The many benefits of LED technology are summed up in this video. Skip to content. Account Sign In. Instant Rebates are available to businesses Click to find out about your location. BulbFinder Our easy-to-use BulbFinder will let you find the correct bulb, step by step.
Worcester, MA Tel. Learn about the humble light bulb, how it came into being and how it has developed over the years. Ballasts and Dimmers - What do I need to know? Original carbon-filament bulb from Thomas Edison. Sign up to receive our best offers Subscribe.
Stay connected with Bulbs. Accepted Payments. When the Ford Motor Co. In some of these photos, Ford seemed attentive and alert, but Edison could be seen asleep — on a bench, in a chair, on the grass. His secret weapon was the catnap, and he elevated it to an art. He could go to sleep any where, any time, on anything. Contact us at letters time. Still life of the first electric light bulb, invented by Thomas Alva Edison in and patented on January 27, Several months after the patent was granted, Edison and his team discovered that a carbonized bamboo filament could burn for more than 1, hours.
Bamboo was used for the filaments in Edison's bulbs until it began to be replaced by longer-lasting materials in the s and early s. In , Lewis Howard Latimer, one of Edison's researchers, patented a more efficient way of manufacturing carbon filaments. And in , Willis R. Whitney invented a treatment for these filaments that allowed them to burn bright without darkening the insides of their glass bulbs. William David Coolidge, an American physicist with General Electric, improved the company's method of manufacturing tungsten filaments in Tungsten , which has the highest melting point of any chemical element, was known by Edison to be an excellent material for light bulb filaments, but the machinery needed to produce super-fine tungsten wire was not available in the late 19th century.
Tungsten is still the primary material used in incandescent bulb filaments today. Light-emitting diodes LEDs are now considered the future of lighting due to a lower energy requirement to run, a lower monthly price tag, and a longer life than traditional incandescent light bulbs. Nick Holonyak, an American scientist at General Electric, accidently invented the red LED light while trying to create a laser in the early s. As with other inventors, the principle that some semiconductors glowed when an electric current was applied had been known since the early s, but Holonyak was the first to patent it for use as a light fixture.
Within a few years, yellow and green LEDs were added to the mix and used in several applications including indicator lights, calculator displays, and traffic lights, according to the DOE.
Today, lighting choices have expanded and people can choose different types of light bulbs, including compact fluorescent CFL bulbs work by heating a gas that produces ultraviolet light and LED bulbs. Several lighting companies are pushing the boundaries of what light bulbs can do, including Phillips and Stack.
Phillips is one of several companies that have created wireless light bulbs that can be controlled via smartphone app. The Phillips Hue uses LED technology that can quickly be turned on or off or dimmed by a flick on a smart phone screen and can also be programmed. The higher-end Hue light bulbs can even be set to a large range of colors only about sixteen million and synced with music, movies, and video games. It can automatically sense the ambient lighting and adjust as needed, it turns off and on via motion sensor when someone enters the room, can be used as a wake up alert, and even adjusts color throughout the day to fit with human's natural circadian cycles and patterns of natural light.
The light bulbs also have a built-in learning program that adapts to inputs given by residents over time. And all of these functions can be programmed or monitored from any smart phone or tablet.
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