After Glow

July 2007 Issue – US Airways Magazine

On January 27, 1880, the U.S. government granted patent number 223,898 to Thomas A. Edison for something he called the incandescent lamp. It was a device so revolutionary that few noted one of its lesser attributes: It was also beautiful. Blown from crystal-clear glass, the early light bulb had a peaked top that resembles today’s soft-serve ice-cream cone. Within, a loop of carbon filament answered the electric current with a mollifying amber glow. These days, your wall switch can feed the juice to a fluorescent tube or a halogen-gas cylinder (that will make a room bright enough for outpatient surgery).

But romantics, take note: Ferrowatt’s replica of Edison’s lamp will whisk any room back to the 19th century. The bulbs are available in 30, 40, and 60 watts. They look so good that Mr. Edison would probably have thought them a bright idea.