Joseph Swan from Sunderland, but working in Newcastle upon Tyne, made the first filament light bulb in 1860, but the idea had to wait until 1880 and improvements in vacuum production within the bulb, filament material, and a reliable electricity supply before a commercially viable product could be made. By this time Thomas Alva Edison in America made the necessary improvements almost in parallel with Swan in England. Edison is remembered today for the screw fitting on the bulb that is almost universal in America. The bayonet fitting allowing an earth to the bulb was and remains an British convention. Swan went on to produce some novel solutions for the short filament life that had useful spin-offs (haha) for the textile industry.
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