Light bulbs or incandescent lamps come in different forms. Whilst there are conventional ones that we are aware of, there are also those that are produced for a particular function. Projector bulbs, for example, are used for projectors. Then there is the full-spectrum light bulb, which emits a specialized light known as the white light and are used to remedy sickness caused by lack of exposure to sunlight.
However, it would be interesting to learn how cheap light bulbs is now available. Take note that “cheap” here is used to mean commercial or that any average end user can afford. We take this into consideration for the reason that before the development of light bulbs, there were a series of experiments and inventions that took place. Although the discovery of the incandescent lamp is generally credited to Thomas Edison, there are many other scientists that have contributed to what we have at present.
It was in 1802 that Humphry Davy of Great Britain invented the first incandescent light. The current passed through a thin strip of platinum, a metal that has an extremely high melting point. The light may have not been clear enough and did not stay long enough, but this paved the way for further experiments and discoveries up until the number one convenient light bulb was created by Thomas Edison in 1879.
Another contribution came from Warren de la Rue, who enclosed a coiled platinum filament in a vacuum tube where electric current passed through it. It was a useful design, but as you know, platinum costs high and, therefore, not sensible for business use. More experiments and designs were produced, and these include those by Frederick de Moleyns (1841), John W. Starr (1845), Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin (1851), and A.N. Lodygin (1872).
Additional attempts to producing practical incandescent lamps were done prior to Edison. Associated with these attempts are Joseph Wilson Swan (1850) and Henry Woodward and Matthew Evans (1874). While Swan used carbonized paper filaments in a clear glass bulb, Woodward and Evans made their incandescent lamps with different shapes and sizes of carbon rods fastened between electrodes in glass cylinders that were stuffed with nitrogen.
Then there was Thomas Edison, who, in 1879, begun to do major study on developing a useful light bulb. He made many experiments with platinum as well as other metal filaments, but in the end, he returned to using a carbon filament. The rights for his work was conferred to him in 1880.
Over the years, more enhancements have been made concerning incandescent lamps. We now enjoy various types of light bulbs, for instance halogen light bulbs, compact fluorescent light bulbs, and other types of light bulbs. Of course, we would not have been using them if not for the great thinkers responsible for the concept of practical incandescent lamps.