Home >
Moses Farmer's electric light... Tobacco Factory print...
Moses Farmer's electric light... Tobacco Factory print...
Item # 724735
January 11, 1879
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, New York, January 11, 1879 The front page has various scenes from inside a Tobacco Factory. Inside contains images and text re: "A Three Legged Woodcock", "...The Tanks of the Brighton Aquarium", "The Chichester Water tower", and more. Period advertising is present throughout.
Complete in 16 pages, measures about 11 by 15.5 inches, in very nice condition.
Background (Moses Farmer):
In 1859, American inventor Moses Farmer achieved a historic milestone by lighting his Salem, Massachusetts, home with the first functional domestic incandescent system. By passing current from cellar-mounted batteries through platinum filaments, Farmer proved electricity could replace gas for interior lighting—two decades before Thomas Edison’s famous breakthrough.
Farmer’s "parlor lights" provided the essential blueprint for the modern age. Although successful, the extreme cost of platinum and the lack of a high-quality vacuum prevented immediate commercial adoption. However, his transition from flickering arc lights to steady incandescence validated the specific path Edison would later master.
Farmer's work on high-resistance circuits and early dynamos provided the "engine" for the future power grid. Rather than a mere rival, Farmer was a respected peer whose early insights allowed Edison to focus on the carbon filaments and vacuum technology needed for commercial viability.
Category: Post-Civil War
Available Now
$85.00
