Reviews for Edison's Electric Light: The Art of Invention

The average rating for Edison's Electric Light: The Art of Invention based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2011-12-23 00:00:00 Alan Lueck I think Edison's greatest achievement was to develop a commercially viable incandescent light and the necessary system to power them. Others had worked on incandescent bulbs before, but without much luck in making them more than a laboratory curiosity. Between about 1878 and 1882, Edison and his team at Menlo Park suceeded in finding a workable carbon filament, developed ways of creating a high vacum in a glass bulb (needed to keep the filament from burning out too quickly), developing better electric generators to provide the power, developed a meter to measure electricity use, and worked out how to lay and insulate the wiring. Edison was not the first to think of using a carbon filament, and initially he had leaned towards the other alternatively commonly suggested, a platinum one. He decided upon using a high resistance filament so he could use a parallel circuit (i. e. not like your christmas tree lights, where when 1 bulb goes out the entire string goes dark). Much of the work was of "cut and try" nature, but was more focused on particular materials or techniques than this description suggests; and much of what needed to be known could not have been worked out by theory in any case. Edison was greatly aided by his strong financial backing and by his skilled team of workers. The book is based on a detailed study of laboratory notebooks (needed to support patent claims)and patent applications.

Review # 2 was written on 2018-05-25 00:00:00 Nick Castruita I read this book in college for history. I enjoyed it despite having no prior interest in Thomas Edison. If you are interested in this era of history, I recommend this book.