Existing comment:
1886-1890s
Making a Bright Idea Brighter:
"After a thing is perfected and commercially introduced so as to show there is money it it, half a dozen parties start to infringe it... it will be several years before I can get a final decision, and in the meantime they make money, and when I do get a decision it is probable that no damages can be collected."
-- Transcription of an interview with Edison, "Cincinnati Inquirer," c 1888
Inventing a successful incandescent electric lamp at Menlo Park in 1879 was only the beginning. Machinery to produce the lamps had to be invented, manufactured, and installed. A system to generate and distribute electricity had to be developed, then workers trained and customers found.
By the mid-1880s, Edison had organized a group of companies to do this. Faced with competition from other electrical manufacturers, including George Westinghouse and Elihu Thomson, Edison was forced to improve every element of the system continually. Otherwise, his competitors would win in the marketplace.
Edison led the West Orange experimenting team, which included a glassblower, a lamp tester, several experimenters, and, when needed, chemists. Their work included: finding better natural materials for filaments; coating filaments to improve their performance; developing and improving materials for filaments; reducing the costs of making lamps; and improving manufacturing techniques.
In April 1889, Edison's various electric manufacturing companies were consolidated into one firm, Edison General Electric. In 1892, Edison General Electric merged with another electrical manufacturing firm, Thomson-Houston, to become General Electric. Edison no longer had a direct involvement in the company and focused his work on the phonograph, motion pictures, and ore milling.
What is a filament?
A filament is a very slender natural or synthetic fiber. It's the part of an incandescent lightbulb that glows when current passes through it. Inventors had devised electric lamps before Edison, but the filaments burned out too quickly to be practical. Edison's first successful filament was made of carbon and lasted 40 hours, but he soon discovered a filament derived from bamboo that lasted 1,200 hours. |