Incandescent bulbs
come in a variety of diameters, light outputs, and voltage ratings, ranging from
1.5 to 300 volts. They don't need any external regulating equipment, have cheap production costs, and work on both alternating and direct current.
As a result, the incandescent bulb found widespread application in residential and
commercial lighting, as well as portable lighting such as table lamps,
automotive headlamps, and flashlights, as well as decorative and advertising lighting. Prior to
Joseph Swan and Thomas Edison, historians Robert Friedel and
Paul Israel mention inventors of incandescent lamps.
They find that Edison's version outperformed the competition due to a combination of three factors: an effective incandescent substance, a higher vacuum than the competition, and a high resistance that allowed power distribution from a centralized source economically viable.
Edison's success, according to historian Thomas Hughes, was due to his creation of a full, integrated system of
electric illumination.
