INTEGRATION OF KNOWLEDGE AND IDEAS

Thomas Edison and the Invention

of the Light Bulb
(Genre: Biography)

1 During his lifetime, Thomas Alva Edison 4 Edison set a team of designers and
(1847–1931) filled about 3,500 notebooks with engineers to work on designing ways to make
his designs and ideas. Many of his inventions the bulbs last longer. They also designed the
changed modern life. He improved telegraph numerous other devices needed to support an
machines, created the first device to record electrical system, including switches, lamps,
Copyright © by William H. Sadlier, Inc. Permission to duplicate classroom quantities granted to users of Common Core Progress.

sound, and invented the first motorized sockets, and insulation for electric wires.
copier. He made more powerful telephone
5 Newspapers published articles on the new
transmitters so that people’s voices could be
invention, and people came to Edison’s lab to
sent farther and sound louder. Yet, there is one
see it for themselves. The public clamored for
invention that stands out among all Edison’s
electric light in their homes and businesses.
remarkable achievements—the light bulb.
Edison, ever practical, had a plan to give them
2 Edison was well known for the practicality what they demanded. He set up an electric
of his creations. In fact, he once said that he generator, Pearl Street Station, in New York
would never invent something that people City. This new kind of generator had the ability
wouldn’t want to use. In 1878, he decided to to send electricity to many locations at once.
tackle the challenge of designing an electric He supervised the wiring of buildings near
light that could be used indoors in homes the generator. Finally, in 1882, Thomas Edison
and businesses. flipped the switch that lit up more than twenty
buildings in New York’s financial district.
3 Edison filled hundreds of notebooks
with his ideas about how to create artificial 6 Edison spent the next few years
light. He experimented for more than a year improving his electrical system and setting
with different filaments—thin wires that up companies to help spread it around
would burn, but not melt, when electricity the country and the world. He continued
passed through them. After testing more inventing, and over the course of his life was
than 6,000 materials, he finally settled on a issued over a thousand patents, including
filament of cotton thread, rolled in carbon and patents for the first motion-picture camera,
then baked. He inserted the carbonized thread the alkaline battery, and a long-lasting
into a glass bulb, then forced the air out of cement. But it was for his patent number
the bulb with a vacuum pump and sealed the 223,898, the electric lamp, that the world
glass. Removing the oxygen from the bulb would forever remember Thomas Edison.
would keep the thread from burning out too
quickly. Finally, he connected his creation to
an electric current. It burned for 13 hours.

Unit 11 ■ Reading Informational Text: Integration of Knowledge and Ideas 1

 INTEGRATION OF KNOWLEDGE AND IDEAS

Who Really Invented the Light Bulb?

(Genre: Web site)

[Link]/history/edison
Copyright © by William H. Sadlier, Inc. Permission to duplicate classroom quantities granted to users of Common Core Progress.

INTRODUCTION TIMELINE SPEECH LETTER

Click any link above to get a glimpse of the story behind the story.

Introduction
1 Thomas Edison is often presented in history books as the sole “inventor”
of the light bulb. But we shouldn’t be too quick to give him all the credit. In
reality, many inventors in the 1800s were working on ways to use electricity
for artificial light. Yes, Edison was the first to the patent office. But he didn’t
do it alone. His invention pulled together the ideas of many others. Because
he was already a well-known inventor, Edison had more funding and support
than others. He had a team of researchers helping him. He also had enough
influence to be able to build not only a light bulb, but an entire system for
providing electricity to homes and businesses.

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Who Really Invented the Light Bulb? continued

[Link]/history/edison

INTRODUCTION TIMELINE SPEECH LETTER

Click any link above to get a glimpse of the story behind the story.

History of the Incandescent Bulb — Timeline

1809 English chemist Humphry Davy invented the first electric light, known as an
“arc lamp.” He connected the ends of two wires to a battery. The other ends
Copyright © by William H. Sadlier, Inc. Permission to duplicate classroom quantities granted to users of Common Core Progress.

were attached to a charcoal strip, which caused the strip to glow brightly.
1820 Warren de la Rue invented a lamp that passed an electrical current through
a platinum coil in an enclosed tube. It was too expensive for practical use.
1835 James Bowman Lindsay demonstrated a lighting system with a prototype
light bulb.
1850 Edward Shepard invented an incandescent arc lamp with a charcoal filament.
1854 German watchmaker Henricg Globel invented the first true light bulb.
His bulb used a carbonized bamboo filament inside a glass bulb.
1875 Herman Sprengel invented a mercury vacuum pump. This pump made it
possible for other inventors to create a practical light bulb. The pump could
remove air from the bulb, allowing the filament inside to burn longer.
1875 Henry Woodward and Matthew Evans patented a design for a light bulb.
Their patent was later purchased by Thomas Edison.
1878 English physicist Sir Joseph Swan invented a light bulb that lasted 13.5 hours.
His bulb used a carbonized cotton filament.
1879 Thomas Edison invented a carbonized cotton filament that burned for 40
hours. His bulb design was based on the patent he purchased from Henry
Woodward and Matthew Evans.
1881 Lewis Latimer, a member of Edison’s research team, invented a
carbon filament.
1903 Willis Witnew invented a metal-coated carbon filament that would not
darken the inside of the glass bulb.
1910 William David Coolidge invented an improved method of making long-lasting
tungsten filaments.

