VERIFY QUESTION
Look around the room -- you probably can count at least five items that require a bulb or battery. Now imagine how much easier (and cheaper) your life would be if there were batteries and light bulbs that lasted forever.
Good Morning Show viewer Bob Gerard Goodrich submitted this VERIFY inquiry:
"Meghann, can you VERIFY...that there are long-lasting batteries and light bulbs invented, then they are bought by companies that do not want them to come to market?"
VERIFY SOURCE
To VERIFY, we consulted Kent Meeker, a chief IT engineer for Sterile Link, Inc.
VERIFY PROCESS
Meeker referenced what is called planned obsolescence, which means producing consumer goods that quickly become obsolete and need replacing.
"Robert poses a really good question. We see what's called planned obsolescence all the time, like video games, computers, but in reference to light bulbs in particular, there's a light bulb right now in Livermore, CA that has been burning for almost 120 years," Meeker explained.
He was referring to the Centennial Bulb, dubbed the "eternal light." A man named Adolphe Chaillet invented it, and it has dangled from the Livermore, CA firehouse ceiling since 1901.
Chaillet's company, Shelby Electric, got bought out by General Electric (GE) and his bulbs were discontinued. But, GE could not suppress the invention, even if it wanted to do so. The inventor's patent left much of the process unexplained. Even Mythbusters couldn't figure out the secret formula.
There was once a group called the Phoebus Cartel, which included GE and other big bulb producers. Its goal was to limit light bulbs' lifespan, but there is no proof they bought patents of long-lasting bulbs.
So, what about batteries?
Like the light bulb, a long-lasting battery already exists. It operates the Oxford Bell at Oxford University, which has been ringing nonstop for 175 years. An inventor named Guiseppe Zamboni invented it in the early 1800s using a dry pile, which is a combination of silver, zinc, sulfur and other materials. That said, the reason this particular battery has lasted so long is a mystery. In order to investigate, researchers would have to remove the battery, and that would ruin this accidental experiment about how long it will last.
VERIFY CONCLUSION
Meeker concluded there are many conspiracy theories about buying up patents and suppressing ideas for their own benefit, but there is no concrete proof this happened for batteries and light bulbs.