A tourist climbed out of his car in downtown Washington, D.C. He said to a man standing near the curb, "Listen, I'm going to be only a couple of minutes. Would you watch my car while I run into this store?"
"What?" the man huffed. "Do you realize that I am a member of the United States Senate?"
"Well no," the tourist said, "I didn't realize that. But it's all right. I'll trust you anyway."
Edison carbon filament experimentIn 1879, Edison's long series of experiments testing materials for suitability as an electric light filament reached a turning point. Charles Batchelor, working at Edison’s Menlo Park laboratory, produced illumination for 14½ hours from a lamp using a carbonized cotton thread. It failed when extra power was added. However, this was such a substantial improvement, attention turned to improving the carbonized filament. Patents were filed, and within two months the progress with the Edison light bulb was made public. An article was published on 21 Dec by the New York Herald. By then, the Menlo Park laboratory was continuously illuminated by Edison's incandescent light bulbs.« |
