Long live the light! Or the evolution of lighting fixtures. A History of Lighting - From Ancient Fire to Modern LEDs The Evolution of Lighting

22.09.2019

Modern light bulbs have a rich and beautiful history that goes back centuries. Since the beginning of time, people have tried to bring light into their homes.

At first, the fire in the cave was synonymous with comfort and safety, as it warmed with its warmth and drove away predators. Many peoples inhabited the night space with monsters, evil spirits, witches, they said that it was at night that evil spells wake up, the dead rise from the graves ... And the most reliable means of salvation from night horrors was considered to be light, which could destroy all the fears of the world. Light meant purity, comfort, protection.

A little later, people learned to be friends with fire so much that they began to make strong torches, using them not just for lighting, but as signaling equipment and weapons. So the fire turned into a symbol of strength, and its power over people became almost endless. The devices that helped people illuminate the space were constantly changing and improving. The fire in the stove or hearth was not enough to disperse the darkness in the houses. The Egyptians, Romans and Greeks used a flammable oil solution and special dishes made of clay for lighting; a cotton wick served as a fuse. The inhabitants of the coast of the Caspian Sea put oil as fuel in such proto-lamps. A little later, the first candles appeared in Europe - bowls filled with thick fat, with a wick made of cloth or just chips. Fat burned longer than oil, but the smell when burning such a candle left much to be desired. Dipped candles were widely used - simple wicks that were dipped in fat and lit in a special plate or lantern. In the 15th century, the first cast beeswax candles appeared. They were expensive as the wax was difficult to obtain.

Human progress in the whaling industry and the development of chemistry in the 17th and 18th centuries brought new materials for candles: whale oil and stearic acid. These materials and their derivatives burned cleanly, did not smoke, and gave almost no smell. The candle industry became one of the top lucrative businesses, and the competition in this area was very fierce.

The use of kerosene as a fuel for lamps also gained momentum and was very popular in the 18th-19th centuries. Kerosene was inexpensive, which helped its distribution. However, it had a number of serious drawbacks, in particular, kerosene lamps were smoked, and the smell of burnt fuel was absorbed into clothes, furniture, and was poorly eroded from the room.

In a number of European countries, gas lighting was used. The so-called "luminous gas" contained benzene, which gave a fairly large amount of light. The gas was easily delivered to the luminaires through special tubes, was easy to use and had a high level of fire safety compared to candles and kerosene lamps.

But in 1879 an event occurred that changed the world forever - Thomas L. Edison improved the design of the Lodygin lamp and proposed a durable incandescent lamp. Candles, which have illuminated the human path in the universe for many centuries, have lost their purpose, but have survived as an aesthetic component of life.

Do not think that the invention of the lamp was an instantaneous event. The history of the light bulb is a whole chain of discoveries made by different scientists at different times. From the beginning of the 19th century, experiments with electricity were actively carried out, which had considerable public resonance. In 1802, the outstanding Russian physicist V.V. Petrov, who studied the properties of electrical influences on various objects, discovered the phenomenon of an electric arc - a bright discharge that occurs between coal rods brought together at a certain distance, and pointed out the possibility of its use in the lighting industry. The phenomenon of the electric arc laid the foundation for the creation of arc lamps. In 1809, the Frenchman Delarue began the first experiments on creating a lamp with a filament that would give light.

This is how two directions appeared in the creation of electric lighting. Scientific research continued for almost 80 years, and at the end of the 19th century, the incandescent lamp as we know it was put into production. In the 20th century, an incandescent lamp appeared in every home. It changed shapes, sizes, colors, but in one thing it was unchanged - in the principle of work. The incandescent light bulb consumed a large amount of energy, but was safe to use and performed its primary function perfectly.

But there was also a third direction in the study of electric light - the glow of gases under the influence of electric discharges. For the first time, the glow of gases under the influence of an electric current was observed by Mikhail Lomonosov, passing a current through a glass sphere filled with hydrogen. And in 1886, Nikola Tesla patented the argon gas-discharge lamp, the forerunner of the compact fluorescent lamp. Discharge lamps have undergone many changes, but the revision has made it possible to use them as fluorescent lamps in public spaces, factories, offices, etc.

At the beginning of the 20th century, a wide variety of experiments with electricity were carried out. As a result of one such experiment in 1907, British inventor Henry Round documented the interesting effect of light output when using a solid-state diode. Later, the Soviet physicist O. Losev in 1923 observed a similar glow, conducting experiments with silicon carbide diodes. These experiences can be considered the birth of the LED lamp.

