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In 1878, Thomas Edison began serious research into developing a practical incandescent lamp and on October 14, 1878, Edison filed his first patent application for "Improvement In Electric Lights". He said that it burned for over 13.5 hours on October 21st, 1879. However, he continued to test several types of material for metal filaments to improve upon his original design and by Nov 4, 1879, he filed another U.S. patent for an electric lamp using "a carbon filament or strip coiled and connected ... to platina contact wires."



Although the patent described several ways of creating the carbon filament including using "cotton and linen thread, wood splints, papers coiled in various ways," it was not until several months after the patent was granted that Edison and his team discovered that a carbonized bamboo filament could last over 1200 hours.

This discovery marked the beginning of commercially manufactured light bulbs and in 1880, Thomas Edison’s company, Edison Electric Light Company began marketing its new product.

Thomas Edison died on October 18, 1931 from complications of diabetes in his home, Glenmont, in West Orange, New Jersey with his family around him. “The great inventor, the fruits of whose genius so magically transformed the everyday world, was 84 years and 8 months old.”

- NY Times

On Sept. 16, 1965, the Edison Birthplace was designated as a National Historic Landmark.  The ceremony for its presentation included several Edison relatives; daughter Madeleine Edison Sloane, Founder and President of the Birthplace, her husband John Sloane, and Edison’s son Charles, the former Governor of New Jersey and former Secretary of the Navy.  Alston Rodgers, manager of the Institute of Lighting for the General Electric Co. at NELA Park in Cleveland, presented the Birthplace with a special gift of an exterior illumination system that would light up the home at night.  Rodgers said, “It is indeed fitting that one of the great enterprises he (Edison) founded should present this small gift of light to brighten the Birthplace of the man who gave the whole world light.”

Recently, lamps on the pole that GE had given were retrofitted with energy-saving LED lighting thanks to the generosity of a grant from the Erie County Community Foundation and the fine work of Great Lakes Electric of Milan. 

Answer to August's newsletter question: 1887!

The Village of Milan Trick or Treat will be Sunday, October 31, 2021, from 5-6 P.M. (weather makeup date on Monday, November 1st same hours.)

Edison Elementary will host its annual costume party Sunday, with doors opening at 6 PM and judging for the costume contest beginning at 6:30 PM.