In 1840 Bunsen, the German chemist who invented the bunsen burner, devised a process for making hard dense carbon pencils which lasted much longer than the charcoal previously used. The dense carbon from the inside of the retorts of gas making plants was ground up and mixed with molasses, moulded into shape and baked at a high temperature. Bunsen also, in 1843, cheapened Grove’s battery by substituting a hard carbon plate in place of the platinum electrode.
Wright’s Arc Lamp, 1845.
This lamp is also only of interest as the first arc lamp on which a patent (British) was granted. Four arcs played between the five carbon discs.
Thomas Wright, an Englishman, was the first to patent an arc lamp. This was in 1845, and the lamp was a hand regulated device consisting of five carbon disks normally touching each other and rotated by clockwork. Two of the disks could be drawn outward by thumb screws, which was to be done after the current was turned on thus establishing four arcs, one between each pair of disks. The next year, 1846, W. E. Staite, another Englishman, made an arc lamp having two vertical carbon pencils. The upper was stationary. The lower was movable and actuated by clockwork directed by ratchets which in turn were regulated by an electro-magnet controlled by the current flowing through the arc. Thus the lower carbon would be moved up or down as required.
Archereau, a Frenchman, made a very simple arc lamp in 1848. The upper carbon was fixed and the lower one was mounted on a piece of iron which could be drawn down into a coil of wire. The weight of the lower electrode was overbalanced by a counterweight, so that when no current was flowing the two carbons would touch. When current was turned on, it flowed through the two carbons and through the coil of wire (solenoid) which then became energized and pulled the lower carbon down, thus striking the arc. Two of these arc lamps were installed in Paris and caused considerable excitement. After a few weeks of unreliable operation, it was found that the cost of current from the batteries was much too great to continue their use commercially. The dynamo had not progressed far enough to permit its use.
Archereau’s Arc Lamp, 1848.
This simple arc was controlled by an electro-magnet, and two lamps were installed for street lighting in Paris, current being obtained from batteries.