Who invented the light bulb

The inventor of the incandescent lamp in the world is Thomas Edison, although Russians consider the inventor of the incandescent lamp of Alexander Lodygin, and the Americans - the same person that gave the world and the machine gun "Maxim", Khayrem Maxim. (Hiram Stevens Maxim, 1840-1916)

Thomas Edison patented the incandescent bulb in 1879, a year after the current model of Maxim and almost six years after the demonstration of the lamp Lodygin.

How did it happen?

The principle of the glow of a conductor when an electric current passed through it was known long before the invention of an incandescent lamp. But, unfortunately, in order for the conductor to glow bright enough, it was necessary to warm it up to a very high temperature. At that time only three materials were known to be suitable for making filaments: coal, platinum and tungsten. Platinum was too expensive, tungsten is also expensive and because of its refractoriness is too untechnical.

And the two inventors of the light bulb went completely different ways. Edison simply tested various materials, which at least somehow could come up for the role of filament, and Maxim began to explore materials that contribute to the longevity of the red-hot carbon filament. And such material turned out to be ... ordinary gasoline. A small amount of gasoline was poured into the glass flask, then the flask was sealed. Pairs of gasoline decomposed on the thinnest and hotest sections of the thread, thus cooling these areas and not letting the fine carbon filament burn out. A patent application was filed. And then it began ...

Thomas Edison around the same time, recruited a staff of researchers, secretaries for the processing of results and experienced glass blowers.

The material found in the research was ... South American bamboo. Edison immediately filed a patent application and allocated a large sum to lay a bamboo plantation on the South American island of Kyushu. Experts believe that it was Edison bribing officials of the patent office, so that they did not give "a go" to the competing application of Khayrem Maxim. The patent application of Edison himself was formalized almost instantly! A bamboo thread was used in electric bulbs until 1894, almost 15 years since the invention of the "bamboo" light bulb. Khyrem at that time was involved in several lawsuits, where his main goal was "to beat Edison."

Not wanting to "compete with Edison" and almost broke, Maxim went to Europe in 1881. He continued to invent, received patents and attended all events where inventors and industrialists gathered. He could do nothing more. And now, out of almost a thousand (!) Of his inventions, the modern world remembers only one thing - the machine gun "Maxim", which the inventor, according to untrustworthy data, invented completely by accident. In 1883, at an electrotechnical congress, someone advised Maxim "to invent a machine that would help Europeans cut each other's throats with greater efficiency."

Taking as a basis the mechanism of the store rifle "Winchester" and creatively reworking it, Khairem for incomplete two years created a working prototype of what the world later recognized as the "automatic machine gun" Maxim ".

The operation of the automation was carried out due to the kickback of the barrel when the shot was fired. At kickback, the whole bolt moved, while simultaneously throwing an empty sleeve and feeding the next cartridge from the other side. The recoil energy compressed the spring and, moving under the influence of this spring back, sent the bolt to the place and locked the breech. Then the cycle was repeated. In the first working model, it was sufficient to produce the first shot, and the weapon already fired without stopping. "All the bullets flew for some half a second. I was delighted! "- wrote then Khayrem in his diary.