Who Invented It?

Just who did invent the light bulb? Edison was not the first to work on the light bulb; in fact, for fifty years inventors in twenty-one countries had been working on the incandescent light bulb idea. Many of these inventors had working versions of their light bulbs. Some had lit residences, and others had kept the bulbs burning for a record twenty-four hours at a time.

All these inventors had one common problem though; they were working on too small of a scale. Only Edison designed his light bulb from the beginning to be part of a large system, thereby allowing him to create a functioning bulb and cementing his name as inventor of the incandescent light bulb. It was this insight into the lighting world that provided the key to the light bulb. It was the needs of the whole system that determined the size of the burner and the length of the filament in the light bulb, not the needs of a single bulb.

In 1879, Edison requested a patent for a light bulb that had supposedly burned for forty hours, and history was made, history that would be followed by years of court battles over the true inventor. In reality, Edison couldn't claim to be the sole inventor of the light bulb because he had studied other's work on the invention. He had not used any materials that had not already been tested, and essentially he had only improved upon other's work.

There was one main competitor in the light bulb race - Joseph Swan, a British "Edison" who had been experimenting on the light bulb since 1848. By 1879, he had already installed light bulbs in homes and landmarks in England and by the early 1880's had started his own company. This was what caused the major court battle because of an apparent patent infringement. After a major court battle, the two inventors joined forces, forming Edison-Swan United and forcing all other competition out of business. But Edison had still claimed the victory, the title of "light bulb inventor."