October 21 (1879) – the day light came to the world

The world lived in utter darkness since time immemorial and perhaps would have continued to do so for many more years till on this day, the 21st October, Thomas Alva Edison invented the first incandescent light bulb in 1879. Although, he was neither the first nor the only person trying to invent an incandescent light bulb, as there have been others trying to do what Edison did and took the lead.

The very bulb today lightens up our dark nights and one doesn’t feel whether it is day or night. An incandescent lamp is glass tube in which a filament is heated to incandescence by an electric current. Today's incandescent light bulbs use filaments made of tungsten rather than carbon of the 1880's. To these bulbs, now another revolutionary invention of energy saver bulbs has been added, which produce more energy and light with lesser electrical input as compared to an ordinary an incandescent bulb.

Edison lived with 1,093 patents issued to him than any other inventor till date. Besides this revolutionary invention, Edison is also credited with inventing the phonograph and the motion-picture camera, besides making contributions in the fields of telegraphy, telephone communications, and several business procedures. He even predicted the idea of an aero plane as far back as 1871, when he said on New Year's Day, 1871, "A Paines engine can be so constructed of steel & with hollow magnets . . . and combined with suitable air propelling apparatus wings . . . as to produce a flying machine of extreme lightness and tremendous power."

I could go on and on but it would better to read the following link on the man who brought light to the world on this day October.

Read more about The Undiscovered World of Thomas Edison

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This also happens in USA

Whenever anything goes wrong in our country, those who have been to USA or any other foreign country like the UK, France of Germany would instantly remark, “This never happens in USA (or …).” Since we are a developing country with fewer resources and large number of mouths to feed, chances of corruption always loom over head. As for decision on legal matters, the lawyers drag the trials years after years to wear out the weak party to win the case. And when the victims of delayed justice lament, those who had seen the world remark, “This never happens in …..”

But is it true? I do not know of smaller issues but yesterday my son told me about the movie “Flash of Genius,” and the story of its main character Robert Kearns. And it was an eye opener. Robert Kearns suffered at the hands of the major automobile giants of USA and had to fight his case for over a decade.

It all started on his wedding night when a champagne cork shot up and hit his left eye to render him almost blind in his left eye. Relying almost on his one eye, one day while he was driving in a light rain, the speed of the wiper kept disturbing him. And that gave him an idea – the wipers of the car should operate intermittantly in light rain. Genius as he was, he designed what today we call "intermittent wipers." He then contacted major automobile manufacturers for selling his product but none responded. However the stole his idea and Ford and Chrysler started using this technology in their cars without his permission. So you see, such things do happen in USA.

Robert sued both companies for patent infringement. But the case against Ford which was entered in 1978, went on trial in 1990, after almost 12 years. Ford lost and so did Chrysler in 1992. It cost Robert some $ 10 million to fight his legal battle spanned over almost 12 years in case of Ford and 10 years in case of Chrysler. He was compensated for his efforts and was paid $ 10 Million from Ford and $ 30 Million from Chrysler.

Although he won his legal battle, he lost his marriage in the process as his wife, disgusted by the tensions of the long trials, left him. His cases against GM, Mercedes and some Japanese car makers were dismissed as he could not field his papers well, may be tired of his earlier legal battles. He also lost his life in 2005 while suffering from cancer.

As if he was the only inventor who underwent such treatment? No, there have been many cases where inventors have been robbed of their inventions in USA. Gordon Gould fought for some thirty years with the US Patent and Trademark office to obtain patent for his LASER and related technologies. Nikola Telsa fought for inventing radio in 1900 but died nine months before the Supreme Court verdict in his favour. The decision came as a shock for many as we all otherwise know Galileo Marconi to be the inventor of radio. One Walter C Avera won a lawsuit against GM and Ford car makers for illegally using his technique of coolant recovery system he invented in 1970.

So now you know, if you did not know before, “This also happens in USA.”

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