We live in an amazing time when it is possible to observe all sources of light in action. We use them in different ways, change them to our liking, look for the most suitable ones, create an atmosphere and coziness with their help. The lighting industry is developing, and perhaps we will witness new discoveries in the field of optics and physics of light.

The modern world glows with bright colors even from space: space stations and the crew on board can contemplate an amazing picture at night: a luminous web of bright city lights. It is a product of a person's vital activity, his hard mental inventive work. It's hard for us to imagine, but some 300 years ago people used completely unimaginable things to illuminate streets and houses. This is what I want to tell you about, about the amazing and interesting history of lighting, from the most primitive methods to modern chandeliers, sconces, pendant lamps and other devices, thanks to which our houses and apartments are so cozy.

The ancient world is full of mysteries and fascinating lessons, despite the fact that most modern people are gradually losing interest in it. As for lighting, there is also something interesting here, because primitive people did not even use ordinary fire. At first, people only knew how to support it: somewhere lightning will strike, a tree will catch fire and several people may settle there, who will make efforts to keep the flame from extinguishing. Fire is quite rare in nature, so the tribes that managed to stumble upon a fire in a primeval forest are practically lucky. Unfortunately, the exact period has not been established when people learned to manually make fire, but most scientists agree that this happened about 10 million years ago.

From that moment, in fact, the evolution of thought began, since thanks to fire, a person had much more free time, and life became more comfortable, since the flame of fire bestowed warmth at a night fire under the shadow of the stars. So, perhaps, philosophy itself was born! But let's not deviate from the topic, let's return to artificial lighting.

Energy born of an idea

As you know, during the combustion reaction, thermal energy is released, and during this reaction, photons - particles of light - are also released. Experimentally (since there was no adequate theoretical basis yet), people gradually found materials that can burn for a long time, releasing light and heat. These are various oils, resinous wood, natural resins, wax, blubber (whale oil) and even oil! By the way, Greek fire, known at one time as an extremely formidable weapon, according to some versions, was precisely oil.

All these combustible materials were used by people to illuminate their homes and streets - special chandeliers were created (several vessels fastened into one system), sconces or torches were attached to the wall to illuminate the room. Unfortunately, this method of lighting is not safe, and there are many history of fires when someone accidentally turns over a lamp or drops a torch on a haystack. In addition, people cut down many trees and hunted whales, and the invention of electricity in the 19th century changed everything - whales began to live a little more calmly (but deforestation even accelerated, but for different reasons).

"Let there be light," said Petrov and connected the coal rods

In 1802, the Russian scientist Petrov, who was also a professor of physics, conducted experiments in his laboratory with the help of a battery of galvanic cells built by him. He managed to connect two carbon rods using different discharges (positive and negative). As they approached, the coals began to warm up to the temperature when they began to glow. After that, he pushed them apart and saw a unique phenomenon - a bright curved flame. It was the world's first electric arc. Then there was a boom, and a huge number of scientists began to engage in research in this area. This is how the lamp of the Russian scientist Yablochkov, Lodygin and, finally, Thomas Edison, who is mistakenly considered the first person in the world to invent the light bulb, was born. Electric light is the product of the painstaking work of many scientists, among whom Edison himself also occupies a prominent place, having significantly improved the mechanism of operation of the incandescent lamp and managed to significantly extend its service life.

The modern world: great achievements in the field of lighting

The range of lighting fixtures today is simply amazing. These are fluorescent lamps, and various energy-saving lamps, as well as LED, halogen, metal halide, sodium and other types of bulbs. You can talk about the invention of each light bulb for a very long time, but this is useless. A modern user can easily buy a lamp with the type of light that he will be comfortable watching. To do this, you do not need to know the technical details, it is enough just to learn about the advantages of certain lighting devices. A wide variety of lighting fixtures and bulbs opens up great possibilities in terms of decoration and lighting of premises. You just need to know where to go. you can buy high-quality lighting fixtures and other specialized equipment, and on the most favorable terms. The Homelight store is the official representative of Philips in Ukraine, so you can buy high-quality European products on the most comfortable and favorable terms.

Often, we get so used to the conveniences of our century that we don’t even think about where the most familiar things for us come from. Take, for example, electrical "light" - the main source of performance for the entire global industry. Every day we press the switch to brighten our home, turn on computers, televisions, electric kettles, and many other electrical appliances, not to mention the activities of the world's electrical networks in general. How did it all develop? The author of the site, Anna Baklaga, suggests remembering this path - from fire to electricity.

