Intellectual Property Law for Engineers, Scientists, and Entrepreneurs. Howard B. Rockman
large. Edison was attempting to develop a light bulb that would provide the same convenience of gas light, and make it possible to turn one light on or off without affecting other lights. This led him to conclude that the lights would have to be in a parallel circuit, not a series circuit, since electric current would have to be delivered independently to each lamp. Although generally known, Edison’s team also noted that a system required to light a plurality of lamps would require either a high voltage or a large current. Large currents required thicker conducting wires, and copper was an expensive commodity in the late 19th century. If a system were developed using small currents and large voltages, each lamp would require a high resistance, which is the solution that Edison settled upon.
At that time, Edison was using platinum as the filament in his light bulb experiments. However, small lengths of platinum provided a low resistance, so Edison began using long spirals of thin platinum wire as filaments. These broke easily upon being heated to an incandescent temperature. For an extended period of time in 1879, Edison’s team failed in their attempts to create spiral filaments sufficient for a long‐lasting light bulb. What he did discover was that when efficient vacuum pumps were used to evacuate the air in the light bulb, the life of the platinum burner was extended, though not long enough for practicality.
During the early part of 1879, Edison and his team continued their light bulb experiments, and they also devoted a portion of their efforts to creating a generator that would create a high‐voltage system to light their bulbs. By the middle of 1879, Edison and his team still could not make the platinum filament lamp operate properly. In approximately October 1879, Edison and his team gave up on platinum and looked for other materials from which their filaments could be made. As a result of their intensive research efforts, the fact that carbon would provide the desired results was determined in a matter of a few weeks. Carbon had been used previously in the electric lamps of other inventors, but in those experiments the carbon either disintegrated or burned up. However, carbon appeared to be workable in the high vacuum created in Edison’s bulbs. Edison had been familiar with carbon, which he had used in his telephone receiver invention.
The records of Edison’s laboratory indicate that in the middle of October 1879, Batchelor and Upton were making notes of their measurements of carbon’s resistance and how to shape the carbon strands into spiral configurations. However, the carbon spirals always seemed to break. Batchelor’s notes indicate that by October 22, the team had performed experiments using several inches of carbonized cotton thread, which had a resistance of 100 ohms, significantly larger than the resistance of platinum. This lamp appeared to be as bright as a gas lamp, and did not flicker out. In the end, and after all the time, money, and experimentation, the result, using hindsight, was simply a glass globe with the air evacuated, in which a short strand of carbonized thread was mounted between two electrodes.
On New Year’s Eve of 1879, a public demonstration of the light bulb was made in Edison’s Menlo Park laboratory. The event was heavily attended by the press, shooting Edison’s popularity way up in the ratings. Edison filed for a patent on his invention on November 4, 1879, and the patent on the first practical light bulb was issued on January 27, 1880. Also, by the first demonstration, Edison’s workers had discovered that Bristol board made more reliable filaments than cotton thread.
Edison and his team not only invented the practical electric bulb, but an entire electric lighting system with all of the equipment required to make the incandescent light economical, operable, safe, and practical. For example, to make his system work, Edison also had to develop, create, and invent light sockets with on/off switches, safety fuses and insulating materials, constant‐voltage delivery systems, an underground conductor network, improved electrical generating dynamos, a durable long‐lasting light bulb, and parallel electric circuits. The Edison Electric Company established its first commercial central power station on Pearl Street in Lower Manhattan in New York City in 1882, furnishing electric power to a small area of the city. Other buildings set up dynamos in the basement to provide electricity for the building.
By the end of the 1880s, central electric power producing stations were established in many U.S. cities, each being limited to a few blocks in area due to the ineffective transmission of direct current (DC) electricity, to which Edison was wedded until his fight with the creators of alternating current, circuits, and systems was resolved many years later. Edison created several electric companies, and on April 24, 1889, they were all brought together to form the Edison General Electric Company. In 1892, Edison General Electric merged with Thompson‐Hudson, its leading competitor, the name Edison was dropped from the company name, and the company became General Electric Company. After the turn of the century, and facing financial difficulty, Edison sold his stock in the General Electric Company. To this day, the General Electric Company is a leading producer of electrical and electronic systems and equipment, including light bulbs. Edison never controlled the Edison General Electric Company, since the amount of capital required to develop the electrical and lighting industry necessitated the involvement of investment bankers, such as J. P. Morgan, and financiers such as Vanderbilt.
In November 1887, Edison moved his research and development team to a new facility in West Orange, New Jersey. He began working on the phonograph, which project he had set aside when developing the electric light bulb in the late 1870s. By 1890, Edison was manufacturing phonographs for both home and business. He also developed the entire system to make the phonograph work, including the records, equipment to record sound on the records, and equipment to manufacture both the records and the phonographs. Edison used cylindrical paraffin records to produce sound, but in later years the circular recording disk was developed, putting Edison out of the record business. Regarding movies, Edison also developed the complete system needed to both make movies and to show motion pictures, and in 1913 introduced the first talking movies. By 1918, the motion picture industry, which he was instrumental in creating, became so competitive that Edison got out of this business altogether.
On June 8, 1903, Thomas Alva Edison signed an agreement with his son, Thomas A. Edison, Jr., whereby Edison’s son agreed not to use his own name in a business enterprise in exchange for a weekly allowance of $35.
One of the commentators relied upon during my research noted that the public, in the latter part of the 19th century, looked upon the developments of scientific technology as a source of hope, not with distrust. This commentator felt that the positive public attitude garnered toward the power of science and technology as a result of Edison’s work, among others, is one of the most important legacies to emanate from the technological developments of that era.
In 1884, Edison’s first wife Mary passed away, leaving him with three small children. He married Mina Miller in 1886. Thomas Alva Edison died in West Orange, New Jersey, on October 18, 1931. Today, he has truly attained folk hero status thanks to his inventions.
9 The Patent Application
9.1 INTRODUCTION
This chapter discusses the information that goes into a properly prepared patent application, enabling you to adequately review an application covering your invention when it is presented for your review and comments prior to filing the application. One of the important aspects of the Patent Law is that an inventor should carefully review his or her patent application for correctness and completeness before it is filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. This chapter also briefly summarizes the history of patent application content leading to the present system and its requirements for a properly filed application. Also discussed are the goals intended to be met in the preparation of a properly prepared application, the use of provisional patent applications, and how to conduct a rigid review of a patent application covering your invention.
9.2 REGISTRATION SYSTEM EVOLVING INTO AN EXAMINATION SYSTEM
You will recall from earlier chapters that from the year 1793 until 1836, there was no patent examination system in the United States, and inventors were merely required