas, and almost every one of them was made a germ for the subsequent ones, which required further development. For all his long life, Thomas did not care about his personal comfort. It is known that when he visited Europe, already at the zenith of glory, he was disappointed by the laziness and dapperness of European inventors.

It was difficult to find an area in which Thomas would not have made a breakthrough. It is estimated that this scientist annually made about 40 major discoveries. In total, Edison received 1,092 patents.

The spirit of American capitalism pushed up Thomas Edison. He managed to get rich at the age of 22, when he came up with a quotation "ticker" for the Boston stock exchange. However, the most important invention of Edison was precisely the creation of an incandescent lamp. Thomas managed to electrify the whole of America with it, and then the whole world.

The construction of the power plant and the first consumers of electricity

The history of the lamp begins with the construction of a small power plant. The scientist built it in Menlo Park. She had to serve the needs of his laboratory. However, the energy received was more than was necessary. Then Edison began selling surplus to fellow farmers. It is unlikely that these people understood that they were the first paid consumers of electricity in the world. Edison never aspired to become an entrepreneur, but when he needed for his work in something, he opened a small production in Menlo Park, which later grew to large sizes and went its own way of development.

History of changing the device of an incandescent lamp

An electric filament lamp is a light source, where the conversion to light electric energy is due to the incandescence of a refractory conductor by an electric current. Light energy was first obtained in this way by passing a current through a carbon rod. This rod was placed in a vessel from which the air was previously evacuated. Thomas Edison in 1879 created a more or less durable construction using a carbon filament. However, there is a fairly long history of the incandescent lamp in its modern form. As the body of incandescence in 1898-1908. Tried to use different metals (tantalum, tungsten, osmium). Tungsten filament, zigzagged, was used since 1909. The incandescent lamps began to fill in 1912-13. Inert gases (krypton and argon), as well as nitrogen. At the same time, the tungsten filament was made in the form of a spiral.

The history of the incandescent lamp is further marked by its improvement by improving the light output. This was done by raising the temperature of the body of the glow. The service life of the lamp was maintained at the same time. Filling it with inert high-molecular gases with the addition of halogen led to a decrease in the contamination of the bulb with tungsten particles sprayed inside it. In addition, this reduced the rate of its evaporation. The use of a glow body in the form of a bispiral and a trispyral led to a reduction in heat loss through the gas.

This is the history of the invention of an incandescent lamp. Surely you will be interested in learning about what different types of it are.

Modern varieties of incandescent lamps

Many varieties of electric lamps consist of certain identical parts. They differ in shape and size. On the metal or glass sthengel inside the bulb a body of glow (that is, a spiral made of tungsten) is fixed by means of holders made of molybdenum wire. The ends of the spiral are attached to the ends of the bushings. In order to create a vacuum-tight connection with a blade made of glass, the middle part of the inputs is made of molybdenum or platinum. The bulb of the lamp is filled with inert gas during vacuum processing. Then the shtengel is brewed and a spout is formed. The bulb for mounting in the chuck and protecting the spout is provided with a plinth. It is attached with a socle mastic to the flask.

Appearance of lamps

Today, there are many types of incandescent lamps, which can be divided into areas of application (for automobile headlights, general purpose, etc.), according to the lighting characteristics of their bulb or in constructive form (decorative, specular, with a scattering coating, etc.) Form, which has a body of glow (with a bispiral, with a flat spiral, etc.). As for the dimensions, they are distinguished by large-sized, normal, small-sized, miniature and subminiature. For example, the latter include lamps having a length of less than 10 mm, whose diameter does not exceed 6 mm. As for bulky, they belong to such, the length of which is more than 175 mm, and the diameter - not less than 80 mm.

Lamp power and lifetime

Modern incandescent lamps can operate at voltages from a fraction of one to several hundred volts. Their power can be tens of kilowatts. If the voltage is increased by 1%, the luminous flux will increase by 4%. However, the service life will be reduced by 15%. If you turn on the lamp for a short time for a voltage that exceeds 15% nominal, it will be disabled. That's why so often the voltage drops cause the bulbs to burn out. From five hours to a thousand or more, their service life fluctuates. For example, for a short time, aircraft headlamps are designed, and transport vehicles can work very long. In the latter case, they should be installed in places that provide ease of replacement. Today, the light output of lamps depends on voltage, design, duration of combustion and power. It is about 10-35 lm / W.

Incandescent lamps today

Incandescent lamps, by their light output, certainly lose to light sources that work from gas (fluorescent lamp). Nevertheless, they are easier to operate. For incandescent lamps, complex fittings or starting devices are not required. By power and voltage for them, there are practically no restrictions. In the world today, about 10 billion lamps are produced every year. And the number of their varieties exceeds 2 thousand.

LED lamp

The history of the origin of the lamp is already written, whereas the history of the development of this invention is not yet complete. There are new varieties that are becoming more popular. This is primarily about LED lamps (one of them is shown in the photo above). They are also known as energy-saving. These lamps have a luminous efficiency that exceeds the light output of incandescent lamps by more than 10 times. However, they have a drawback - the power source must be low-voltage.