Part 1
Transcriber’s Notes
In this Plain Text version of this eBook, italics are enclosed within ~tildas~, superscripts and subscripts are enclosed in curly braces and preceded by a caret ^{superscript} or an underscore _{subscript}.
Other notes will be found at the end of this eBook.
SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOLUME 76, NUMBER 2
HISTORY OF ELECTRIC LIGHT
BY HENRY SCHROEDER Harrison, New Jersey
(PUBLICATION 2717)
CITY OF WASHINGTON PUBLISHED BY THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION AUGUST 15, 1923
The Lord Baltimore Press BALTIMORE, MD., U. S. A.
CONTENTS
PAGE
List of Illustrations v
Foreword ix
Chronology of Electric Light xi
Early Records of Electricity and Magnetism 1
Machines Generating Electricity by Friction 2
The Leyden Jar 3
Electricity Generated by Chemical Means 3
Improvement of Volta’s Battery 5
Davy’s Discoveries 5
Researches of Oersted, Ampère, Schweigger and Sturgeon 6
Ohm’s Law 7
Invention of the Dynamo 7
Daniell’s Battery 10
Grove’s Battery 11
Grove’s Demonstration of Incandescent Lighting 12
Grenet Battery 13
De Moleyns’ Incandescent Lamp 13
Early Developments of the Arc Lamp 14
Joule’s Law 16
Starr’s Incandescent Lamp 17
Other Early Incandescent Lamps 19
Further Arc Lamp Developments 20
Development of the Dynamo, 1840–1860 24
The First Commercial Installation of an Electric Light 25
Further Dynamo Developments 27
Russian Incandescent Lamp Inventors 30
The Jablochkoff “Candle” 31
Commercial Introduction of the Differentially Controlled Arc Lamp 33
Arc Lighting in the United States 33
Other American Arc Light Systems 40
“Sub-Dividing the Electric Light” 42
Edison’s Invention of a Practical Incandescent Lamp 43
Edison’s Three-Wire System 53
Development of the Alternating Current Constant Potential System 54
Incandescent Lamp Developments, 1884–1894 56
The Edison “Municipal” Street Lighting System 62
The Shunt Box System for Series Incandescent Lamps 64
The Enclosed Arc Lamp 65
The Flame Arc Lamp 67
The Constant Current Transformer for Series Circuits 69
Enclosed Series Alternating Current Arc Lamps 69
Series Incandescent Lamps on Constant Current Transformers 70
The Nernst Lamp 71
The Cooper-Hewitt Lamp 72
The Luminous or Magnetite Arc Lamp 74
Mercury Arc Rectifier for Magnetite Arc Lamps 77
Incandescent Lamp Developments, 1894–1904 78
The Moore Tube Light 79
The Osmium Lamp 82
The Gem Lamp 82
The Tantalum Lamp 84
Invention of the Tungsten Lamp 85
Drawn Tungsten Wire 87
The Quartz Mercury Vapor Arc Lamp 88
The Gas-Filled Tungsten Lamp 89
Types and Sizes of Tungsten Lamps Now Made 91
Standard Voltages 93
Cost of Incandescent Electric Light 93
Statistics Regarding the Present Demand for Lamps 94
Selected Bibliography 95
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Portion of the Electrical Exhibit in the United States National Museum viii
Otto Von Guericke’s Electric Machine, 1650 2
Voltaic Pile, 1799 4
Faraday’s Dynamo, 1831 8
Pixii’s Dynamo, 1832 9
Daniell’s Cell, 1836 10
Grove’s Cell, 1838 11
Grove’s Incandescent Lamp, 1840 13
De Moleyns’ Incandescent Lamp, 1841 14
Wright’s Arc Lamp, 1845 15
Archereau’s Arc Lamp, 1848 16
Starr’s Incandescent Lamp, 1845 18
Staite’s Incandescent Lamp, 1848 19
Roberts’ Incandescent Lamp, 1852 19
Farmer’s Incandescent Lamp, 1859 20
Roberts’ Arc Lamp, 1852 21
