History of electric light

In 1848 W. E. Staite, who two years previously had made an arc lamp, invented an incandescent lamp. This consisted of a platinum-iridium burner in the shape of an inverted U, covered by a glass globe. It had a thumb screw for a switch, the whole device being mounted on a bracket which was used for the return wire. E. C. Shepard, another Englishman, obtained a patent two years later on an incandescent lamp consisting of a weighted hollow charcoal cylinder the end of which pressed against a charcoal cone. Current passing through this high resistance contact, heated the charcoal to incandescence. It operated in a glass globe from which the air could be exhausted. M. J. Roberts obtained an English patent in 1852 on an incandescent lamp. This had a graphite rod for a burner, which could be renewed, mounted in a glass globe. The globe was cemented to a metallic cap fastened to a piece of pipe through which the air could be exhausted. After being exhausted, the pipe, having a stop cock, could be screwed on a stand to support the lamp.

Moses G. Farmer, a professor at the Naval Training Station at Newport, Rhode Island, lighted the parlor of his home at 11 Pearl Street, Salem, Mass., during July, 1859, with several incandescent lamps having a strip of platinum for the burner. The novel feature of this lamp was that the platinum strip was narrower at the terminals than in the center. Heat is conducted away from the terminals and by making the burner thin at these points, the greater resistance of the ends of the burner absorbed more electrical energy thus offsetting the heat being conducted away. This made a more uniform degree of incandescence throughout the length of the burner, and Prof. Farmer obtained a patent on this principle many years later (1882).