Empire Rise: Spain

Chapter 186: Light Bulb

The investment in the Valencia shipyard was only 25 million pesetas, which could only be considered a small test for Carlo.

Next, Carlo mobilized a large amount of funds to invest in and support Spain’s relatively weak heavy industry sectors, such as metallurgy, mechanical manufacturing, chemical industry, materials, and so on.

The five major sectors each received an average investment exceeding 20 million pesetas, with a cumulative investment of over 100 million pesetas, which could be considered a substantial investment.

Even with an investment exceeding 100 million pesetas, it was still impossible to rapidly promote the development of these industry sectors in a short time. What could be achieved was only to effectively promote improvements in the industry sectors, and it would take a very long time to obtain certain results.

At least with the royal family’s investment exceeding 100 million pesetas in support, the private enterprises in these industry sectors could continue to sustain themselves and possess sufficient funds for technological improvements.

In addition to directly supporting enterprises in these industry sectors, the royal family’s other option was to vigorously cultivate excellent talent in these areas, providing a continuous supply of blood to these industry sectors.

To this end, Carlo personally ordered the education department to require the education department to assist certain universities in professional construction and reform.

Several universities have already added majors and subjects related to heavy industry sectors under the orders of the Ministry of Education, effectively supplementing Spain’s talent cultivation system in these fields.

Establishing a complete talent cultivation system is absolutely the most effective way to promote an industry sector. Talent is the most important thing for any industry sector, more important than any ready-made technology and equipment.

After all, only with sufficient talent and a complete talent cultivation system can an industry sector’s technology achieve continuous progress. If talent is in short supply, even if brief leading positions can be achieved, the future will still stagnate in technological advancement due to the loss of excellent talent.

In addition to these heavy industries, in the field of electricity, after many years, the electricity laboratory finally achieved certain results.

To be precise, it has been over five years since the electricity laboratory was established. In these five years, the electricity laboratory built a direct current generator and an alternating current generator, and under Carlo’s guidance, discovered the electric motor.

This was not all; Gramme has been exploring broader usage scenarios for electricity and delving deeply into research on the light bulb.

Before the light bulb was born, the main lighting methods for people relied on flames and kerosene lamps, and kerosene was also one of the main uses of petroleum at present.

These two lighting methods had significant defects. Using flames for lighting goes without saying—not only did it waste various forms of fuel, but the firelight was not that bright either.

Although kerosene lamps only required kerosene as energy, their brightness was not high either, only allowing people to barely make out things.

It was precisely because of these reasons that the birth of the light bulb was promoted. Even the most primitive light bulb was in no way inferior to kerosene lamps in terms of brightness.

If it were not for limitations in lifespan and electricity development, the light bulb could absolutely quickly replace kerosene lamps in a short time and become the main lighting method in people’s daily lives.

Before Gramme heavily invested in light bulb research, the research on light bulbs was still in a broad exploration stage.

When posterity mentions light bulbs, the first person that comes to mind is Edison. But in fact, the earliest inventor of the light bulb was American scientist Henry. He used carbonized bamboo filament placed in a glass bottle and electrified it, achieving lighting for over 400 hours.

However, because Henry did not apply for a patent in time, he ultimately did not become as famous as Edison, the “king of inventions,” in the invention of the light bulb.

Edison was absolutely a capable scientist, but he was even more an extremely excellent capitalist. At least Edison’s reputation was not entirely accurate, with a considerable portion of inventions being ones where Edison purchased patents and then claimed them as his own.

Carlo had some understanding of this history of light bulb development. Edison’s light bulb patent was purchased from a Canadian scientist, and the reason for the sale was that the Canadian scientist could no longer continue research on the light bulb.

To put it bluntly, scientific research requires a great deal of research and development funds. The birth of the light bulb came from related scientists repeatedly experimenting with materials, ultimately leading to the birth of the light bulb.