Slater and Watson’s Arc Lamp, 1852 21
Diagram of “Differential” Method of Control of an Arc Lamp 22
Lacassagne and Thiers’ Differentially Controlled Arc Lamp, 1856 23
Serrin’s Arc Lamp, 1857 24
Siemens’ Dynamo, 1856 25
Alliance Dynamo, 1862 26
Wheatstone’s Self-Excited Dynamo, 1866 27
Gramme’s Dynamo, 1871 28
Gramme’s “Ring” Armature 28
Alteneck’s Dynamo with “Drum” Wound Armature, 1872 29
Lodyguine’s Incandescent Lamp, 1872 30
Konn’s Incandescent Lamp, 1875 30
Bouliguine’s Incandescent Lamp, 1876 31
Jablochkoff “Candle,” 1876 32
Jablochkoff’s Alternating Current Dynamo, 1876 33
Wallace-Farmer Arc Lamp, 1875 34
Wallace-Farmer Dynamo, 1875 34
Weston’s Arc Lamp, 1876 35
Brush’s Dynamo, 1877 36
Diagram of Brush Armature 36
Brush’s Arc Lamp, 1877 37
Thomson-Houston Arc Dynamo, 1878 38
Diagram of T-H Arc Lighting System 39
Thomson-Houston Arc Lamp, 1878 40
Thomson Double Carbon Arc Lamp 40
Maxim Dynamo 41
Sawyer’s Incandescent Lamp, 1878 42
Farmer’s Incandescent Lamp, 1878 42
Maxim’s Incandescent Lamp, 1878 43
Edison’s First Experimental Lamp, 1878 44
Diagram of Constant Current Series System 45
Diagram of Edison’s Multiple System, 1879 45
Edison Dynamo, 1879 46
Edison’s High Resistance Platinum Lamp, 1879 47
Edison’s High Resistance Platinum in Vacuum Lamp, 1879 47
Edison’s Carbon Lamp of October 21, 1879 48
Demonstration of Edison’s Incandescent Lighting System 49
Dynamo Room, S. S. Columbia 50
Original Socket for Incandescent Lamps 51
Wire Terminal Base Lamp, 1880 51
Original Screw Base Lamp, 1880 52
Improved Screw Base Lamp, 1881 52
Final Form of Screw Base, 1881 53
Diagram of Edison’s Three Wire System, 1881 54
Diagram of Stanley’s Alternating Current Multiple System, 1885 55
Standard Edison Lamp, 1884 56
Standard Edison Lamp, 1888 56
Standard Edison Lamp, 1894 57
Various Bases in Use, 1892 58
Thomson-Houston Socket 59
Westinghouse Socket 59
Adapters for Edison Screw Sockets, 1892 60
Various Series Bases in Use, 1892 61
Edison “Municipal” System, 1885 62
Edison “Municipal” Lamp, 1885 63
Shunt Box System, 1887 64
Enclosed Arc Lamp, 1893 65
Open Flame Arc Lamp, 1898 66
Enclosed Flame Arc Lamp, 1908 66
Constant Current Transformer, 1900 68
Series Incandescent Lamp Socket with Film Cutout, 1900 70
Nernst Lamp, 1900 71
Diagram of Nernst Lamp 72
Cooper-Hewitt Mercury Vapor Arc Lamp, 1901 73
Diagram of Cooper-Hewitt Lamp for Use on Alternating Current 74
Luminous or Magnetite Arc Lamp, 1902 75
Diagram of Series Magnetite Arc Lamp 76
Mercury Arc Rectifier Tube for Series Magnetite Arc Circuits, 1902 77
Early Mercury Arc Rectifier Installation 78
The Moore Tube Light, 1904 79
Diagram of Feeder Valve of Moore Tube 80
Osmium Lamp, 1905 82
Gem Lamp, 1905 83
Tantalum Lamp, 1906 84
Tungsten Lamp, 1907 86
Drawn Tungsten Wire Lamp, 1911 87
Quartz Mercury Vapor Lamp, 1912 88
Gas Filled Tungsten Lamp, 1913 89
Gas Filled Tungsten Lamp, 1923 90
Standard Tungsten Lamps, 1923 92
FOREWORD
In the year 1884 a Section of Transportation was organized in the United States National Museum for the purpose of preparing and assembling educational exhibits of a few objects of railroad machinery which had been obtained both from the Centennial Exhibition held in Philadelphia in 1876 and still earlier as incidentals to ethnological collections, and to secure other collections relating to the railway industry.
