Neat story but partially clickbaity title. More "How Thomas Edison oversold the qualities of an early lightbulb prototype to media and investors.", perhaps? (Not advocating to change the HN title, just clarity).
As an aside, to feed the original implication of the clickbait title, now I'm going down the rabbit hole of earlier/same time arc lamps.
As an aside, to feed the original implication of the clickbait title, now I'm going down the rabbit hole of earlier/same time arc lamps.