The Problem with Electric Light

Edison's Invention Factory at Menlo Park became part of the American economy with the founding of the Edison Electric Light Company in 1878.  American daily life was forever changed by Edison's electric light bulb, but we are ahead of ourselves...

Edison wasn't the first to experiment with electric lighting.  In the 1860s lights were in use in England's endless lighthouses.  In 1876, lights burned at the Philadelphia Exposition and again at the Paris Exposition in 1878.  Edison's early experiments in electrical lighting were put on the back burner while he invented the phonograph. 

The first public demonstration of light was back in 1808 when Sir Humphrey Davy demonstrated his electric light arcing between to carbon rods using a 2000 cell battery.  Batteries used for light was not practical until the invention of the dynamo in 1880 which replaced the battery power.

Gas lighting was in common use for public safety in large cities like Baltimore, Boston, New York, Brooklyn, and New Orleans, who had lighted streets, factories and wealthy private homes.  By 1875 the number of gas companies had risen to 400 plus in just 40 years, but this was confined to big cities.  For rural Americans and small towns, candles and oil were still used.  The small areas didn't have the resources to build gas companies.

When Edison's Electric Light Company started, arc lighting was still in little use in private homes, offices or businesses.  The arc light produced light by burning and like gas, could only be used with an open flame.  Carbon rods needed replacement often and the brilliant light it gave off could not be adjusted.  All the lights in the "series circuit" had to be off or on together.  If one short circuited, the whole system was out.

Gas lighting had many advantages over early electric lighting however.  Gas companies still made most of their revenue from offices and homes.  Edison decided he could solve that problem - which he saw as a "social" problem - a market problem.

Next time...Solving the problem
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Today in Pioneer History: "On April 9, 1881, Billy the Kid is convicted of murder in a one day trial  for murdering the Lincoln County, New Mexico sheriff.