Incandescent Lamp 1895 1

U.S. Supreme Court substance, its form, and its combination with the other elements composing
the lamp. Its object is to secure a cheap and effective apparatus, and our
The Incandescent Lamp Patent, 159 U.S. 465 (1895) improvement consists first, of the combination, in a lamp chamber composed
wholly of glass, as described in patent No. 205, 144,"
The Incandescent Lamp Patent No. 10
upon which this patent was declared to be an improvement,
Argued October 29-30, 1894 Decided November 11, 1895
"of an incandescing conductor of carbon made from a vegetable fibrous
159 U.S. 465 material, in contradistinction to a similar conductor made from mineral or gas
carbon, and also in the form of such conductor so made from such vegetable
carbon, and combined in the lighting circuit with the exhausted chamber of
Syllabus
the lamp."

With the exception of the third claim, viz., for "the incandescing conductor for
The following drawings exhibit the substance of the invention:
an electric lamp, formed of carbonized paper, substantially as described,"
the claims in the letters patent No. 317,076, issued May 12, 1880, to the
Electro-Dynamic Light Company, assignee of Sawyer and Man, for an The specification further stated that:
electric light, are too indefinite to be the subject of a valid monopoly.
"In the practice of our invention, we have made use of carbonized paper,
This was a bill in equity, filed by the Consolidated Electric Light Company and also wood carbon. We have also used such conductors or burners of
against the McKeesport Light Company, to recover damages for the various shapes, such as pieces with their lower ends secured to their
infringement of letters patent No. 317,076, issued May 12, 1885, to the respective supports, and having their upper ends united so as to form an
Electro-Dynamic Light Company, assignee of Sawyer and Man, for an inverted V-shaped burner. We have also used conductors of varying
electric light. The defendants justified under certain patents to Thomas A. contours -- that is, with rectangular bends instead of curvilinear ones; but we
Edison, particularly No. 223,898, issued January 27, 1880; denied the prefer the arch shape."
novelty and utility of the complainant's patent, and averred that the same
had been fraudulently and illegally procured. The real defendant was the "No especial description of making the illuminating carbon conductors,
Edison Electric Light Company, and the case involved a contest between described in this specification, and making the subject matter of this
what are known as the Sawyer and Man and the Edison systems of electric improvement, is thought necessary, as any of the ordinary methods of
lighting. forming the material to be carbonized to the desired shape and size, and
carbonizing it while confined in retorts in powdered carbon, substantially
Page 159 U. S. 466 according to the methods in practice before the date of this improvement,
may be adopted in the practice thereof by anyone skilled in the arts
appertaining to the making of carbons for electric lighting or for other use in
In their application, Sawyer and Man stated that their invention related to
the arts."

"that class of electric lamps employing an incandescent conductor enclosed

"An important practical advantage which is secured by the arch form of
in a transparent, hermetically sealed vessel or chamber from which oxygen
incandescing carbon is that it permits the carbon to expand and contract
is excluded, and . . . more especially to the incandescing conductor, its
under the varying temperatures to which it is subjected when the electric
Incandescent Lamp 1895 2

current is turned on or off without altering the position of its fixed terminals. included in and forming part of said circuit, and a transparent, hermetically
Thus, the necessity for a special mechanical device to compensate for the sealed chamber, in which the conductor is enclosed."
expansion and contraction which has heretofore been necessary is entirely
dispensed with, and thus the lamp is materially simplified in its construction. "3. The incandescing conductor for an electric lamp, formed of carbonized
Another advantage of the arch form is that the shadow cast by such burners paper, substantially as described."
is less than that produced by other forms of burners when fitted with the
necessary devices to support them." "4. An incandescing electric lamp consists of the following elements in
combination: first, an illuminating chamber made wholly of glass hermetically
"Another important advantage resulting from our construction of the lamp sealed and out of which all carbon-consuming gas has been exhausted or
results from the fact that the wall forming the chamber of the lamp through driven; second, an electric circuit conductor passing through the glass wall of
which the electrodes pass to the interior of the lamp is made wholly of glass, said chamber and hermetically sealed therein, as described; third, an
by which all danger of oxidation, leakage, or short-circuiting is avoided." illuminating conductor in said circuit and forming part thereof within said
chamber, consisting of carbon made from a fibrous or textile material having
"The advantages resulting from the manufacture of the carbon from the form of an arch or loop, substantially as described, for the purpose
vegetable fibrous or textile material instead of specified."

Page 159 U. S. 468 The commercial Edison lamp used by the appellee, and which is illustrated
below, is composed of a burner, A, made of carbonized bamboo of a
mineral or gas carbon are many. Among them may be mentioned the peculiar quality, discovered by Mr. Edison to be highly useful for the
convenience afforded for cutting and making the conductor in the desired purpose, and having a length of about six inches, a diameter of about five
form and size, the purity and equality of the carbon obtained, its one-thousandths
susceptibility to tempering, both as to hardness and resistance, and its
toughness and durability. We have used such burners in closed or of an inch, and an electrical resistance of upward of 100 ohms. This filament
hermetically sealed transparent chambers, in a vacuum, in nitrogen gas, and of carbon is bent into the form of a loop, and its ends are secured by good
in hydrogen gas; but we have obtained the best results in a vacuum or an electrical and mechanical connections to two fine platinum wires, B, B.
attenuated atmosphere of nitrogen gas, the great desideratum being to These wires pass through a glass stem, C, the glass being melted and fused
exclude oxygen or other gases capable of combining with carbon at high upon the platinum wires. A glass globe, D, is fused to the glass stem, C. This
temperatures from the incandescing chamber, as is well understood." glass globe has originally attached to it at the point d a glass tube by means
of which a connection is made with highly organized and refined exhausting
The claims were as follows: apparatus, which produces in the globe a high vacuum, whereupon the glass
tube is melted off by a flame, and the globe is closed by the fusion of the
"1. An incandescing conductor for an electric lamp, of carbonized fibrous or glass at the point d.
textile material, and of an arch or horseshoe shape, substantially as
hereinbefore set forth." Upon a hearing in the circuit court before Mr. Justice Bradley upon pleadings
and proofs, the court held the patent to be invalid and dismissed the bill. 40
"2. The combination, substantially as hereinbefore set forth, of an electric F. 21. Thereupon complainant appealed to this Court.
circuit and an incandescing conductor of carbonized fibrous material,