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 INTEGRATION OF KNOWLEDGE AND IDEAS
Who Really Invented the Light Bulb? continued

[Link]/history/edison

INTRODUCTION TIMELINE SPEECH LETTER

Click any link above to get a glimpse of the story behind the story.

Speech by Thomas Edison (Excerpt)

1 In this speech, given at an electrical exhibition in 1908, Thomas Edison
Copyright © by William H. Sadlier, Inc. Permission to duplicate classroom quantities granted to users of Common Core Progress.

reflected upon the progress made in the development of electricity. His

speech acknowledged the inventors who came before him, and attempted
to inspire those he knew would come after him.

Ladies and gentlemen,

2 Those of us who began our labors . . . 50 years ago have been permitted to
see, and assist, in the whole modern industrial development of electricity.
There have come with incredible rapidity one electrical art after another, so
that practically every aspect of the nation has been revolutionized. It is still
too early to stand outside these events and pronounce final judgment on
their lasting value. . . . But when I look around at the resources of the electrical
field today, as shown in this exhibition, I feel that I would be glad to begin
again my work as an electrician and inventor. And we veterans can only
urge upon our successors, the younger followers of Franklin and of Kelvin,
to realize the measure of their opportunities, and to rise to the height of their
responsibilities in this day of electricity.

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Who Really Invented the Light Bulb? continued

[Link]/history/edison

INTRODUCTION TIMELINE SPEECH LETTER

Click any link above to get a glimpse of the story behind the story.

Letter from Joseph Swan to Thomas Edison (Excerpt)

1 English physicist Joseph Swan was one of Edison’s major competitors in
Copyright © by William H. Sadlier, Inc. Permission to duplicate classroom quantities granted to users of Common Core Progress.

the race to develop a practical light bulb.

24 September 1880
2 I [was embarrassed] one fine morning to find you on my track and in
several particulars ahead of me—but now I think I have shot ahead of you.
And yet I feel there is almost an infinity of detail to be wrought out in the
large application now awaiting development, and that your inventive genius
as well as my own will find very ample room for exercise in carrying out this
gigantic work.

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 INTEGRATION OF KNOWLEDGE AND IDEAS

Comprehension Check

1. Describe one major difference in how information is presented between

the biography and the Web site.

2. What is the author’s central argument in “Thomas Edison and the Invention of the Light
Bulb”? Use details from the text to support your answer.
Copyright © by William H. Sadlier, Inc. Permission to duplicate classroom quantities granted to users of Common Core Progress.

3A. In “Who Really Invented the Light Bulb?” 3B. Which of the following statements from
the author argues that Thomas Edison “Who Really Invented the Light Bulb?”
does NOT support the answer to Part A?
a. invented the light bulb.
a. “. . . many inventors in the 1800s
b. stole the idea for the light bulb
were working on ways to use
from others.
electricity for artificial light.”
c. does not deserve all the credit for
b. “. . . Edison was the first to the
inventing the light bulb.
patent office.”
d. does not deserve any credit for
c. “. . . Edison had more funding and
inventing the light bulb.
support than others.”

d. “He had a team of researchers

helping him.”

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 INTEGRATION OF KNOWLEDGE AND IDEAS

4A. Which evidence is emphasized in “Who 4B. Which section of “Who Really Invented
Really Invented the Light Bulb?” but the Light Bulb?” most supports the
not included in “Thomas Edison and the answer to Part A?
Invention of the Light Bulb”?
a. Introduction
a. a description of Edison’s system for
b. Timeline
providing electricity
c. Speech
b. the details of Edison’s experiments
d. Letter
c. a list of Edison’s other inventions
d. the names and contributions of
other inventors
Copyright © by William H. Sadlier, Inc. Permission to duplicate classroom quantities granted to users of Common Core Progress.

5. Think about the arguments in both texts and describe how the authors’ purposes are
different. How are their arguments shaped by the evidence they chose to emphasize?

6A. In paragraph 5 of “Thomas Edison and 6B. What word relationship in paragraph 5
the Invention of the Light Bulb” the can you use to help determine the
word clamored means meaning of clamored?

a. whispered. a. synonym
b. rejected. b. antonym
c. asked for. c. analogy
d. liked. d. simile

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 INTEGRATION OF KNOWLEDGE AND IDEAS

7A. In the speech by Thomas Edison 7B. What word relationship can you use
reprinted in “Who Really Invented the to help determine the meaning of
Light Bulb?” the word veterans means veterans?

a. experienced people. a. synonym

b. beginners. b. antonym
c. teachers. c. analogy
d. unknown people. d. simile
Copyright © by William H. Sadlier, Inc. Permission to duplicate classroom quantities granted to users of Common Core Progress.

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