This process had the side effect of making a stronger constructed glass envelope that held up well with ordinary handling.

The fourth of six children, Pipkin was born November 18, 1889, south of Lakeland, Florida in a suburban community called Christina.

Following that, he worked for about a year at International Mineral and Chemical Corporation of Bartow, where he was surrounded by college-educated people.

He attended Auburn University, at that time known as Alabama Polytechnic Institute, graduating with a degree in chemical engineering in 1913.

Pipkin then worked for a year in a fertilizer laboratory, after which he returned to API, where he gained his master's degree in 1915.

With his chemistry background, Pipkin was posted to the Army's Gas Defense Department at General Electric's Nela Park in Cleveland.

[8][9] His was a two step acid process that etched the interior of glass with tiny crevasses on the first process like in the normal procedure, but he added a second acid step that caused soft, rounded dimples from the crevasses which gave the bulbs added strength.

[11][12] The first electric light bulb frosted on the inside with sufficient strength for ordinary handling that could be sold to the public was invented by Pipkin in 1925.

1,687,510 was issued to Pipkin on October 16, 1928, and by him assigned to his employer, General Electric Co. On November 5, 1945, however, the United States Supreme Court invalidated the patent, on the ground that the claimed invention was not sufficiently original.

If he left the filled bulb for a while with this weaker solution it would clean out the etching previously done and return the glass globe to its transparent state.

In the process of answering the phone, he accidentally tipped the bulb over before it had enough time to finish cleaning out the previous etching.

Then, to further demonstrate the effectiveness of his tempering process, Pipkin took bulbs that had not shattered and dropped them again, this time allowing them to fall to the office floor.

[5] Besides the frosted light bulb, Pipkin invented or improved many other products during his career with General Electric.

[25] Pipkin's innovations were noted in articles in Time, Newsweek, and the Saturday Evening Post magazines, as well as in scientific journals.

[1] Pipkin was a member of Tuscan Masonic Lodge, Knights of Pythias, and the American Chemical Society.