Carlo knew that before the tungsten filament light bulb was born, the light bulb with the longest lifespan and best effect was the carbon filament light bulb.

Therefore, Gramme’s light bulb research started directly with the carbon filament light bulb, aiming to explore a commercially viable light bulb that could be used for at least several hundred hours.

After five years of exploration and experimentation, finally, Gramme brought good news to Carlo: the electricity laboratory successfully manufactured carbon filament light bulbs with an average lifespan of up to 300 hours.

Upon hearing this news, Carlo immediately happily went to the electricity laboratory to investigate what happened.

When Carlo arrived at the electricity laboratory, Gramme had already prepared the relevant light bulb experiments, waiting for Carlo’s personal viewing and testing.

“Your Majesty, what you are currently seeing is our entire experimental process for the carbon filament light bulb.

Our initial experimental subject was carbonized cotton thread, and this light bulb had a lifespan of up to 40 hours. However, such a lifespan obviously could not meet commercial needs. Building on this, we tested carbonized bamboo filament and cardboard, finally obtaining this commercially viable light bulb with an average lifespan exceeding 300 hours.” Gramme excitedly introduced the experimental process of the light bulb filament to Carlo, with excitement and admiration almost spilling from his eyes.

The electricity laboratory had indeed achieved good results over these five years, but whether it was the electric motor or the carbon filament light bulb, the related theories were all proposed by Carlo.

This made Gramme greatly admire Carlo, even feeling that Carlo was a born scientist. If he had not become the King of Spain, Carlo would absolutely become one of the greatest scientists in human history, perhaps with achievements no less than becoming king.

Unfortunately, Carlo, who had already become the King of Spain, clearly had no energy to invest in scientific research and development, which made Gramme, who greatly admired Carlo, feel deep regret, believing that humanity might have missed a great scientist.

Hearing Gramme’s introduction, Carlo smiled and nodded, asking his question: “Mr. Gramme, can the lifespan of this current carbon filament light bulb be guaranteed to be over 300 hours?”

A lifespan of 300 hours was absolutely brief for light bulbs in posterity, but for light bulbs of this era, it was a huge improvement.

For ordinary families, electric lamps could not possibly stay on all night; the lighting time for one evening was basically just the first few hours after dark.

Calculated at 3 to 4 hours of lighting per day, such a carbon filament light bulb would have a lifespan of about 75 to 100 days, or roughly three months.

Even for streetlights that illuminate all night, calculated at least 10 hours per day, a 300-hour lifespan could still last over ten days.

This era was not like posterity, where many roads had accompanying streetlights. Even if Spain had a demand for building streetlights, it would only be in some more prosperous streets and cities; ordinary roads were out of the question.

Considering all this, although a 300-hour lifespan was not long, it was absolutely sufficient for commercial investment. As long as the production cost of the light bulb was not high, it could ensure that such light bulbs could be put into commercial use, and thereby promote the use of electricity—this was also the reason Carlo cared about the lifespan of these carbon filament light bulbs.

“We manufactured a total of over a hundred such carbon filament light bulbs, among which over 60 carbon filament light bulbs had lifespans exceeding 400 hours, nearly 20 carbon filament light bulbs had lifespans over 350 hours, and only fewer than 20 carbon filament light bulbs barely maintained a lifespan around 300 hours.

Your Majesty, based on these experimental results, we have confidence to ensure that the carbon filament light bulb’s lifespan remains above 300 hours, and it is even possible to raise it above 350 hours in a short time.” When mentioning the actual lifespan of the carbon filament light bulb, Gramme was full of excitement and quickly answered Carlo’s question.

Compared to the light bulb research and registered patents currently being conducted by various countries, Spain’s light bulb with a minimum lifespan of 300 hours was absolutely relatively leading.

To personally complete such an achievement, for Gramme who loved scientific research, this was more wonderful, more exciting, and more thrilling than anything else.

