First electric lightbulb

Question

Ok so where do you guys think that the first 3 wire lightbulb system was used. Obviously Thomas Edison invented it but i've heard Sunbury, Pennsylvania....and then i've heard New York City. What do you guys think?

Answer 1

The three wire system probably came along sometime in the 1880's.  It was the first attempt to raise the voltage higher than Edison's 100 volts and thus eliminate at least some of the heating loss in the wires.  By using + and - 100 volts plus a neutral (later it crept up to around 115 volts) they were able to double the voltage and still use the old lamps.  

We still use a similar trick nowadays when we transmit high-voltage DC.  

Answer 2

"Obviously" is not quite the case - there remains controversy as to who is really responsible for the modern light bulb, Joseph Swan or Thomas Edison.

Check out this Wikipedia page for all the history of the light bulb you could imagine.

Answer 3

I'd guess it was probably first used in Cragside House, Rothbury, Northumberland, UK. It already had arc-lighting in 1878 so I guess it would have be farily simple to convert to incandensant bulbs.

(Sir William George Amstrong did much work in implementing practical applications of electrics, which didn't break down. As well as being a country house, Cragside was also a show house, in which to awe his clients)

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Being originally from Sunderland, UK, I must note that Swan demonstrated an electric light bulb to a gathering of "worthy people" in Sunderland BEFORE Edison demonstated his version of a lamp. Thing is Swan's lamp burnt out before he could show it to patent inspectors in Newcastle, and in the time taken to replace/repair it, Edison managed to demostrate his bulb to patent inspectors. Eventually rather than enter in to a costly litigation/patent "war", they decided to colaborate (but seem to have used Swan's more reliable design!)