So did everyone he sold a bulb to in the early years. Central power distribution didn’t start until 1881, but a great many places had generators back then. It’s still the seemingly flat part of the hockey stick graph, but zoom in and you’re looking at exponential growth so starting 10 years early would have dramatically cut into sales.
> Edison’s bulbs, with their high resistance, used far less power than arc lamps.
Edison’s bulbs where less efficient so they needed more power to produce the same light as arc lamps. In applications where a single Edison bulb was sufficient it used less power, but it was extremely common back then to use multiple bulbs as early incandescents didn’t put out much light and it was only companies or the ultra wealthy who could afford to electrify. He was in the sweet spot entering a large enough market to be profitable, and then riding exponential growth into true wealth.
Oddly, this is also why he favored peep shows over movie theaters. His bulbs didn’t put out enough light to project movies.
So did everyone he sold a bulb to in the early years. Central power distribution didn’t start until 1881, but a great many places had generators back then. It’s still the seemingly flat part of the hockey stick graph, but zoom in and you’re looking at exponential growth so starting 10 years early would have dramatically cut into sales.
> Edison’s bulbs, with their high resistance, used far less power than arc lamps.
Edison’s bulbs where less efficient so they needed more power to produce the same light as arc lamps. In applications where a single Edison bulb was sufficient it used less power, but it was extremely common back then to use multiple bulbs as early incandescents didn’t put out much light and it was only companies or the ultra wealthy who could afford to electrify. He was in the sweet spot entering a large enough market to be profitable, and then riding exponential growth into true wealth.
Oddly, this is also why he favored peep shows over movie theaters. His bulbs didn’t put out enough light to project movies.