Henderson Electric Light

Otherwise known as The Light Bulb. Toiling at Morrison’s Brass Foundry on Adelaide Street, Woodward & Evans built the first electric light using a shaped rod of carbon held between electrodes in a glass bulb filled with nitrogen. They patented their invention in 1874, and attempted to form a company to raise money to refine and market their invention. For their efforts, Woodward & Evans were subjected to public ridicule (“Who needs a glowing piece of metal? Not a very bright idea”). Nonetheless, they obtained a U.S. patent in 1876. In 1879, some guy named Thomas Edison considered Woodward & Evans’ invention important enough in furthering his own research to completely buy the patents from them and all their Canadian partners. And the rest is history.