On December 31 1897, American inventor, Thomas Edison introduced his invention of the light bulb to the world. This essay will first look at Thomas Edison’s life, the importance of his work and the continuing impact of his invention today. Life before the light bulb was invented, was from when the sun rose until the sun set. In the dark, candles could be used for lighting but these were a fire hazard and were not bright enough. Gas lighting was also an option but these were too bright for practical use. Because of this, a lot of the work was done during daylight. A lot of Thomas Edison’s life was put into changing this. Edison struggled at school but came to be one of the greatest inventors in history. ‘I never did a day’s work in my life. …show more content…
He was simply the re-inventor. His success in creating the commercially viable lightbulb is supported by the quote ‘I have not failed. I have just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.’ The lightbulb had been around for many years but the product available was expensive, short-lived and unreliable. By creating a vacuum inside, using the correct filament and running a lower voltage through the bulb, it would last a lot longer. These were substantial improvements that changed the world in regards to artificial lighting. At first, his invention was able to produce over 13 hours of continuous lighting. Following this, he filed his first lightbulb patent in 4 November 1879. On 4 September 1882, Edison’s first electricity generation station went into operation providing electricity to customers. Problems arose from this. Cables were laid under the streets, insulated with beeswax and paraffin. Workmen were electrocuted and horses were shocked as they walked down wet streets. As a result, Edison went on a campaign proving electricity was safe. During this, he staged an electric light parade. Four hundred men marched through Manhattan wearing lightbulbs on their heads and power lines down their sleeves. His re-invention was an important part in providing satisfactory lighting at the …show more content…
‘If we all did the things we are really capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.’ Was Edison’s opinion on everyone in the sense of advancing and inventing technology. His contribution was important because his work was the foundation our lighting and electrics have been built on. Firstly, a man named Humphrey Davy invented a lamp which used volts from a battery. There were two significant attempts to re-invent the lightbulb before Edison’s attempt. It was Edison’s attempt that created the feasible option. From then, the aim for inventors is to create a lightbulb that will last longer and cost less to make. Edison’s final product remained lit for one thousand five hundred hours. Philips created one that would last sixty thousand hours. Many types of artificial lighting have been designed since which vary in uses. For example, a man named Shuji Nakamura produced the LED lighting revolution. With artificial lighting evolving, The Energy Department saw a greater need for more efficient electric lighting. As a result, they packaged electric lighting with LED’s to produce better lighting. As of 2012, the main aim in regards to lighting is cutting costs in energy. All this work up until today is built on Edison’s version of the