Evolution of the Electric Incandescent Lamp (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from Evolution of the Electric Incandescent Lamp

In the following pages an effort has been made to bring together, in a convenient and accessible form, some of these detached fragments which seemed to have present or prospective historical value, and at the same time, as far as practicable, to indicate for the benefit of future investigators the sources from whence they have been derived. It is hoped that each reader will thus be enabled to formulate his own answer to the inquiry as to whom the world is principally indebted for modern incandescent electric lighting.

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This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from Evolution of the Electric Incandescent Lamp

The outcome of a race of diligence between two independent but equally meritorious inventors, is perhaps as often as otherwise determined by chance or accident. In this respect, it may not inaptly be compared to the result of a horse-race, in which the fortunate winner carries off, not only all the honors, but the purse as well, although his nose may have passed under the wire barely an inch in advance of some of his no less deserving competitors. It is a matter of common observation that when the fullness of time arrives, the discovery or invention for which the world has been waiting is certain to be made. The critical student of affairs perceives, that however wonderful or however unexpected that invention may appear, it is seldom that it is not found to be a necessary sequence of a long series of other discoveries and inventions which have preceded it. Even in those rare cases in which an improvement of indisputable novelty and originality is made known to the industrial world, it is scarcely ever sufficiently perfected in its details to be capable of practical use until it has been worked upon and improved by many hands and many minds.

But it has always been the way of the world to consider every such invention, especially when of a character to appeal to the minds of the masses, or to identify itself closely with the everyday life of the community, as the work of some particular individual, who, as it were by common consent, is regarded as its sole originator and contriver, and upon him, fame, honor and wealth are lavished without stint, in childlike unconsciousness of the universal truth that inventions of this character are not made, but grow; that they are not the fruit of momentary inspiration, but on the contrary, are the inevitable results which from time to time mark the slow but constant progress of scientific and industrial evolution.

The history of electric illumination forms no exception to the general law, but the materials for that history are hidden in the voluminous records of the Courts, and of the Patent Office; in the files of newspapers, and in the transactions of learned societies.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.