Changing a lightbulb is considered one of the easiest do-it-yourself tasks anyone can perform in their home. A job so simple, so user-friendly, there are even bad jokes about people and groups screwing-it up. Here are a few examples of this timeless, sophisticated humor:
Question: How many therapists does it take to change a light bulb?
Answer: One, but the lightbulb must really want to change.
Question: How many surgeons does it take to change a lightbulb?
Answer: None, they wait for a suitable donor and do a filament transplant.
Question: How many doctors, lawyers, or SPARK volunteers does it take to change a lightbulb? You get the idea…
Yet, all kidding aside, the first lightbulbs were not all that user- friendly. To be frank, not long ago, changing a light bulb in your home was no laughing matter.
On December 31, 1879, Thomas Edison, and his devoted team of assistants—or “muckers” as he was known to call them— illuminated the grounds of Edison’s famous Menlo Park laboratory with their newly perfected, world changing invention: the light bulb.
Edison’s new carbon-filament incandescent light bulb lasted a record breaking 14.5 hours, immediately establishing itself as a safer, more dependable, and practical improvement over all other early electric lamps. Edison’s invention cleared an open path for Americans to transition off combustibles like wax, oil, kerosene, and gaslight, and turn-on to clean, safe, smoke-free electric light.
“My light is at last a perfect one,” Edison stated to a reporter that same year.
Perfect? Not even, but definitely a vast improvement over the competition.
Early electric lighting was too harsh, dangerous, and impractical to be considered for any sane person’s home or workplace. Edison’s new lightbulb was simple, compact, did not flicker or hiss, and the design was cheap, practical, and made the absolute best light.
Yet, Edison’s new design had a major flaw: it kept falling out. They needed an easier, more secure way to connect to the electrical source. The first lightbulbs did not screw-in, they plugged-in. This was especially significant, since most of the emitted light comes out of the top of the lamp, so most lamps were installed upside down, hanging below the socket.
Edison gets the gravity of the situation.
The first experimental light sockets were made of wood and contained two copper strips designed to contact similar strips located on the base of the lamp. A small thumb screw served to hold the lamp in place. Despite the thumbscrew, Edison found the lamp would eventually become loose and fall out of the socket.
Now Thomas Edison may or may not have been a genius, but he was certainly smart enough to know he needed his muckers—his educated, hard working, dedicated team—to be his hands, to do the tedious work of building and testing his many inventions.
One evening, Edison was discussing the problem with a few of his muckers when someone noticed a nearby can of kerosene. Edison is said to have picked-up the can and carefully examined the threads on the lid, screwing and unscrewing the cap.
Suddenly he said, “This most certainly can make a bang-up socket for the lamp, as well as the base!”
Indeed, it did. Inspired by the kerosene lid, Edison’s team designed a base with threads that could be screwed into a socket, creating a secure and easy-to-use connection. The screw base not only ensured a good electrical connection but also made it easy to replace the bulbs.
Righty-tighty, lefty-loosey.
The simplicity and effectiveness of the Edison’s screw base led to its widespread adoption, and becoming an industry standard in the United States, and around the world.
It is also why the light bulb has become a universal symbol for enlightenment, innovation, and a darn good idea.
See what happens when we tamper with perfection?
So, exactly how many SPARK volunteers does it take to change a lightbulb?
Answer: Many! At least one to change it, one to try and repair it, , one to research it, one to write about it, one to dig it out of the garbage and try and display it, and one to enthusiastically tell you all about the history of artificial ight the next time you visit our beloved Museum of Electrical Invention.
Stay grounded.