The first candles appeared in the third millennium BC

Artificial light has been used by mankind for many centuries. First - torches, torches and oil lamps, then - wax and tallow candles, and then - kerosene lamps and electric lamps. A bonfire served as a stationary light source, and torches, the design of which changed over time, as a portable light source: from a simple firebrand taken out of the fire to a handle wrapped in tow and soaked in oil, fat or oil.

Later, mankind invented a lamp - a jug filled with oil, with a wick (rope or cloth) immersed in it. In the third millennium BC, the first candles appeared - bars made of melted solid animal fat, with a wick inside. They have given rise to a major breakthrough in the lighting industry. Distinguished by great convenience and being simple and economical to manufacture, the candle contributed to the creation of a whole family of various luminaires. In the Middle Ages, beeswax was used as a material for candles. Currently, paraffin is used for these purposes.

In the second half of the 19th century, kerosene lamps came into use.

At the end of the 17th century, a candle chandelier was formed. It was a massive metal frame, on which were attached many pendants made of glass or natural stone. The weight of such a chandelier could reach the order of a ton. In order to light candles in this structure, it was necessary first to lower the chandelier, and then, with the candles already lit, to raise it. The candles were extinguished with special metal caps, which were attached to a long handle.

Already in the second half of the 19th century, kerosene lamps came into use, and a little later they were rapidly replaced by gas lamps, which became a truly revolutionary solution to the problems of street lighting. Meanwhile, in spite of the fact that the gas lanterns regularly performed their service to illuminate the streets, they smoked uncontrollably. The solution to the problem was the use of a heating grid, which is a cloth bag soaked in a solution of various salts. When ignited, the fabric burned out, leaving a thin trace that glowing brightly when heated under the influence of a flame.

In 1800, Alessandro Volta invented the first battery

Meanwhile, humanity began to feel the flaws in the previous types of lighting. And in 1800, Alessandro Volta invented the battery, which became the first electric light source. This invention gave people the first permanent and reliable source of energy and led to all the important discoveries in this field. Following this, the first electric light bulb, or incandescent lamp, was invented in 1809 by the Englishman Delarue. A battery-powered flashlight appeared. True, the light was emitted not by an incandescent lamp, but by an electric arc between the carbon electrodes, and the batteries occupied an entire table. In 1809, Humphrey Davy demonstrated arc light at the Royal Academy of Sciences in London. There were no generators at the time, and batteries were the only source of power.

In 1854, Heinrich Goebel created a lamp based on a charred bamboo filament placed in a vacuum. In 1872, Russian engineer Alexander Lodygin applied for the invention of an incandescent lamp and in 1874 received a Russian patent. Later, he patented his invention in many countries.

In 1878, Pavel Yablochkov improved the design by placing the electrodes vertically and separating them with a layer of insulator. This design was called "Yablochkov's candle" and was used all over the world. For example, the Paris Opera House was illuminated with such "candles". The electric arc gave a bright and sufficiently balanced spectrum of light, which made it possible to use it very widely.

Modern light bulbs have been in production since 1909

In 1879, Thomas Edison completed work on the carbon filament light bulb, which became one of the greatest inventions of the 19th century. His merit was not to develop the idea of an incandescent lamp, but to create a feasible, widespread electric lighting system with a strong filament, with a high and stable vacuum, and with the ability to use multiple lamps at the same time. By 1884, more than 90,000 arc lamps were illuminating major American cities.

Modern bulbs with a tungsten spiral and filled with an inert gas began to be produced a hundred years later, from 1909. They were designed by Irving Langmuir. In the USSR, there was the concept of "Ilyich's lamp", which was associated with the beginning of large-scale electrification of the country, starting in 1920.

About 180 years have passed since the invention of the first carbon incandescent lamp. The revolution in the world of lighting of that time has long been left behind and few people think about how it all began. Over time, technologies changed: a lamp with a carbon spiral was replaced by an incandescent lamp with a platinum spiral, then a lamp with a charred bamboo filament in an evacuated vessel and a great many other modifications of lamps. Many materials have not been tried to create a more efficient incandescent lamp, but this has not brought significant results. In modern incandescent lamps, a tungsten coil is used, but this rare material also makes it possible to achieve that only 5% of the energy is converted into light. The global revolution took place only in the era of energy-saving and LED lamps. Based on a completely different principle of luminescence, these lamps have allowed humanity to significantly improve the quality of lighting and reduce its costs.

Let's try to trace the entire history of light sources and the types of lamps that exist in our time.

