It even included a meter to determine the current actually consumed.

The success of the system was complete, and as fast as lamps and generators could be produced they were installed to give a service at once recognized as superior to any other form of lighting.

By 1885 the Edison lighting system was commercially developed in all its essentials, though still subject to many improvements and capable of great enlargement, and soon Edison sold out his interests in it and turned his great mind to other inventions.
The inventive ingenuity of others brought in time better and more economical incandescent lamps.

From the filaments of bamboo fiber the next step was to filaments of cellulose in the form of cotton, duly prepared and carbonized.

Later (1905) came the metalized carbon filament and finally the employment of tantalum or tungsten.