[imagesource:pixabay]

A South African inventor has taken on the challenge of changing a design that has been around for almost as long as electricity, and his inspiration came from a dark place.

Capetonian David Harte, 64, has invented and patented a light bulb socket able to mechanically and electrically interface both screw-type and bayonet-type light bulbs as well as downlight-type light bulbs.

Lightbulbs are like wheels, and re-inventing them often seems pointless as they work about as well as they can. But even if you can’t re-invent the wheel, Harte found inspiration to re-invent the lightbulb when he was indeed in a very dark place, both emotionally and physically.

The idea for a new type of lightbulb came to the South African while he was incarcerated for drug trafficking in Mauritius. Harte had been busted trying to smuggle 500 grams of heroin into the country and was serving a 9-year sentence for smuggling.

Harte had lost his middle-class home after a messy divorce, and after finding himself living in a youth hostel, he accepted an offer to smuggle the drugs for a few thousand dollars. It was a decision that changed his life, and while in prison he spent his time developing himself, as well as helping out other inmates.

This commitment to being a better person allowed him a few extra perks in prison, amongst which was access to a light in his cell so that he could read at night. One night, the light bulb expired and when he obtained a replacement, it was the wrong sort of bulb.

“I thought to myself: why hasn’t anyone come up with a light bulb that can fit any socket?”

It was a true lightbulb moment, and afterwards, he began to research the idea of what he now calls “the universal light bulb socket or UBS”. After he left prison, his twin, Harold, took him in and encouraged him to keep working on the idea in his garage.

His invention comprises a safety mechanism for electrically isolating the electrodes within the socket. “This is so that you have no risk of shocking yourself even if you change the light while the current is still running.” according to Harold.

Harte’s invention has now been patented and will be made available in the US, Australia, China, India, and, South Africa.

Harte proves that you can find light in the darkest of times.

[source:iol]