Nowadays, all lamps can be divided into three main groups: incandescent, discharge and LED. People of the "old school" flatly reject the last two types, which is in vain. But let's go in order.

Incandescent lamps

An incandescent lamp is an electrical light source, the luminous body of which is a conductor heated by the flow of an electric current to a high temperature. All incandescent lamps can be divided into five types:

The advantages of incandescent lamps include their low cost, small size, instant switching on, absence of toxic components, operation at low ambient temperatures. But their disadvantages, nevertheless, are not comparable with modern requirements for light sources. These include: low efficiency (efficiency no more than 5%), short service life, a sharp dependence of luminous efficiency and service life on voltage, color temperature ranging from 2300 to 2900 K, high fire hazard.

Incandescent lamps are gradually becoming a thing of the past, but let's pay tribute to the history that paved the path from the beginnings to modern lighting sources:

1838-1854- the first lamps powered by electric current. Inventors: Belgian Jobar, Englishman Delarue, German Heinrich Goebel.

July 11, 1874 Years Russian engineer Alexander Nikolaevich Lodygin received a patent for a filament lamp. As a filament, he used a carbon rod placed in an evacuated vessel.

In 1876 Russian inventor and entrepreneur Pavel Nikolaevich Yablochkov developed an electric candle and received a French patent for it. The Yablochkov candle turned out to be simpler, more convenient and cheaper to use than the Lodygin carbon lamp. Yablochkov's invention can also be attributed to discharge lamps.

In 1879 American inventor Thomas Edison patents a lamp with a platinum filament. In 1880, he returned to carbon fiber and created a lamp with a 40 hour lifetime. Simultaneously, Edison invented the cartridge, the base and the switch. Despite such a short lifespan, its lamps are replacing the gas lighting used until then.

In 1904 Hungarians Dr. Sandor Yust and Franjo Hanaman received a patent for the use of a tungsten filament in lamps. In Hungary, the first such lamps were produced, which entered the market through the Hungarian firm Tungsram in 1905.

In 1906 Lodygin sells a patent for a tungsten filament to General Electric. Due to the high cost of tungsten, the patent finds only limited use.

In 1910 William David Coolidge invents an improved tungsten filament manufacturing method. Subsequently, the tungsten filament displaces all other types of filaments.

The remaining problem with the rapid evaporation of the filament in a vacuum was solved by the American scientist Irving Langmuir, who, working since 1909 at General Electric, came up with the idea of filling lamp bulbs with an inert gas, which significantly increased the lamp life.

Discharge lamps

Experiments on creating a glow in gas-filled tubes began in 1856. Most of the glow was in the invisible range of the spectrum. It was only in 1926 that Edmund Germer proposed increasing the operating pressure within the flask and coating the flasks with fluorescent powder, which converts the ultraviolet light emitted by the excited plasma into uniform white light. As a result, the era of gas discharge lamps began.

Currently E. Jermer is recognized as the inventor of the fluorescent lamp. General Electric later bought Jermer's patent, and by 1938 had brought fluorescent lamps into widespread commercial use.

1927-1933- Hungarian physicist Denis Gabor, working for Siemens & Halske AG (today Siemens), developed a high-pressure mercury lamp, which is now commonly used in street lighting.

A significant contribution to the improvement of the fluorescent powder, later called a phosphor, was made in the 30s of the last century by the Soviet physicist Sergei Ivanovich Vavilov.

1961 year- creation of the first high-pressure sodium lamps. In the late 70s of the last century, General Electric was the first to launch sodium lamps on the market, and a little later, metal halide lamps.

In the early 80s the first compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) appeared.

In 1985 OSRAM was the first to introduce a lamp with an integrated electronic ballast.

The whole variety of gas-discharge lamps can be represented by the following diagram:

The most popular of this group are, perhaps, compact fluorescent lamps. They save energy up to 5 times compared to incandescent lamps, while their service life is about 8 years. The body of this lamp is not very hot, which allows it to be used everywhere. In addition, fluorescent lamps can have different color temperatures and different appearance options.

But, unfortunately, CFLs have several disadvantages, which include:

Significant reduction in service life when working in networks with voltage surges, as well as with frequent switching on and off.
The spectrum of such a lamp is linear. This leads not only to incorrect color rendering, but also to increased eye fatigue.
Compact fluorescent lamps contain 3-5 mg of mercury.
The use of backlit switches leads to periodic, once every few seconds, short-term ignition of the lamps (in high-quality lamps, invisible to the eyes), which leads to an early failure of the lamp.
Conventional CFLs are not compatible with dimmers. The cost of dimmable lamps is about 2 times higher.

