Incandescent light bulb street in the world to be lit by an incandescent lightbulb was Mosley Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom. It was lit by Joseph Swan's incandescent lamp on 3 February 1879. Thomas Edison began serious research into developing a practical incandescent lamp in 1878. Edison filed his first patent application for "Improvement In Electric Lights" on 14 October 1878. After many experiments, first with carbon in the early 1880s and then with platinum and other metals, in the end Edison returned to a carbon filament. The first successful test was on 22 October 1879, and lasted 13.5 hours. Edison continued
John White Howell on display at the Edison exhibit of the General Electric Company were displayed two of the "tar putty" carbon filament lamps made by John W. Howell for the 1890 trial, as well as the tools used by Howell to make said lamps. Seven of Mr. Howell's hand-made 1890 patent trial "tar putty" lamps survive today in a collection of rare, historic lamps discovered in 2004. In 1893 Mr. Howell was appointed chief engineer of the Edison Lamp Works of the General Electric Company, which had taken over the Edison lamp works, holding that position until his retirement in 1931. From