Carbon Filament Bulb

Dr.Ichisuke Fujioka was also involved in research and development of incandescent light bulb.

In the beginning, he faced many difficulties in developing a practical light bulb.
In his first attempt, he used a thread filament, but on learning of trials in the USA using a Japanese bamboo filament, he too started research on the bamboo filament.
He was able to develop bamboo-filament bulbs by 1890.
These were the first incandescent light bulbs in Japan.
However, the burnout rate was high and they could not last long.
In addition, they were more expensive than imported ones.
Therefore, they did not become widely used.
Later, he developed a new method of making the filament using cotton, and by 1906 his company was producing 7000 bulbs per day.
In 1911, he began making tungsten-filament light bulbs.
Finally, when the first world war broke out and imports fell, the sales picked up.