For these reasons, the question of new technologies in the manufacture of light sources remained open. LED lamps stepped into the light.

LED lamp

LED light sources are based on the glow effect of semiconductors (diodes) when an electric current is passed through them. Small size, efficiency and durability make it possible to manufacture any lighting devices based on LEDs. Today, LEDs occupy a significant share of the light source market and are used everywhere.

The first report on the emission of light by a solid-state diode was made in 1907 by the British experimenter Henry Round of the Marconi Company. It is noteworthy that this company later became part of General Electric and exists to this day.

In 1923 Oleg Vladimirovich Losev in the Nizhny Novgorod radio laboratory showed that the glow of the diode occurs near the p-n junction. The two copyright certificates he received for the Light Relay (the first was announced in February 1927) formally assigned Russia the priority in the field of LEDs, which had been lost in the 1960s. in favor of the United States after the invention of modern LEDs suitable for practical use.

In 1961 Robert Bayard and Gary Pittman of Texas Instruments discovered and patented infrared LED technology.

In 1962 Nick Holonyak at General Electric developed the world's first practical LED operating in the light (red) range.

In 1972 George Craford (a student of Nick Holonyak), invented the world's first yellow LED and improved the brightness of red and red-orange LEDs by 10 times.

In 1976 T. Pearsall created the world's first high-performance, high-brightness LED for telecommunications applications by inventing semiconductor materials specially adapted for transmission over optical fibers.

LEDs remained extremely expensive until 1968 (around $ 200 per unit). Monsanto was the first to mass-produce visible light-emitting diodes for use in indicators.

Hewlett-Packard was able to use LEDs in its early mainstream pocket calculators.

The advantages of LED lamps include:

The main disadvantages of LEDs are primarily related to their high cost. So, for example, the price / lumen ratio of super-bright LEDs is 50-100 times higher than that of a conventional incandescent lamp. In addition, two more points can be distinguished:

The LED requires a constant rated operating current. Because of this, additional electronic components appear that increase the cost of the lighting system as a whole.
Relatively low temperature limit: high-power lighting LEDs require an external heatsink for cooling, because they have a structurally unfavorable ratio of their size to the heat output (they are too small) and cannot dissipate as much heat as they release (despite even higher efficiency than lamps of other types).

Today, experts agree that the near future is in lighting for LEDs. There is currently no more efficient and practical technology.

Considering the growing need of mankind for artificial lighting, it can be assumed that new, more efficient technologies will appear. But they will come to replace the LEDs, which in the coming years will become as commonplace as when incandescent lamps.

Every day we all, without hesitation, use such a wonderful thing as electric lighting. Lamps have become for us the same integral part of everyday life as toothbrushes, but few people remember and know about how the development of lighting devices actually took place, whose contribution to the formation of the electric power industry was the most significant, and how the Americans once again “warmed hands "on the research of all mankind.

So, the topic of today's story is the story of lighting as it is, with the voicing of facts and dates behind which lie great discoveries and the tireless work of great inventors.

As with any historical topic, the development of electricity will be impossible to fit in full in a regular article. But we will try to recall the most important milestones of this process, and remember the scientists who spent days and nights doing their job so that today we are with you: we go by car, watch TV, use smartphones and light up our home at night.

Playing with fire

It is believed that the first source of fire for the ancient man (let's call him the Tamer) was lightning, striking the trees and igniting them. The curious and brave Tamer approached the fire and felt the warmth it gives.

Then the Tamer flashed a thought (recall that today scientists are inclined to believe that the brain of an ancient man worked much better than that of his contemporaries, since he constantly had to solve the problem of survival, which made his mind sharp and quick), why I feel cold for at night in your shelter, because you can heat it. He took the burning branch and ran home joyful.

Since then, the Tamer and all his numerous relatives and descendants have learned not only to warm themselves by the fire, but also to cook delicious hot food on it, to illuminate the space around them, to find religious use for it, and most importantly, to kindle the flame on their own, since the new lightning may not strike nearby for years or even decades.

Fire attachments have also changed over time:

Initially, the fire burned in the middle of a stone cave, evenly heating and illuminating the space around it.
The fire was then placed in a special place called a hearth to protect oneself and young children from burns and injuries.

In Russia, they came up with the idea of using a lit wood chip called a torch as a source of light. The principle is very simple - it was fixed at an angle on a stand with a metal tip (light) and the lower end was set on fire. A metal sheet or vessel with water was placed under the fire to protect the house from fire.
Over time, people began to discover new substances that can support combustion. Various oils and resins were used, thanks to which new sources of illumination appeared - oil burners and torches.

