Why is Thomas Edison credited as inventing the light bulb when the British inventor Joseph Swan beat him to it

Question

Swan had a patent for it in 1878, with Edison a year later. What happened?

Sorry Tallulah, he was born a Mackem.

Answer 1

Swan must have been a geordie then

Answer 2

No. He perfected it and made it commercially producible... Henry Woodward became into an early pioneer interior the form of the incandescent lamp. On July 24, 1874, he and his significant different, Mathew Evans, a lodge keeper, patented a greater advantageous electric powered easy bulb. Sir Joseph Wilson Swan (31 October 1828 – 27 could 1914) became into an English physicist and chemist, maximum well known for the invention of the incandescent easy bulb for which he won a patent in 1878. His domicile became into the 1st interior the international to be lit by using a easy bulb. The inventor Thomas Alva Edison experimented with thousands of distinctive filaments to discover purely the dazzling components to glow properly and be long-lasting. In 1879, Edison got here upon that a carbon filament in an oxygen-loose bulb glowed yet did not use up for 40 hours. Edison at last produced a bulb that should glow for over 1500 hours.

Answer 3

You're quite right -- Swan was first; but that's not relevant. Most people associate Edison with the lightbulb; but in fact, neither Swan nor Edison came up with that idea. By the mid-to-late 19th century any number of people were working with creating a lightbulb.

What Edison actually DID invent (and the real reason he gets the credit) is not the bulb, but the filament. Edison came up with a tugsten alloy filament that was able to burn for over one-thousand hours, thereby making the lightbulb practical. Swan's copper filament didn't last long at all. The real race, therefore, was for the filament; and Edison won that race.

Cheers, mate.

Answer 4

Because Edison was the first to make a version that could be mass-manufactured easily, and the first to market it as a commercial product. Edison made his filaments last much longer (up to 1200 hours by the time he filed his patent) than Swan's as well.

*Lots* of people made contributions to the development of an incandescent light bulb, not just Edison and Swan. These particular two, however, didn't seem to fight about priority -- their two "electric" companies merged in Britain and they worked together. Swan himself later wrote that Edison had a greater claim to the invention of the light bulb than he did.

Answer 5

Americans believe Edison invented everything. Joseph Swan was from my home town of Sunderland so I've always 'known' he invented the light bulb but the truth is so many people were working on the same idea it's difficult to credit one person.

Answer 6

I always thought that Edison was not the first to make a lightbulb but the light bulb he made lasted longer. Same sort of thing with the car. Henry Ford didn't make the car just a better way to make it, the assembly line. Our population is going down the drains.

Answer 7

half a dozen guys invented the light bulb before edison
and btw edison's company and swan company merged a few years later

Answer 8

Swan's worked but it had low light output and short life so at first it was impractical to use. Edison and Swan actually formed the Ediswan company and worked togetether. Here's an interesting article....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Swan

Answer 9

More to the point, Edison is credited with many inventions that Tesla and others invented. Edison was one of the first engineering Managers, who outlined the research and delegated the work to many others, taking the credit in most cases. Financing the work in almost all, and taking the risk. So depending on your viewpoint, he earned the credit.

Answer 10

Swan invented the carbon filament that was disintegrating too fast.
Thomas edison invented the neutral gas inside of the glass that protected the filament.
He made the invention usefull because of less maintenance.
The fact that he was american and devellop the manufacte tp produce it invention helped a lot.

Answer 11

It was Edison who invented the light bulb, at three o'clock in the morning. His wife shouted down to him " For God's sake, Tom, turn that light out and come to bed"!