Alessandro Cruto
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Alessandro Cruto was an Italian inventor, born in the town of Piossasco, near
Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The ...
, who created an early
incandescent light bulb An incandescent light bulb, incandescent lamp or incandescent light globe is an electric light with a wire filament heated until it glows. The filament is enclosed in a glass bulb with a vacuum or inert gas to protect the filament from oxid ...
. Son of a construction foreman, he attended the school of architecture at the
University of Turin The University of Turin (Italian language, Italian: ''Università degli Studi di Torino'', UNITO) is a public university, public research university in the city of Turin, in the Piedmont (Italy), Piedmont region of Italy. It is one of the List ...
, while also attending
Physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...
and Chemistry lectures with the dream of crystallizing carbon to obtain diamonds."Il sogno luminoso di Cruto", by Andrea Albini, in "Le Scienze (Scientific American)", num.484, dic.2008, pag.127 In 1872 he opened a small workshop in his home village where he conducted tests on the production of pure carbon from ethylene. His efforts were rewarded in 1874 when his experiments succeeded in producing thin sheets of
graphite Graphite () is a crystalline form of the element carbon. It consists of stacked layers of graphene. Graphite occurs naturally and is the most stable form of carbon under standard conditions. Synthetic and natural graphite are consumed on lar ...
, albeit his initial purpose was that of producing diamonds. After attending some conferences held by
Galileo Ferraris Galileo Ferraris (31 October 1847 – 7 February 1897) was an Italian university professor, physicist and electrical engineer, one of the pioneers of AC power system and inventor of the induction motor although he never patented his work. Many ...
about the contemporary advances in electric technology – whose topics included Thomas Edison's experiments to find a suitable filament for incandescent lights – he discovered that a
carbon Carbon () is a chemical element with the symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalent—its atom making four electrons available to form covalent chemical bonds. It belongs to group 14 of the periodic table. Carbon mak ...
filament treated with ethylene under high pressure and temperature acquired a positive resistance coefficient (its resistance depends on temperature; when temperature increases, it increases its resistance). Cruto's filament is produced by deposition of graphite on thin platinum filaments in the presence of gaseous hydrocarbons. Sublimating this platinum at high temperatures leaves behind thin filaments of super-pure graphite. He thought that his discovery could be used in incandescent lights instead of carbonized bamboo filament. Helped by Naccari, he experimented with his invention in 1880 in the physics laboratory of the University of Turin. In 1882, he attended the Electricity Expo at
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, where he gained fame with his technologically new light globe whose efficiency was better than that of Edison's light bulb, also because it produced a white light instead of the yellowish light of Edison's globe. His success was repeated at the International Turin Expo of 1884 to the extent that he sold his project in France, Switzerland,
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and United States. After these successes and because his manufacturing facilities in Piossasco were inadequate, he decided to move his activities to a more suitable location. Such a location was identified in Alpignano where in 1885-1886 he founded a light globe factory that he managed until 1889 and that eventually grew to a productivity level of 1000 light bulbs a day. Eventually, due to strong disagreements with the factory new management, he resigned in order to pursue his favorite activity as an inventor. His old factory was sold a number of times, went bankrupt and was eventually acquired by
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in 1927. Cruto married late in life and spent the rest of his life between his family and his old laboratory. He continued his experiments on the accumulation of atmospheric energy and the invention of a toy called ''mosca elettrica'' ("electrical fly"). Cruto died, almost forgotten by all, in 1908. Manoscritto Museo Scienza e Tecnologia Milano.tif, First page of the Alessandro Cruto's manuscript ''L'inventore'' ("The inventor") Lampadina Museo Scienza e Tecnologia Milano.tif, Cruto light bulb Stabilimento di Alpignano Museo Scienza e Tecnologia Milano.tif, The Alpignano factory at the end of 19th century


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''Ecomuseo della lampadina "Alessandro Cruto" di Alpignano'' - Ecomuseum of the light bulb "Alessandro Cruto" in Alpignano"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Curto, Alessandro 1908 deaths 19th-century Italian inventors 1847 births University of Turin alumni Scientists from Turin