It is now much easier to illuminate large spaces. The lamps burned for a long time, and gave even dim, but uniform illumination. Many years later, such burners began to be used for street lighting.

In the royal castles and city halls, special employees appeared, responsible for the burning of such lamps.

But the history of the development of lighting with fire did not stop there. After many thousands of years, fat suppositories appeared. The properties of fat burning became known to man long before that, it was simply not possible to find a practical application of this information earlier. The author of the article cannot even imagine how much time and effort it took to figure out that a thin stick should be dipped in melted fat and allowed to harden. Truly, human intelligence and diligence are limitless!

The use of fire as a source of light does not end there. In 1790, the French engineer Philippe Le Bon began working on processes for distilling dry wood and was soon able to isolate a gas that burned much brighter than any other light fixture of that day. For some time he continued his experiments, improving the process, and soon saw the light of the first gas burner, for which Philip received a patent.

London's Pell Mall is considered the first street in the world to be lit with gas burners - in 1807, King George IV ordered this, as the street was considered the busiest and required traffic regulation.

Gas lighting of streets and squares came to Russia after more than 50 years - such lamps appeared on the streets of St. Petersburg and Moscow in the 60s of the 19th century.

Gas lighting was a real revolution in science and technology at that time. The first burners were far from perfect and often caused fires, but over time, their design was refined, and they continued to serve people. Such lamps were used for a very long time, even after the appearance of electric light.

Electricity and lighting on it

Well, we got to the fun part - and this is the history of electric lighting. It is difficult to overestimate the role of electric light in the life of a modern person, since absolutely everything is tied to it! Today, the absence of a light bulb in the entrance is a real tragedy for its residents.

So, history itself as a science raises many questions. Many modern authoritative scientists are inclined to believe that the historical reality is far from the one that we are taught today in school.

We will leave discussions on this issue for professionals, but we are interested in the history of the creation of electric lighting, which can be safely called reliable, since it, for the most part, has developed in the last 250 years, and is not distant from us by the dust of time.

Milestones in the era of electricity and an epilogue

First of all, we will describe in more detail the penetration of electric light into our life and recall all the main events and discoveries that contributed to the arrival and development of such lighting. We will tell you about prominent scientists, whose names are unjustly forgotten today.

1780 year- hydrogen lamps have been created, in which an electric spark is used for the first time in history.
1802 year- glowing glowing wire made of platinum and gold is open.

1802 year- Russian scientist, experimental physicist Vasily Vladimirovich Petrov, who independently studied electrical engineering, discovers the phenomenon of an electric arc between two carbon rods. In addition to light radiation, he discovers and proves the practical application of this effect for welding and melting metals, as well as their recovery from ores. Petrov makes a number of important discoveries, so he is rightfully called the father of domestic electrical engineering.
1802 year- V.V. Petrov discovers the effect of the glow of a glow discharge.
1820 year- English astronomer Warren de la Rue demonstrates the first known incandescent lamp.

1840 year- German physicist William Robert Grove for the first time uses electric current to heat the filament.

1841 year- English inventor F. Moleins patents his light bulb, in which powdered charcoal shone, placed between two platinum rods.
1844 year- American scientist Starr is trying to create lamps with carbon filament, but the results of his experiments are ambiguous.
1845 year- King receives a patent in London for the use of filaments made of coal and metal for lighting.

1854 year- Heinrich Goebel, while in America, for the first time creates a lamp with a thin carbon filament. To her, he illuminates the window of his store, in which he sold watches made by him.
1860 year- the first gas-discharge mercury tubes appear in England.

1872 year- Russian electrical engineer Lodygin demonstrates his incandescent lamps, illuminating the auditoriums of the Technological University in St. Petersburg on Odessa Street. Two years later, he received a patent for his invention in several countries at once.
1874 year- Pavel Nikolayevich Yablochkov, a Russian military engineer, electrical engineer and entrepreneur, creates the first installation in the world to illuminate a railway with an electric searchlight mounted on the nose of a locomotive.

1876 year- P.N. Yablochkov invents a candle made of two coal rods separated by a dielectric (kaolin). This invention was a revolution in electrical engineering and was widely used for city lighting. We'll talk more about this in the next chapter.
1877 year- Maxim, an American inventor, makes a lamp from a platinum strip without a transparent bulb.
1878 year- Swann, an English scientist, demonstrates his carbon-rod lamp.