Carlo nodded, the smile on his face growing even stronger.

It seemed that the 300-hour lifespan reported by Gramme for the light bulb was actually quite conservative.

Because most light bulbs had lifespans exceeding 400 hours, with only some inferior ones at 350 or 300 hours.

Using the exaggerated propaganda methods of certain capitalists, these carbon filament light bulbs could completely be promoted as having an average lifespan over 400 hours and a maximum lifespan approaching 500 hours—an exaggerated result.

Gramme did not do this, which also proved his rigor with experimental data.

“Light a few light bulbs.” Carlo instructed.

Carlo was still quite curious about these most primitive electric lamps. Although Carlo had experienced those dim incandescent lamps, they were after all products improved over 100 years later.

As for what the most primitive incandescent lamps from over 100 years ago looked like and the brightness of electric lamps, the current Carlo did not know.

Hearing Carlo’s instruction, Gramme signaled his assistant to turn on the switch.

With a click of the switch, the several light bulbs on the experimental bench instantly lit up. Because it was daytime, the brightness of the light bulbs was not high, even quite dim.

Carlo frowned; it seemed that conducting electric lamp experiments during the day was not a wise choice.

Fortunately, the electricity laboratory had a way to cope. All windows were completely covered with curtains, and light sources were closed, making the laboratory completely dark.

With the dark laboratory as backdrop, the originally dimly lit light bulbs instantly became bright. Although not as stunning as posterity’s lights, for 1875 when electricity was just starting, such lighting was like a spark on the grassland, ready to rise with the wind at any moment and spread like wildfire.

Feeling the brightness of the light bulb, Carlo nodded, quite satisfied in his heart.

Afterward, the light bulbs were turned off, and several kerosene lamps lit up again.

Now the comparison was even more obvious. Although the previous light bulbs were not that bright, they were absolutely clearer than kerosene lamps.

In terms of brightness alone, this light bulb’s brightness was at least several times that of kerosene lamps, and things were much clearer to see.

Working under the light bulb environment would at least not strain the eyes as much as kerosene lamps. With such a comparison, Carlo became even more satisfied with the current light bulbs.

“Your Majesty, what you see is the small light bulbs we manufactured, mainly for civilian lighting.

Considering the lighting needs of factories and large public areas, we also specially made larger light bulbs, with brightness much higher than these small civilian light bulbs.” Seeing Carlo’s satisfied expression, Gramme was clearly more at ease and continued introducing other types of light bulbs to Carlo.

Hearing that there were even larger light bulbs, Carlo became even more curious and smiled, saying: “Larger light bulbs? What is the lifespan of such light bulbs?”

While instructing people to install larger light bulbs for experimentation, Gramme answered Carlo’s question on the other hand: “Due to current technical limitations, the lifespan of this larger light bulb is far inferior to small light bulbs.

After over a hundred experiments, we determined that this large carbon filament light bulb has a lifespan of only about 120 to 150 hours and cannot be used at high intensity.

But in terms of brightness, the large carbon filament light bulb’s brightness is over three times that of the small carbon filament light bulb, capable of illuminating a much broader environment.”

Perhaps because of multiple experiments, the laboratory staff installed the large light bulb very quickly, and it was already installed during the conversation.

To highlight the brightness of the large light bulb, this test would only use one large light bulb, still compared to several small light bulbs and several kerosene lamps.

With the familiar click, this larger light bulb instantly lit up, emitting an even brighter glow.

Carlo surveyed the entire experimental area and found it indeed much brighter than the previous small light bulbs. If the previous small light bulbs could only illuminate a circle with a radius of three or four meters, then this large light bulb could illuminate a large circle with a radius of at least five or six meters, with the illuminated area almost doubled.

Although the illuminated area only doubled, the brightness also improved a lot. Indeed, for factories and some public areas, such large bulbs were a more suitable choice.

If small bulbs were used as streetlights, unless the streetlight height was only two meters, the lighting effect would be poor.