From this beginning the section was expanded to include the whole field of engineering and is designated at present as the Divisions of Mineral and Mechanical Technology. The growth and enlargement of the collections has been particularly marked in the fields of mining and mineral industries; mechanical engineering, especially pertaining to the steam engine, internal combustion engine and locomotive; naval architecture, and electrical engineering, particularly the development of the telegraph, telephone and the electric light.
In the acquisition of objects visualizing the history of electric light the Museum has been rather fortunate, particularly as regards the developments in the United States. Thus mention may be made of the original Patent Office models of the more important dynamos, arc lights and incandescent lights, together with original commercial apparatus after these models; a unit of the equipment used in the first commercially successful installation on land of an incandescent lighting system, presented by Joseph E. Hinds in whose engraving establishment in New York City the installation was made in 1881; and a large series of incandescent lights, mainly originals, visualizing chronologically the developments of the Edison light from its inception, presented at intervals since the year 1898 by the General Electric Company.
The object of all collections in the Divisions is to visualize broadly the steps by which advances have been made in each field of engineering; to show the layman the fundamental and general principles which are the basis for the developments; and to familiarize the engineer with branches of engineering other than his own. Normally when a subject is completely covered by a collection of objects, a paper is prepared and published describing the collection and the story it portrays. In the present instance, however, on account of the uncertainty of the time of completing the collection, if it is possible ever to bring this about, it was thought advisable to publish Mr. Schroeder’s paper which draws upon the Museum collection as completely as possible.
CARL W. MITMAN, ~Curator, Divisions of Mineral and Mechanical Technology, U. S. National Museum~.
CHRONOLOGY OF ELECTRIC LIGHT
1800--Allesandro Volta demonstrated his discovery that electricity can be generated by chemical means. The VOLT, the unit of electric pressure, is named in his honor for this discovery of the electric battery.
1802--Sir Humphry Davy demonstrated that electric current can heat carbon and strips of metal to incandescence and give light.
1809--Sir Humphry Davy demonstrated that current will give a brilliant flame between the ends of two carbon pencils which are first allowed to touch each other and then pulled apart. This light he called the “arc” on account of its arch shape.
1820--André Marie Ampère discovered that current flowing through a coiled wire gives it the properties of a magnet. The AMPERE, the unit of flow of electric current, is named in his honor for this discovery.
1825--Georg Simon Ohm discovered the relation between the voltage, ampereage and resistance in an electric circuit, which is called Ohm’s Law. The OHM, the unit of electric resistance, is named in his honor for this discovery.
1831--Michael Faraday discovered that electricity can be generated by moving a wire in the neighborhood of a magnet, the principle of the dynamo.
1840--Sir William Robert Grove demonstrated his experimental incandescent lamp in which platinum is made incandescent by current flowing through it.
1841--Frederick De Moleyns obtained the first patent on an incandescent lamp. The burner was powdered charcoal operating in an exhausted glass globe.
1845--Thomas Wright obtained the first patent on an arc light.
1845--J. W. Starr invented an incandescent lamp consisting of a carbon pencil operating in the vacuum above a column of mercury.
1856--Joseph Lacassagne and Henry Thiers invented the “differential” method of control of the arc which was universally used twenty years later when the arc lamp was commercially established.
1862--The first commercial installation of an electric light. An arc light was put in a lighthouse in England.
1866--Sir Charles Wheatstone invented the “self-excited” dynamo, now universally used.
1872--Lodyguine invented an incandescent lamp having a graphite burner operating in nitrogen gas.
1876--Paul Jablochkoff invented the “electric candle,” an arc light commercially used for lighting the boulevards in Paris.
1877–8--Arc light systems commercially established in the United States by William Wallace and Prof. Moses Farmer, Edward Weston, Charles F. Brush and Prof. Elihu Thomson and Edwin J. Houston.
