Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1915-11-15


ened Edison Day in honor of the in
ventive genius who gave to the world
the incandescent electric lamp on that
important date in our history was
celebrated throughout the country.
In this age when night has been
banished by a flood of artificial illum-
ination from millions and millions of
electric lamps. when the day has been
extended far into the hours heretofore
set aside for darkness, it is difficult to
imagine the conditions existing after
dark So years ago. Let us go back
to 1876 in any American city and note
the strange contrast. A few feeble
gas and oil lamps sparkled like fire.
flies in the darkness, serving more as
guiding lights than as street illumina-
tors. The shop windows were not
lighted. except in a very modest way.
The store interiors were illuminated
with gas and kerosene lamps. There
were no electric signs, no lighted We
hicles. In a few of the larger cities
the first series electric arc lamps Were
just being installed. They were not
the powerful arc lamps of today. Their
rays uncertain, Pickering and of low
brilliancy. In nearly every city and
village the lamp-lighter was a common
sight. Each evening he went about
with his little ladder. with supply
of wicks and matches, lighting the oil
and gas lamps. These lamps gave but
a feeble light at best, perhaps a doZ-
en- candle power. On moonlight nights
they We're not lighted at all,
In the homes kerosene lamps pre-
dominated. A few of the better class
of homes, in the larger places, had
gas lights. These were of the open jet
variety and were thought very Won
derful in that day. And, be it remem-
hered the kerosene lamps of 1876 We're
very far from being the efficient and
they are today. The first oil lamps
came into general use just before the
Civil War and as late as 1876 candles
were common enough in the city and
in quite general use in the country
districts. The average oil lamps of
1875 gave about six candle-power OF
light The candles in general use were
the same as had been used for hun
dreds. Of years. They We're of the wax
and tallow varieties.
The electric arc lamp was discov-
cred by Sir Humphry Davy more than
hundred years ago while he was ex-
perimenting with the heat of the cleo
trio arc. The dazzling flame suggest
ed to him the possibilities of electric
light. He demonstrated his first arc
q in, oil 4 ~,
act light in its important light houses
on the straits of Dover in 1852 and
similar work was done in France in
1863. Among the American inventors
who were working on the new arc
lamp were Messrs. Charles F. Brush
and Edward Weston. They developed
methods of series arc lighting for city
streets and their systems We're soon in
general use. The first Brush series of
arc lamps was erected in the public
squares of Cleveland. Ohio. in 1879.
Discovery Of the incandsscent Lamp
With the development of the new arc
lamp came the demand for small cleo
trio lamps. so that the lights could be
used in the home the same as gas jets.
The electric arc gave too much light
for this purpose, the lamps We're large
and cumbersome and save out too
much heat for home use. Many at
temptS were made TO subdivide the
electric current so that smaller lamps
could be used. The greatest minds
of the world gave the subject their
closest attention and one and all agreed
that it was quite impossible. Such
we'll known inventors as Swan, Lane
Fox and Crooks in England. and Edi-
son, Brush. Sawyer Mann, Weston
and Maxim in this country devoted
their efforts to solving the problem.
AS early as 1871 De Moleyns patented
in England an electric lamp of crude
design in which a platinum wire en-
closed in an exhausted globe was
rendered incandescent by an electric
current. A few years later Starr of
Cincinnati devised another incandes-
cent lamp consisting of thin strips Of
graphite enclosed in an exhausted
globe. But no successful lamps result
ed from these early attempts and the
plan was declared impracticable by
some of the very best authorities up to
the very moment when Thomas A..
Edison produced the first practical
lamps.
Thomas A. Edison had been working
with electricity for years before he
took up the problem of the electric
lamp. His first patent, in 1869, was for
vote-recording device. This was fol-
lowed by several noteworthy inventions
such as automatic telegraphy. stock
tickers. typewriter. a talking ma
chine. and new telephone apparatus.
When Edison became interested in
the proposed electric lamp he devot-
ed his entire attention and his entire
resources to the work. That is always