Judging

Differences

Similarities

Joseph W. swan. interview

N.O: Hello I would like to start off by introducing myself, my name is nick, and you are?

Joseph: Hello my name is Joseph W. Swan, from Bishopwearmouth England my dear boy!

N.O: Okay can you just give me a little insight in what you do or have done?

Joseph: I am a Chemist, where I experiment with carbon filaments between the 1850’s and 60’s. Sir Thomas Edison was not the only inventor trying to invent a light bulb as you can see. I was one of his main competitors.

N.O: Okay. I heard you and Edison even worked together, Is this true? Mistake me if I’m wrong.

Joseph: Why yes. Yes we have, we shared ideas on similar topics.

N.O: In what year did you create the Incandescent Light Bulb? And how is it different from Thomas Edison’s light bulb?

Joseph: Thomas Edison created his in 1802, my Incandescent light bulb was presented in 1878 to the New Castle Society.

N.O: It almost seems like (outside of Great Britain) you are not credited for the creation of the light bulb. Why do you think this is?

Joseph: Like other inventors I used a carbon rod with a low electrical resistance in my lamp. Due to the relationship between resistance and current, a low resistance element, my carbon rod gave off light but did not last very long.

N.O: Did you and Edison ever collaborate in any other way?

Joseph: (cough! Cough!) well you see my dear boy! In America Edison had been working on copies of the original light bulb patented by me, trying to make them more electrical. He started a campaign stating he was the real inventor.

N.O: How did you feel about Edison’s campaign?

Joseph: I agreed Edison could sell the lights in America, while I retained rights in Britain.

N.O: Wow that’s amazing, Okay so we know about some of the awards Edison got: like the French legion of Honor, in 1881  Grand officer of the Crown in 1889. What are some of your achievements?

Joseph: Okay dear boy, Let me refresh my memory. In 1904 I was given Kighthood by king Edward Vll. In 1894 I was elected a fellow of the Royal Society, And I was  also given the Royal Society Hughes Medal.                                               obrien, nikolas. "lighting Revolution:joseph swan." americanhistory. americanhistory.com, 3/25/2011. Web. 25 Mar 2011. <http://americanhistory.si.edu/lighting/bios/swan.htm>      obrien, nikolas. "joseph swan." en.wikipedia.org. wikipedia, 3/25/2011. Web. 25 Mar 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Swan>.                      

I was a chemist, physicist, and inventor, who is most famous for my important role in the development of electric lighting. I was born in Sunderland, England on October 31, 1828 to John and Isabella Swan. A particularly inquisitive child interested in creative endeavors, I began an apprenticeship with a pharmacist when I was 13. Afterwards, I began as an assistant in a firm of manufacturing chemists, in which I worked my way up, eventually becoming a partner.

obrien, nikolas. "molecular expressions." micro.magnet. micro.magnet, 3/25/2011. Web. 25 Mar 2011. <http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/optics/timeline/people/swan.html>.

Edison was not the only inventor trying to make a light bulb. One of his major competitors was me.a chemist, I experimented in the 1850s and 60s with carbon filaments. My early efforts failed however, because the vacuum pumps of those years could not remove enough air from the lamps. By the mid-1870s better pumps became available, and I returned to My experiments.

obrien, nikolas. "lighting Revolution:joseph swan." americanhistory. americanhistory.com, 3/25/2011. Web. 25 Mar 2011. <http://americanhistory.si.edu/lighting/bios/swan.htm>.

Like other early inventors, I used a carbon rod with low electrical resistance in My lamp. Due to the relationship between resistance and current, a low resistance element required lots of current in order to become hot and glow. This meant that the conductors bringing electricity to the lamp would have to be relatively short (or impossibly thick), acceptable for an experiment or demonstration, but not for a commercial electrical system.

obrien, nikolas. "lighting Revolution:joseph swan." americanhistory. americanhistory.com, 3/25/2011. Web. 25 Mar 2011. <http://americanhistory.si.edu/lighting/bios/swan.htm>.

When working with wet photographic plates, I noticed that heat increased the sensitivity of the silver bromide emulsion. By 1871 I had devised a method of using dry plates and substituting nitro-cellulose plastic for glass plates, thus initiating the age of convenience in photography. Eight years later I patented bromide paper, developments of which are still used for black and white photographic prints.

obrien, nikolas. "joseph swan." en.wikipedia.org. wikipedia, 3/25/2011. Web. 25 Mar 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Swan>.

In 1883 the Edison & my United Electric Light Company was established. Known commonly as "Ediswan" the company sold lamps made with a cellulose filament that I had invented in 1881. Variations of the cellulose filament became an industry standard, except with the Edison Company. Edison continued using bamboo filaments until the 1892 merger that created General Electric -- and that company then shifted to cellulose.

obrien, nikolas. "lighting Revolution:joseph swan." americanhistory. americanhistory.com, 3/25/2011. Web. 25 Mar 2011. <http://americanhistory.si.edu/lighting/bios/swan.htm>.

While searching for a better filament for his light bulb, I made another advance. I developed and patented a process for squeezing nitro-cellulose through holes to form fibers. My newly established Swan Electric Company, which by merger was to become the Edison and Swan United Company, used the cellulose filaments in their bulbs. However, the textile industry also used my method to create artificial fibers for clothing and domestic products.

obrien, nikolas. "lighting Revolution:joseph swan." americanhistory. americanhistory.com, 3/25/2011. Web. 25 Mar 2011. <http://americanhistory.si.edu/lighting/bios/swan.htm>.

 I was awarded the Hughes Medal. I was elected to the Royal Society in 1894 and was president of the Institution of Electrical Engineers from 1898 to 1899. I also served as president of the Society of Chemical Industry in 1901, the same year I was awarded an honorary doctorate degree from Durham University. Knighted in 1904.

obrien, nikolas. "molecular expressions." micro.magnet. micro.magnet, 3/25/2011. Web. 25 Mar 2011. <http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/optics/timeline/people/swan.html>.                                                                                                                  

The chemical company that employed me, among other goods and services, produced photographic plates, which led my to some of his most impressive scientific innovations. In 1862, I patented the first commercially feasible procedure for carbon printing in photography. Then, having observed that heat increases the sensitivity of silver bromide emulsions, I invented the dry plate in 1871, followed by the development of bromide photographic paper in 1879.

obrien, nikolas. "molecular expressions." micro.magnet. micro.magnet, 3/25/2011. Web. 25 Mar 2011. <http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/optics/timeline/people/swan.html>.

By late 1878, I reported success to the Newcastle Chemical Society and in February 1879 demonstrated a working lamp in a lecture in Newcastle. My lamps contained the major elements seen in Edison's lamps that October: an enclosed glass bulb from which all air had been removed, platinum lead wires, and a light-emitting element made from carbon.   

obrien, nikolas. "lighting Revolution:joseph swan." americanhistory. americanhistory.com, 3/25/2011. Web. 25 Mar 2011. <http://americanhistory.si.edu/lighting/bios/swan.htm>.

Me in my mid 50's   

obrien, nikolas. "lighting a revolution." lamp inventors. me, 3 22 2011. Web. 22 Mar 2011. <http://americanhistory.si.edu/lighting/bios/swan.htm>.

introduction

In 1860, I was was able to demonstrate a working device, and obtained a UK patent covering a partial vacuum, carbon filament incandescent lamp. However, the lack of good vacuum and an adequate electric source resulted in a short lifetime for the bulb and an inefficient light. In 1882, I took Edison to court in Britain for patent infringement. Edison lost and as part of the settlement, Edison was forced to take me in as a partner in his British electric works.