Let us allow ourselves a small lyrical digression. Where is the famous inventor Thomas Edison hiding in this whole series of discoveries?

Despite the fact that Edison himself conducted about 1200 experiments with lamps with his own hands, he can rather be called a talented entrepreneur who managed to finalize the design of the lamps. The fact is that the main effects and types of lamps had already been invented at that time.

Edison buys up all the necessary patents, merges technology, and invents the incandescent lamp holder that we are familiar with to this day. We are not belittling the merits of the famous American inventor, it is simply unfair to believe that an incandescent lamp is only his handiwork.

Edison's lamps use the same principle as Yablochkov's candles, with the only difference that the whole structure is placed in a vacuum flask, thanks to which the lamp began to work much longer.

In 1880, Thomas Edison received a patent for his invention and began mass production, which is gaining momentum from year to year. Edison became a rich man, while Yablochkov died in 1894 in Saratov in poverty.

1897 - German scientist Walter Nernst creates metal filament incandescent lamps. It is based on the Edison lamp.
1901 - early 20th century. Cooper-Hewitt invents the low pressure mercury lamp.

1902 - Russian scientist of German origin Bolton uses tantalum for the filament.

1905 Auer uses tungsten and osmium for filament.
1906 Kuh invents the high-pressure mercury lamp.
1920 - the halogen cycle is opened.
1913 Langier invents the tungsten coil gas-filled lamp.

In the photo - a low pressure sodium lamp

1931 Pirani introduces his low pressure sodium lamp.
1946 Schultz creates a xenon lamp. In the same year, a high-pressure mercury lamp with a phosphor appears.
1958 - The first incandescent halogen lamps are created.
1960 - high pressure mercury lamps with iodine additives.
1961 - The first high pressure sodium lamp is invented.

1962 Nick Holonyak creates the first visible LED for General Electric. By the way, this company was founded by Thomas Edison.
1982 - The halogen lamp can now operate at low voltage.
1983 - fluorescent lamps become compact.
2006 - appearance on the market of LED lamps for home use.

In fact, the above list is far from complete. It was possible to include in it the discoveries of many effects, but, unfortunately, we have limited space, and we chose the most important in our opinion.

If you are interested in diving deeper into this issue, then look for information on the Internet or in scientific reference books.

The role of Yablochkov in the development of the electric power industry

How not to talk about electricity itself, and the discoveries associated with it. The first experiments of scientists began back in 1650. It was since then that many scientists "fell ill" with this issue, and the result of their labors was the creation of electrical mechanical machines.

Since the mid-19th century, there has been an increase in the use of electric motors. Technique with such a drive began to gradually displace steam engines.

This was greatly facilitated by the introduction into production of the so-called "Yablochkov candle". No other invention had ever received such rapid and widespread adoption.

It was a real triumph for the Russian inventor, who also owns many other discoveries:

Yablochkov came up with a way to connect an arbitrary number of lamps to a power source. No one had thought of this before, and each lamp was powered by a separate dynamo.
Petr Nikolaevich invented and assembled the first electric current transformer.
Yablochkov learned to use alternating current, which before him was considered dangerous and not finding practical use.
Created the first alternator.
He came up with several more light sources.
Created many electric cars.
Invented the first galvanic car battery.

Today, many of the ideas voiced by a talented Russian scientist find new applications in electrical engineering, but he began his career by trying to improve the Foucault regulator, which was widespread at that time.

In 1974, a government train was supposed to leave Moscow for Crimea, and the administration of the Moscow-Kursk railway decided to illuminate the passage in order to increase safety. They turned to Yablochkov, who was rumored to be interested in electrical energy.

Yablochkov places his searchlight on the locomotive, which works on the principle of forming an electric arc. The arc lamp had to be constantly adjusted due to the fact that the electric arc occurred only when a certain distance between the carbon rods was observed. The rods themselves burned out during operation, therefore, a regulating mechanism was required that would move the rods towards each other at the required speed.

The result of the experiment showed that the design of the regulator needed to be simplified, since it required constant attention, and Yablochkov began to think about this problem. Along the way, he conducted experiments on the electrolysis of sodium chloride solution.

In the course of one of these experiments, parallel coals in a saline solution touched each other, and a bright electric arc instantly flashed. It was then that the principle of operation of a lamp without a regulator came to the scientist's head.

In 1975 Yablochkov took a dynamo he had made to Paris and applied for a patent. In a speech at a meeting of the French Society of Physicists, he announced the principles of his invention and demonstrated them in action.

