History of electric light

by Henry Schroeder

THE MOORE TUBE LIGHT

Geissler, a German, discovered sixty odd years ago, that a high voltage alternating current would cause a vacuum tube to glow. This light was similar to that obtained by Hawksbee over two hundred years ago. Geissler obtained his high voltage alternating current by a spark coil, which consisted of two coils of wire mounted on an iron core. Current from a primary battery passed through the primary coil, and this current was rapidly interrupted by a vibrator on the principle of an electric bell. This induced an alternating current of high voltage in the secondary coil as this coil had a great many more turns than the primary coil had. Scientists found that about 70 per cent of the electrical energy put into the Geissler tube was converted into the actual energy in the light given out.

In 1891 Mr. D. McFarlan Moore, an American, impressed with the fact that only one-half of one per cent of the electrical energy put into the carbon-incandescent lamp came out in the form of light, decided to investigate the possibilities of the vacuum tube. After several years of experiments and the making of many trial lamps, he finally, in 1904, made a lamp that was commercially used in considerable numbers.

Diagram of Feeder Valve of Moore Tube.

As the carbon terminals inside the tube absorbed the very slight amount of gas in the tube, a feeder valve allowed gas to flow in the tube, regulating the pressure to within one ten thousandth part of an atmosphere above and below the normal extremely slight pressure required.

The first installation of this form of lamp was in a hardware store in Newark, N. J. It consisted of a glass tube 1¾ inches in diameter and 180 feet long. Air, at a pressure of about one-thousand part of an atmosphere, was in the tube, from which was obtained a pale pink color. High voltage (about 16,000 volts) alternating current was supplied by a transformer to two carbon electrodes inside the ends of the tube. The air had to be maintained within one ten-thousandth part of atmospheric pressure above and below the normal of one-thousandth, and as the rarefied air in the tube combined chemically with the carbon electrodes, means had to be devised to maintain the air in the tube at this slight pressure as well as within the narrow limits required.

This was accomplished by a piece of carbon through which the air could seep, but if covered with mercury would make a tight seal. As the air pressure became low, an increased current would flow through the tube, the normal being about a tenth of an ampere. This accordingly increased the current flowing through the primary coil of the transformer. In series with the primary coil was an electro-magnet which lifted, as the current increased, a bundle of iron wires mounted in a glass tube which floated in mercury. The glass tube, rising, lowered the height of the mercury, uncovering a carbon rod cemented in a tube connecting the main tube with the open air. Thus air could seep through this carbon rod until the proper amount was fed into the main tube. When the current came back to normal the electro-magnet lowered the floating glass tube which raised the height of the mercury and covered the carbon rod, thus shutting off the further supply of air.

As there was a constant loss of about 400 watts in the transformer, and an additional loss of about 250 watts in the two electrodes, the total consumption of the 180-foot tube was about 2250 watts. Nitrogen gas gave a yellow light, which was more efficient and so was later used. On account of the fixed losses in the transformer and electrodes the longer tubes were more efficient, though they were made in various sizes of from 40 to 200 feet. The 200-foot tube, with nitrogen, had an efficiency of about 10 lumens per watt. Nitrogen gas was supplied to the tube by removing the oxygen from the air used. This was accomplished by passing the air over phosphorous which absorbed the oxygen.

Carbon dioxide gas (CO₂) gave a pure white light but at about half the efficiency of nitrogen. The gas was obtained by allowing hydrochloric acid to come in contact with lumps of marble (calcium carbonate) which set free carbon dioxide and water vapor. The latter was absorbed by passing the gas through lumps of calcium chloride. The carbon dioxide tube on account of its daylight color value, made an excellent light under which accurate color matching could be done. A short tube is made for this purpose and this is the only use which the Moore tube now has, owing to the more efficient and simpler tungsten filament incandescent lamp.