The History of Light Bulbs - The Origin of the Headlight
If you want to understand headlights, you have to understand the history of light bulbs in general first. The history and indeed evolution of these bulbs is long and interesting. It is only thanks to the incredibly efforts of physicist, scientists and chemists that we were able to have the headlights we have now. In fact, their story begins more than 200 years ago, when Sir Humphrey Davy managed to arc electric light, which allowed for the development of the Davy Miner Lamp.
This happened in 1802, where he showed how a light would work using just two wires. One end was attached to some charcoal, the other end to a battery. By 1820, a coil was developed by Warner de la Rue, for which he used a piece of platinum. He placed this coil inside an empty tube and allowed an electrical current to pass through the coil. This was the first light bulb, but it wasnâEUR(TM)t possible to commercialise it due to the high expense of platinum.
James Prescott Joule was the first to figure out that thermal energy is created when current goes through a high resistance conductor. Thermal energy, in turn, is able to become luminous or generate light energy. He then started the quest to find a filament that was able to work with this theory. The filament had to be practical, as well as cheap and small. Joseph Wilson Swan used carbonized paper, placing it in a partial vacuum in 1840. This was the birth of the patent of the incandescent lamp.
This bulb was really dim, however, and it didnâEUR(TM)t last very long either. So, he developed an improved version by 1874. One year later, this type of technology was made commercial by Thomas Eliot. He continued to work on his development as well, inventing the bamboo fibre filament lamp by 1880.
The shape we now know as the light bulb was developed by Henry Woodward and Matthe Evans. It was felt that inserting a gas, such as krypton or argon, would make the light bulb more efficient. The shape of the bulb meant that the gas was easily contained within the vacuum.
Since then, the development of light bulbs has shot up. By 1901, we were working with mercury vapour, then sodium vapour and then carbon filament. The tungsten filament was invented in 1906. We have come a long way to get from that to the Xenon HID lights we know today!
This happened in 1802, where he showed how a light would work using just two wires. One end was attached to some charcoal, the other end to a battery. By 1820, a coil was developed by Warner de la Rue, for which he used a piece of platinum. He placed this coil inside an empty tube and allowed an electrical current to pass through the coil. This was the first light bulb, but it wasnâEUR(TM)t possible to commercialise it due to the high expense of platinum.
James Prescott Joule was the first to figure out that thermal energy is created when current goes through a high resistance conductor. Thermal energy, in turn, is able to become luminous or generate light energy. He then started the quest to find a filament that was able to work with this theory. The filament had to be practical, as well as cheap and small. Joseph Wilson Swan used carbonized paper, placing it in a partial vacuum in 1840. This was the birth of the patent of the incandescent lamp.
This bulb was really dim, however, and it didnâEUR(TM)t last very long either. So, he developed an improved version by 1874. One year later, this type of technology was made commercial by Thomas Eliot. He continued to work on his development as well, inventing the bamboo fibre filament lamp by 1880.
The shape we now know as the light bulb was developed by Henry Woodward and Matthe Evans. It was felt that inserting a gas, such as krypton or argon, would make the light bulb more efficient. The shape of the bulb meant that the gas was easily contained within the vacuum.
Since then, the development of light bulbs has shot up. By 1901, we were working with mercury vapour, then sodium vapour and then carbon filament. The tungsten filament was invented in 1906. We have come a long way to get from that to the Xenon HID lights we know today!
