As early as 182 1, British scientists David and Faraday invented an electric lamp called an arc lamp. This kind of electric lamp uses carbon rods as filaments. Although it can emit light, it is dazzling, consumes a lot of electricity, has a short life and is not practical.
"Arc lamps are not practical. I must invent an electric lamp with soft light, which can be used by thousands of households." Edison made up his mind.
So, he began to experiment with this material as a filament: using traditional carbon ribbon as a filament, the filament broke as soon as it was electrified. Ruthenium, chromium and other metals are used as filaments. After being electrified, it will burn out at one o'clock. Using platinum wire as filament is not ideal. In this way, Edison experimented with 1600 kinds of materials. After repeated trials and failures, many experts believe that the future of electric light is bleak. Some famous British experts even ridiculed Edison's research as "meaningless". Some reporters also reported: "Edison's ideal has become a bubble.
Edison didn't flinch in the face of failure and some people's cynicism. He understands that every failure means a step closer to success.
Once, Edison's old friend Mackenzie visited him. Edison looked at Mackenzie's long beard as he spoke, and suddenly his eyes lit up and said, "Mr. Beard, I want to use your beard." Mackenzie cut a lock and gave it to Edison. Edison confidently selected a few thick beards, carbonized them and put them in the light bulb. Unfortunately, the test results are not ideal. "Then try it with my hair, maybe it's ok." Mackenzie said.
Edison was deeply moved by the spirit of his old friend, but he knew that hair and beard were the same, so he didn't take the old man's advice. Edison left to see the kind old man off. He helped the old man flatten the cotton-padded clothes he was wearing. Suddenly, he shouted again, "Cotton thread, why not try cotton thread?"
Mackenzie unbuttoned his coat without hesitation, tore off a piece of cotton cloth and handed it to Edison. Edison put the cotton thread in a U-shaped closed crucible and treated it at high temperature. Edison clamped the carbonized cotton thread with tweezers. Get ready to put it in the light bulb. However, because the carbonized cotton thread was thin and brittle, and Edison was too nervous, his hands with tweezers trembled slightly, and the cotton thread was cut off. Finally, Edison managed to put a carbonized cotton thread into the light bulb.
When night fell, Edison's assistant pumped the air out of the bulb and put it on the lamp holder. Everything is ready, and everyone waits for the result quietly. When the power is turned on, the light bulb emits golden light, which illuminates the whole laboratory. After 13 months' efforts, we tried more than 6,000 kinds of materials for more than 7,000 times, and finally made a breakthrough.
After further experiments, Edison found that it was the best to use carbonized Japanese bamboo filament as filament. So he began to mass-produce electric lights. He installed the first light bulbs on the research ship "Garnett" so that researchers could have more working hours. Since then, electric lights have been used in ordinary people's homes.
Later, people have been using this kind of light bulb with bamboo filaments. After decades, it was improved, that is, tungsten wire was used as the filament, and inert gas nitrogen or argon was filled into the bulb. In this way, the life of the light bulb is prolonged a lot. This is the light bulb we use now.
Edison began to study electric lamps from 1879. The first incandescent lamp material he chose was platinum, which had the highest melting point among the known metals at that time. However, platinum bulbs are too expensive, and the life span of incandescent lamps is only one or two hours. Edison also tried many other materials, such as aluminum, boron, chromium, gold, silver, titanium and tungsten. 1879,10,21On this day, he put the long-abandoned carbon into a light bulb with a much higher vacuum. It is found that carbon is higher than any platinum wire, and its melting point is very high, so there is no need for other adjusting accessories. A week later, Edison announced his invention. The next year, he successfully made a bamboo filament lamp that can be lit continuously for 1200 hours. Later, in 1904, Austrian Alexander Chengster and Flantz Naman invented the tungsten lamp, which was three times as strong as the bamboo filament lamp, and the former was replaced. Tungsten lamps have been mass-produced since 1907 and have been in use ever since.
After Edison, 1909, American Ke Renqi invented tungsten wire instead of carbon wire, which greatly improved the efficiency of electric lamp. Since then, electric lamps have leapt to a new level, and fluorescent lamps, iodine tungsten lamp and other lamps have mushroomed on the lighting stage. ?
Other inventions:
1. 1868 invented the voting counter. This is Edison's first patent in his life. The invention simplifies the voting procedure and can prevent voting fraud.
2. 1869 invented the universal printing press, also known as "Edison universal printing press".
The synchronous transmitter was invented on 3. 1874.
4. 1875 Invention of acoustic analysis resonator.
5. 1876 invented wax paper mimeograph.
On the basis of Alexander Bell 6. 1877, the telephone alarm was improved and the carbon block transmitter was invented. In the same year, the tin foil cylinder phonograph was invented, which was the original phonograph.
7. 1879 On the basis of humphry davy, the inventor of the original electric lamp, we invented the carbonized cotton filament incandescent lamp, and developed various additional devices such as parallel circuits, fuses and insulating materials, which greatly improved people's lives.
The electric meter was invented in August.1880.
The film phonograph was invented in September.1889.
10. 1902 invented the nickel-iron alkaline battery, also known as "nickel-iron alkaline battery".
The mobile film projector was invented in11.1891.
12. 19 10 contributed to the appearance of talking movies.