Illuminating the World

Look at this screen, now at a light bulb, now back to me… clearly, this isn’t a light bulb. But it is performing the same task of artificial illumination. But it’s not like you need purchase a Westinghouse light bulb for a Westinghouse light bulb socket, some standardization needed to occur. First and foremost, the filament. Early experiments tried numerous metals with high melting points, with platinum being a popular choice amongst experimenters. Of non-metallic materials tested, carbon-based filaments were popular amongst inventors who approached, or in the case of Thomas Edison, succeeded in producing a usable incandescent light bulb. He didn’t necessarily succeed because he did something different than others, he succeeded because he produced a better quality bulb and paired it with a standard power system. Power for lights has a minor story in having originally been DC, as Edison’s electrical system generated, but later was converted to AC power which continued to work with light bulbs at the time. Paired with ability to transmit AC power over long distances, it served as a better power source for light bulbs and reduced wiring requirements to convert between AC and DC, or to have a separate DC power generation loop.

Light sockets varied between many different shapes and sizes. Eventually falling to a select couple formats including the Bayonet mount (two pins stick out of a cylinder, with a bump at the bottom of the socket element), is/which was popular in European nations, the Bi-pin/Bi-post which simply exposed the leads of the bulb out the bottom, the wedge base which you may be familiar with on Christmas lights, and the most common in the North America, numerous European nations, and expanding to other countries along with being standardized by both ANSI and IEC, the Edison screw. Originally developed by Edison and sold by General Electric as Mazda lights. Each Edison screw has a standardized screw thread size, cap size (the part attached to the light bulb), and holder size (the part the light bulb is attached to). Each socket size is designed to hold a different bulb size, from small E10 (10mm diameter) base for small light bulbs such as those used in flashlights. E26 (26mm diameter) is often used in North America for a standard light bulb in common appliances. Depending on the country, some Edison screws determine voltage requirements too, such as E39 being for high-power street lights.

Light bulb shapes share much in common with light sockets. Many light bulb shapes depended on the company they were manufactured by. Most eventually ended up being shaped similar to Edison’s original bulb, which after becoming a little shapelier, is now common for many North American households. But many depend on the use, location, and power requirements. For example, a reflector-based light is designed to provide a very focused but high-powered light source, which is why we often call them flood lights as they “flood” the area with light. Low-power light bulbs are often smaller then high-power light bulbs. Even position, such as decoration, can determine if a light bulb is the general light bulb shape or looks like, for example, a flame.

The last major area of light bulb standardization, and the one fluctuating the most right now, is actually the light source. Edison and other’s original light bulbs were incandescent that “burned” a filament to produce light. The most common non-incandescent light source is florescent bulbs, that not only come in a very different format compared to incandescent (a tube bulb with a bi-pin contact point), and at a lower power requirement along with distinct lighting properties. Something similar, called a cold-cathode fluorescent lamp, is often located in LCD computer monitors and LCD TVs. While fluorescent lights don’t seem like they will be changing too much in the coming years, their more efficient nature and ability to be shaped has led them to become a popular replacement for incandescent bulbs, known as compact fluorescent lamp. These CFLs use the same Edison screw as others do, and come in similar related shapes. The latest light bulb to shine (*cough* ha ha *cough*) is the light emitting diode, or LED. Just like CFLs, they use the same socket and similar shape to incandescent, but they have the advantage of being more efficient, or equal to fluorescent/CFL for similar lighting requirements… but being able to last nearly 2.5 to 5 times longer than CFL, which already have nearly 10 times the lifespan as incandescent light bulbs. The only downside LEDs have right now is they are nearly 17 times the cost of incandescent and 7 times the cost of CFL. They are already popular with electronics manufacturers, but the qualities are also a reason it’s one reason they are being pushed to be adopted by consumers in many retail stores today.