1879--Thomas Alva Edison invented an incandescent lamp consisting of a high resistance carbon filament operating in a high vacuum maintained by an all glass globe. These principles are used in all incandescent lamps made today. He also invented a completely new system of distributing electricity at constant pressure, now universally used.
1882--Lucien Goulard and John D. Gibbs invented a series alternating current system of distributing electric current. This has not been commercially used.
1886--William Stanley invented a constant pressure alternating current system of distribution. This is universally used where current is to be distributed long distances.
1893--Louis B. Marks invented the enclosed carbon arc lamp.
1898--Bremer’s invention of the flame arc lamp, having carbons impregnated with various salts, commercially established.
1900--Dr. Walther Nernst’s invention of the Nernst lamp commercially established. The burner consisted of various oxides, such as zirconia, which operated in the open air.
1901--Dr. Peter Cooper Hewitt’s invention of the mercury arc light commercially established.
1902--The magnetite arc lamp was developed by C. A. B. Halvorson, Jr. This has a new method of control of the arc. The negative electrode consists of a mixture of magnetite and other substances packed in an iron tube.
1904--D. McFarlan Moore’s invention of the Moore vacuum tube light commercially established. This consisted of a long tube, made in lengths up to 200 feet, from which the air had been exhausted to about a thousandth of an atmosphere. High voltage current passing through this rarefied atmosphere caused it to glow. Rarefied carbon dioxide gas was later used.
1905--Dr. Auer von Welsbach’s invention of the osmium incandescent lamp commercially established, but only on a small scale in Europe. The metal osmium, used for the filament which operated in vacuum, is rarer and more expensive than platinum.
1905--Dr. Willis R. Whitney’s invention of the Gem incandescent lamp commercially established. The carbon filament had been heated to a very high temperature in an electric resistance furnace invented by him. The lamp was 25 per cent more efficient than the regular carbon lamp.
1906--Dr. Werner von Bolton’s invention of the tantalum incandescent lamp commercially established.
1907--Alexander Just and Franz Hanaman’s invention of the tungsten filament incandescent lamp commercially established.
1911--Dr. William D. Coolidge’s invention of drawn tungsten wire commercially established.
1913--Dr. Irving Langmuir’s invention of the gas-filled tungsten filament incandescent lamp commercially established.
HISTORY OF ELECTRIC LIGHT
BY HENRY SCHROEDER, HARRISON, NEW JERSEY.
EARLY RECORDS OF ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETISM
About twenty-five centuries ago, Thales, a Greek philosopher, recorded the fact that if amber is rubbed it will attract light objects. The Greeks called amber “elektron,” from which we get the word “electricity.” About two hundred and fifty years later, Aristotle, another Greek philosopher, mentioned that the lodestone would attract iron. Lodestone is an iron ore (Fe_{3}O_{4}), having magnetic qualities and is now called magnetite. The word “magnet” comes from the fact that the best specimens of lodestones came from Magnesia, a city in Asia Minor. Plutarch, a Greek biographer, wrote about 100 A. D., that iron is sometimes attracted and at other times repelled by a lodestone. This indicates that the piece of iron was magnetised by the lodestone.
In 1180, Alexander Neckham, an English Monk, described the compass, which probably had been invented by sailors of the northern countries of Europe, although its invention has been credited to the Chinese. Early compasses probably consisted of an iron needle, magnetised by a lodestone, mounted on a piece of wood floating in water. The word lodestone or “leading stone” comes from the fact that it would point towards the north if suspended like a compass.
William Gilbert, physician to Queen Elizabeth of England, wrote a book about the year 1600 giving all the information then known on the subject. He also described his experiments, showing, among other things, the existence of magnetic lines of force and of north and south poles in a magnet. Robert Norman had discovered a few years previously that a compass needle mounted on a horizontal axis would dip downward. Gilbert cut a large lodestone into a sphere, and observed that the needle did not dip at the equator of this sphere, the dip increasing to 90 degrees as the poles were approached. From this he deduced that the earth was a magnet with the magnetic north pole at the geographic north pole. It has since been determined that these two poles do not coincide. Gilbert suggested the use of the dipping needle to determine latitude. He also discovered that other substances, beside amber, would attract light objects if rubbed.
MACHINES GENERATING ELECTRICITY BY FRICTION