The history of how these mass-produced novelty lights became a holiday fixture is a distinctly American Christmas tale.

We were all taught in school that Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, but the truth is much more complicated. You can go back to 1761 when Ebenezer Kinnersley first caused a wire to glow.

At Menlo Park Edison led a comprehensive survey of filament materials, selecting carbonized bamboo for his first commercial electric light bulb. Adapted for the internet from “Thomas Edison, Chemist” ...

when Swan established the world's first light bulb factory at Benwell in Newcastle. In 1883 Swan teamed up with Thomas Edison of the USA, who also had just made a successful electric light bulb.

On New Year's Eve, 1879, Thomas Edison unveiled his newest invention: the electric light. Reporters came from all over the U.S. to see Edison's Menlo Park lab lit up with his incandescent bulbs.

This is the Edison clock, designed by [David Krawczyk ... You can see the series of holes on the front of the base. These have a small light bulb socked in each, and correspond to hours and ...