Lost Chapters
The Lightbulb: Gold Item
No single person invented the light bulb. Inventors in several countries built electric lamps for decades, and in 1879 Thomas Edison's team in New Jersey made the first one that was practical, with a carbon filament that burned for many hours. Joseph Swan in Britain was working on nearly the same idea at the same time.
- Cost
- 1 crystal
- Type
- Item · Invention
- Color
- Gold (Inventors & Industry)
- Rarity
- Common
- Set
- Liberty & Lightning (Set 1)
Build 1 Lightbulb Token.
Brilliant creation that forever changed mankind's relationship with darkness and bedtime!
The real history
The National Park Service answers the question plainly: Edison did not invent the light bulb. For at least fifty years before him, inventors had tried to light the world with electricity.
Humphry Davy made an early electric lamp in 1802. In 1840 Warren de la Rue sealed a coiled platinum wire in a vacuum tube. In 1872 Alexander Lodygin of Russia built a lamp with a carbon rod, and in 1874 two Canadian inventors, Henry Woodward and Mathew Evans, patented a similar bulb. Edison later bought their patent. In Britain, Joseph Swan spent years on bulbs with carbonized paper filaments, had an improved process by 1878 and received a British patent in 1880.
Edison's team at Menlo Park, New Jersey, tried thousands of materials. In the fall of 1879 a filament of carbonized cotton thread glowed for at least thirteen hours, and Edison filed a patent on November 1. In December 1879 the lab complex was lit up for the public. Charles Batchelor later found that carbonized Japanese bamboo lasted far longer.
What set Edison apart was the system. His team also developed dynamos, wiring, fuses, meters and switches so a bulb could work in a real home. The Edison Electric Illuminating Company brought electric light to Manhattan in 1882. Swan's company and Edison's British company merged in 1883.
Sources
- Frequently Asked Questions, Did Edison Invent the Light Bulb?, Thomas Edison National Historical Park, National Park Service
- The Electric Light System, Phonograph and Motion Pictures, Thomas Edison National Historical Park, National Park Service
- Edison's Incandescent Lamp, Engineering and Technology History Wiki (IEEE)
- 1879, 125 Years Ago, American Heritage
How the card plays
The Lightbulb costs 1 crystal and is a Gold Item (Invention). Its card text is Build 1 Lightbulb Token. That gives you a 0/1 Inventor token that draws you a card when it is destroyed.
The token is a cheap blocker that replaces itself, so it is a fine target to chump block with or to trade away, and it keeps your hand full. The card also costs only 1, which makes it ideal for cards that care about Items. Thomas Edison, Static Hero Thomas Edison builds a second Lightbulb Token whenever you play an Item, so this card gives you two bodies. Finished Product Finished Product adds +1/+0 to its equipped character each time you play another Item. The Steam Engine The Steam Engine refreshes its equipped character, and a 1-crystal Item is the cheapest way to trigger it.
- Playable in decks led by Nikola Tesla.
- A Signature card of Nikola Tesla: it costs 1 less while Tesla leads your deck.
- In the Tesla starter deck (2 copies). Deck code:
LC2-BV8BYAFhAWICYwFkAWUCZgFnAWgBaQFqAWsCbAFtAm4BbwFwAXEBcgFzAnQBdQF2AXcBeAJ5AnoBewF8AX0BfgF_AXiK - A deck holds up to 3 copies of this card.
Questions about The Lightbulb
Did Thomas Edison invent the light bulb?
Not by himself and not first. Many inventors built electric lamps before 1879. Edison's team made the first one that lasted long enough to be practical and built the wiring system to power it.
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