On April 15, 1876, while in London, Yablochkov publicly demonstrates the work of his candle at an exhibition of physical devices. The large audience was delighted. It is this date that is considered triumphant in the biography of the scientist.

This was followed by the rapid spread of the novelty, but in 1881 an incandescent lamp was introduced to the world, which could work up to 1000 hours. The novelty was much more economical, so the cost of using electricity became noticeably lower.

Modern lighting lamps

Oddly enough, but today we still use Edison lamps and "Yablochkov candles". And if the former are living out their days, supplanted by their luminescent and LED counterparts, the latter have received a complete rebirth.

The electric arc light is back in the form of halogen car bulbs. The use of halogens has made it possible to extend the life of the filament. This also made it possible to create lamps of higher power.

Of course, these lamps are made using new technologies and they use completely different materials than 140 years ago, but the basic principle of operation remains the same as before.

What do we use for lighting today? Fluorescent lamps are very widespread. They are used for street lighting, industrial lighting, schools, kindergartens and homes. In the 80s of the last century, they learned to make such lamps compact, which made it possible to install them in chandeliers and table lamps.

In other words, modern fluorescent lamps are called energy-saving lamps, and this is not their only plus:

The use of such lamps made it possible to reduce the consumption of electricity for lighting by 6-7 times;
They are fireproof, since they do not heat up much during operation;

There are also enough disadvantages of such lamps:

Price is the most important one. The average cost of such a lamp is 200-300 rubles, and this refers to the low-quality segment.
The lamps have a spiral shape, which does not suit every luminaire for aesthetic reasons. True, over time they learned to place them in additional flasks of various shapes.

Disposal of energy-saving lamps is a whole problem, since they contain mercury, the vapors of which are considered very toxic.

As you can imagine, the disadvantages are quite serious. This pushed the technology to a new leap - LEDs began to be used as the main source of light.

Although LEDs were discovered back in the middle of the 20th century, they began to be used as lamps only at the beginning of the 21st century. The reason lies in the fact that LEDs emit in a very narrow range, which made it difficult to create a light source acceptable to the human eye. In addition, this light radiation is incompatible with human vision and can harm it.

All of these reasons led to a long development stage, during which most were resolved, and since 2006 LEDs have become a full-fledged light source.

Their arrival marked the following benefits for the acquirers:

Power consumption has been reduced even when compared to luminescent energy-saving opponents;
The heat dissipation of such lamps is at a very low level and is directed not towards the radiation, but towards the lamp base, which is still colder than that of competitors;
Long service life, calculated for multiple cycle of switching on and off. According to this parameter, no other lamp reaches the level of LEDs;
Color spectrum - a disadvantage has turned into an advantage, since the variety of color radiation has become very large;
Simple disposal - to throw away the lamp you do not need to worry about the consequences or run to the collection point;
LED lamps are environmentally friendly - no harmful substances are emitted during their operation;
Many LED lamp housings are made of durable plastic that can easily survive drops from a height of several meters.

But as usual, there were some drawbacks, which we are also obliged to voice:

Some bulbs have flickering that is invisible to the eye. This applies to cheap products from China and other Asian countries. Such lamps can be harmful to human health.
The same inexpensive products can emit in a spectrum harmful to the human eye.
The emission of light from the LED occurs strictly in one direction, which makes the illumination angle very small compared to opponents. To solve the problem, lamps of the "corn" type were designed, as in one of the photos above. In them, the LEDs are located around a central rod, which resembles the ear of the culture after which they are named.
Over time, individual LEDs in the lamp can burn out, causing a drop in brightness. On the one hand, the lamp continues to work, but on the other hand, its power may no longer be enough for comfortable use, and replacement is inevitable.

Previously, the price of LED lamps could be attributed to the disadvantages, but recently they are becoming more affordable. So, for example, a good lamp can be bought for 150 rubles. Products of well-known brands such as Phillips are still very expensive (from 500 to 2000 rubles).

Advice! It is not so easy to answer the question of which lamp to choose today! To learn more about modern lighting devices, the video that we attach to the article will help.

From here we draw our conclusion that the evolution of lighting devices is still far from complete. But what we use today is already close to this. Who knows, but maybe tomorrow, they will discover something conceptually new, and LEDs will also become a part of history, but for now, they can be safely called the pinnacle of development of lighting devices.

The history of the development of electric lighting, briefly described in our article, is far from fully voiced. It was created by more than one thousand bright minds, each of whom contributed to this interesting business. And no matter how scanty this contribution may seem, without this step there might not have been the next. Well, we try not to forget our story and tell our readers about it. That's all! All the best!