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First electric light
Humphry Davy invents first electric light. -
First lightbulb prototype
James Bowman Lindsay created a prototype lightbulb that had constant lighting. -
First incandescent lamp
Edward Shepard uses charcoal filiment to create an incandescent arc lamp. -
First True Lightbulb
Henricg Globel, a German watchmaker, invented the first true lightbulb. He used a carbonized bamboo filament placed inside a glass bulb. -
Electric Lightbulb
Herman Sprengel invented the mercury vacuum pump making it possible to develop a practical electric light bulb. -
Patented Lightbulb
Henry Woodward and Matthew Evans patented a lightbulb. -
Long Lasting Lightbulb
Sir Joseph Wilson Swan (1828-1914), an English physicist, was the first person to invent a practical and longer-lasting electic lightbulb (13.5 hours). Swan used a carbon fiber filament derived from cotton. -
Carbon Filament
Thomas Alva Edison invented a carbon filament from cotton that burned for 13.5 hours. Edison placed his filament in an oxygenless bulb. (Edison evolved his designs for the lightbulb based on the 1875 patent he purchased from inventors, Henry Woodward and Matthew Evans.) Seperately, Joseph Wilson Swan invented the same thing the same year. -
Improved Lightbulb
Edison continued to improve his lightbulb until it could last for over 1200 hours using a bamboo-derived filament. -
Dark Inner Lightbulb
Willis Whitney invented a filament that would not make the inside of a lightbulb turn dark. It was a metal-coated carbon filament (a predecessor to the tungsten filament). -
General Electric Company
The General Electric Company were the first to patent a method of making tungsten filaments for use in incandesent lightbulbs. The filaments were costly. -
Practical Filament
William David Coolidge (1873-1975) invented an improved method of making tungsten filaments. The tungsten filament outlasted all other types of filaments because of its high melting point and low evaporation rate and because Coolidge made the costs practical. -
First Frosted Lightbulbs
The first frosted lightbulbs were produced. -
Magnetic Induction
Philips invented a lightbulb that lasts 60,000 hours. The bulb uses magnetic induction.