But if switched to this slightly larger bulb, the streetlight height could be raised above three meters, illuminating a larger road surface area and also preventing some light bulb theft incidents.

After all, if streetlights were only two meters high, many people could reach the light bulbs by tiptoeing. Even if the light bulb cost was not high, the selling price would definitely have some increase.

To prevent this phenomenon, streetlights should be as high as possible. Not only could they illuminate a larger road surface area, but they would also look better and be easier to maintain.

Since it was already confirmed to be brighter than those small bulbs, there was no need for comparison with kerosene lamps next.

Kerosene lamps had the weakest brightness; it was just because they were portable and kerosene was cheap that they became the main lighting method in people’s daily lives.

But in reality, kerosene lamp lighting was not even brighter than lighting a fire. The reason Carlo disliked working at night was because he disliked the dim lighting of kerosene lamps; now with light bulbs, his working time could be extended by one or two hours.

“What is the cost of such light bulbs? If mass-produced, can the production volume meet Spain’s current needs?” After confirming that the current light bulbs were sufficient for commercial use, Carlo asked the question he was more concerned about.

There were two relatively important factors for the commercial use of light bulbs: one was the production volume of light bulbs, and the other was the selling price of light bulbs.

After all, this was something with a lifespan, and the lifespan had to be flexibly adjusted based on the light bulb’s lighting time.

If the selling price was too high, most commoners probably could not afford it.

Of course, this also presupposed that Spain’s power grid network was roughly laid out. Currently, not to mention universal village electrification, Spain could not even achieve city-wide electrification.

Moreover, the generators currently owned by the electricity laboratory could only power a small amount of experimental equipment, far from being able to promote widespread electricity use on a large scale.

This also meant that before light bulbs could be fully commercialized and promoted across Spain, one thing had to be done: massively build power plants to quickly enhance Spain’s power generation capacity.

“The cost of small bulbs is not expensive at present; the main components are only two types: glass shades and carbonized cardboard.

According to our estimates, if such small bulbs are mass-produced, the cost of light bulbs can also be effectively reduced.

The current laboratory-manufactured small bulbs cost about 12 pesetas, but if mass-produced, the cost should be reducible to below 5 pesetas.

As for whether the production volume can meet Spain’s needs, I believe that before our power plants are massively built, Spain will not have much demand for light bulbs.

Your Majesty, regarding the promotion and use of electricity, I believe we need to establish a large demonstration area to showcase electricity’s superiority to all Spaniards, while serving as a model for our electricity promotion and use.” Gramme answered Carlo’s questions one by one.

Carlo nodded, quite recognizing what Gramme said.

Light bulbs required electricity, and before electricity was connected, even with light bulbs, they could not function.

Connecting electricity was very troublesome. Not only did power plants need to be built, but also connections between power plants and usage areas. This involved issues like voltage and power loss, not something that could be explained in a few words.

What was certain was that even though light bulbs had now been born, ordinary people wanting to enjoy them was impossible.

At most, some nobles and capitalists could use their financial strength to build small power stations, bringing electricity to their residential areas and driving other power equipment including light bulbs.

It might even promote reforms in some factories. Electricity was also a very important energy source; electric motors could replace certain steam engines, becoming important power equipment for factories.

Factories could also use electric lamps for lighting to improve efficiency. Previously, factories could hardly do two shifts, as nighttime lighting was a big problem.

But if large numbers of light bulbs were used, factories could still be brightly lit at night, allowing another batch of workers to replace the daytime workers for production, enabling a two-shift production mode in factories and greatly improving production efficiency.

Doing so might exploit Spain’s workers, but this was also unavoidable. After all, various forms of exploitation existed in posterity, with many workers laboring over ten hours a day.

Talking about an eight-hour workday, weekends, or protecting workers’ rights in 1875 would be going against this era.

5400-word combined chapter, seeking support!