A D V E N T U R E S in C Y B E R S O U N DJoseph Wilson Swan, Sir : 1828 - 1914
The British chemist and inventor Joseph Wilson Swan, (b. Oct. 31, 1828, d. May 27, 1914), made important contributions to the development of photography and electric lighting. In 1864 he patented the carbon process for printing photographs in permanent pigment and in 1877 discovered that heat could effect a photographic emulsion. In 1879 he patented bromide paper. In 1860 Swan developed a carbon-filament incandescent lamp (some twenty years before Edison !!) and in 1878, produced an all-glass hermetically sealed bulb.
Joseph Wilson Swan, physicist and chemist, born in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear. He became a manufacturing chemist, patented the carbon process for photographic printing in 1864, and invented the dry plate (1871) and bromide paper (1879). In 1860 he invented an electric lamp which anticipated Edison's by twenty years, and in 1879 demonstrated a lamp which considerably improved on Edison's patent model. In another direction altogether, he was the first to produce practicable artificial silk.
Joseph Wilson Swan (b. Oct. 31, 1828, Sunderland, Durham, Eng. d. May 27, 1914, Warlingham, Surrey), English physicist and chemist who produced an early electric light bulb and invented the dry photographic plate, an important improvement in photography and a step in the development of modern photographic film. After serving his apprenticeship with a druggist in his native town, Swan became first assistant and later partner in a firm of manufacturing chemists in Newcastle. Working with wet photographic plates, he noticed that heat increased the sensitivity of the silver bromide emulsion. By 1871 he had devised a method of drying the wet plates, initiating the age of convenience in photography. Eight years later he patented bromide paper, the paper commonly used in modern photographic prints. Some years earlier, in 1860, Swan developed a primitive electric light, one that utilized a filament of carbonized paper in an evacuated glass bulb. Lack of a good vacuum and an adequate electric source, however, resulted in a short lifetime for the bulb and inefficient light. His design was substantially the one used by Thomas A. Edison nearly 20 years later. In 1880, after the improvement of vacuum techniques, both Swan and Edison produced a practical light bulb. Three years later, while searching for a better carbon filament for his light bulb, Swan patented a process for squeezing nitrocellulose through holes to form fibres. In 1885 he exhibited his equipment and some articles made from the artificial fibres. The textile industry has utilized his process. Swan was knighted in 1904.
So, who invented the lightbulb? Most people would answer little Tommy Edison, but they would be wrong. In fact, they were being used as electric lights for more than 50 years prior to his patent date. In addition, Edison was not the first to patent the modern design of the lightbulb. It seems that an inventor named Joseph Swan demonstrated the same carbon filament lightbulb in Newcastle at least ten months prior to Edison's announcement. In addition, Swan received a British patent in 1878 for the same bulb that Edison patented in the U. S. in 1879. Did Edison know about Swan's work, or did they simply work independently and arrive at the same conclusion? There is no question that Edison had seen a Scientific American article on Swan's preliminary work with carbon filament electric lighting. But Swan's work had not been perfected at this point, so Edison may have arrived at his invention by improving on Swan's preliminary designs. Eventually, Edison was the one making the big $$$ off this invention and Swan was rightfully upset with this situation. So, if you were in Swan's boots, what would you do? Sue the pants off of Edison. And that is exactly what Swan did. Edison lost in the British courts for infringement of Swan's patent. As part of the settlement, Edison was forced to take Swan in as a partner in his British electric works. The company was called the Edison and Swan United Electric Company. Eventually, Edison acquired all of Swan's interest in the company. In the United States, Edison didn't have the chance to put up a fight. The U.S. Patent Office had ruled on October 8, 1883 that Edison's patents were based on the prior art of a man named William Sawyer and were invalid. In addition, Swan had already sold his U.S. patent rights to the Brush Electric Company in June of 1882. So why does Edison get all the credit for the invention of the lightbulb? Very simple, he owned the power company - what was to eventually become General Electric. After all, what use is a light bulb without electricity? Edison set up a system of power distribution in New York City. He used the DC (direct current) system, which is no longer used.
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