Arc lamps from 1880s and 1890s
An online exhibition looking at the history, development and the engineers involved in the creation and manufacture of arc lamps. Find out how an arc lamp works and how electric lighting became a practical reality.
Engineers were constantly trying to find ways of improving the arc lamp's mechanism for regulating the movement of the upper carbon - it descended as the two carbons burnt away. Lever used a spring mechanism, while the Jolin and Parson's lamp, which won the approval of Silvanus P. Thompson, used an electromagnet. The Pilsen lamp was developed by two Austrian engineers, Ludwig Piette and Franz Krizik, and was marketed in Britain by Henry F. Joel. It had a complex regulating mechanism which used an iron core between two solenoids. The lamp was quite extensively used, and won a Gold Medal at the Paris Electrical Exhibition of 1881. The Pilsen lamp shown here has an ornamental covering as used in theatres.
Two other typical Arc Lamps from the 1880s- the double-rod Jolin Arc Lamp and the Lever Arc Lamp.
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