Edison won more than 1300 invention patents in his life and was called "the king of inventions". The key to developing electric lamps is to find filament materials. It is said that Edison tried 1600 kinds of heat-resistant materials and 6000 kinds of plant fibers, but all failed. 1879 10, Edison saw in a magazine that the swan made an incandescent lamp out of carbon silk, which was deeply inspired. He burned the cotton thread into carbon filament, then put the carbon filament into the light bulb, and carefully evacuated it. When the lamp was energized, the filament gave off bright light for 45 hours. Edison finally succeeded.
When talking about his invention, Edison said: "Surprise is the seed of science; Invention is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration; I have never made an accidental invention in my life. All my inventions are the result of careful consideration and rigorous experiments. "