a railway carriage passing a cinder heap near the road.12
A CONTRIBUTION TO THE HISTORY OF ELECTRIC LIGHTING.
As the subject of lighting by electricity is occupying so much public attention, and the merits of various inventors and inventions are so keenly discussed, the following facts may have some historical interest in connection with it.
In October, 1845, I was consulted by some American gentlemen concerning the construction of a large voltaic battery for experimenting upon an invention, afterwards described and published in the specification of “King’s Patent Electric Light” (Letters Patent granted for Scotland, November 26, 1845; enrolled March 25, 1846; English Patent sealed November 4, 1845).
Mr. King was not the inventor, but he and Mr. Dorr supplied capital, and Mr. Snyder also held a share, which was afterwards transferred to myself. The inventor was Mr. Starr, a young man about twenty-five years of age, and one of the ablest experimental investigators with whom I have ever had the privilege of near acquaintance.
He had been working for some years on the subject, commencing with the ordinary arc between charcoal points. His first efforts were directed to maintaining constancy, and he showed me, in January of 1846, an arrangement by which he succeeded in effecting an automatic renewal of contact by means of an electro-magnet, the armature of which received the electric flow, when the arc was broken, and which thus magnetized brought the carbons together and then allowed them to be withdrawn to their required separation, when the flow returned. This device was almost identical with that subsequently re-invented and patented by Mr. Staite (quite independently, I believe), and which, with modifications, has since been rather extensively used.
Although successful so far, he was not satisfied. He reasoned out the subject, and concluded that the electric spark between metals, the electric arc between the carbons, and other luminous electric phenomena are secondary effects due to the heating and illumination of electric carriers; that the electric spark of the conductors of ordinary electrical machines is simply a transfer of incandescent particles of metal, which effect a kind of electric convection, known as the disruptive discharge; and that the more brilliant arc between the carbon points is simply due to the use of a substance which breaks up more readily, and gives a longer, broader, and more continuous stream of incandescent convection particles.
This is now readily accepted, but at that time was only dawning upon the understanding of electricians. I am satisfied that Mr. Starr worked out the principle quite originally. He therefore concluded that, the light being due to solid particles heated by electric disturbance, it would be more advantageous—as regards steadiness, economy, and simplicity—to place in the current a continuous solid barrier, which should present sufficient resistance to its passage to become bodily incandescent without disruption.
This was the essence of the invention specified in King’s Patent as “a communication from abroad,” which claims the use of continuous metallic and carbon conductors, intensely heated by the passage of a current of electricity, for the purposes of illumination.
The metal selected was platinum, which, as the specification states, “though not so infusible as iridium, has but little affinity for oxygen, and offers a great resistance to the passage of the current.” The form of thin sheets known by the name of leaf-platinum is described as preferable. These to be rolled between sheets of copper in order to secure uniformity, and to be carefully cut in strips of equal width, and with a clean edge, in order that one part may not be fused before the other parts have obtained a sufficiently high temperature to produce a brilliant light. This strip to be suspended between forceps.
I need not describe the arrangement for regulating the distance between the forceps, for directing the current, etc., as we soon learned that this part of the invention was of no practical value, on account of the narrow margin between efficient incandescence and the fusion of the platinum. The experiments with the large battery that I made—consisting of 100 Daniell cells, with two square feet of working surface of each element in each cell, and the copper-plates about three-quarters of an inch distant from the zinc—satisfied all concerned that neither platinum nor any available alloy of platinum and iridium could be relied upon; especially when the grand idea of subdividing the light by interposing several platinum strips in the same circuit, and working with a proportionally high power, was carried out.
This drove Mr. Starr to rely upon the second part of the specification, viz., that of using a small stick of carbon made incandescent in a Torricellian vacuum. He commenced with plumbago, and, after trying many other forms of carbon, found that which lines gas-retorts that have been long in use to be the best.
The carbon stick of square section, about one tenth of an inch thick and half an inch working length, was held vertically, by metallic forceps at each end, in a barometer tube, the upper part of which, containing the carbon, was enlarged to a sort of oblong bulb. A thick platinum wire from the upper forceps was sealed into the top of the tube and projected beyond; a similar wire passed downwards from the lower forceps, and dipped into the mercury of the tube, which was so long that when arranged as a barometer the enlarged end containing the carbon was vacuous.
Considerable difficulty was at first encountered in supporting this fragile stick. Metallic supports were not available, on account of their expansion; and, finally, little cylinders of porcelain were used, one on each side of the carbon stick, and about three eighths of an inch distant.
By connecting the mercury cup with one terminal of the battery, and the upper platinum-wire with the other, a brilliant and perfectly steady light was produced, not so intense as the ordinary disruption arc between carbons, but equally if not more effective, on account of the magnitude of brilliant radiating surface.
Some curious phenomena accompanied this illumination of the carbon. The mercury column fell to about half its barometric height, and presently the glass opposite the carbon stick became slightly dimmed by the deposition of a thin film of sooty deposit.
At first the depression of the mercury was attributed to the formation of mercurial vapor, and is described accordingly in the specification; but further observation refuted this theory, for no return of the mercury took place when the tube was cooled. The depression was permanent. The formation of vaporous carbon was suggested by one of the capitalists; but neither Mr. Starr nor myself was satisfied with this, nor with any other surmise we were able to make during Mr. Starr’s lifetime, nor up to the period of final abandonment of the enterprise.
When this occurred the remaining apparatus was assigned to me, and I retained possession of the finally arranged tube and carbon for many years, and have shown it in action worked by a small Grove’s battery in the Town Hall of Birmingham, and many times to my pupils at the Birmingham and Midland Institute.
These exhibitions suggested an explanation of the mysterious gaseous matter, which I believe to be the correct one, and also of the carbon deposit. It is this:—That the carbon contains occluded oxygen; that when the carbon is heated some of this oxygen combines with the carbon, forming carbonic oxide and carbonic acid, and a little smoke. I proved the presence of carbonic acid by the usual tests, but did not quantitatively determine its proportion of the total atmosphere.
If I were fitting up another tube on this principle I should wash it with a strong solution of caustic potash before filling with mercury, and allow some of the potash solution to float on the mercury surface, by filling the tube while the glass remained moistened with the solution. My object would be to get rid of the carbonic acid as soon as formed, as the observations I have made lead me to believe that—when the carbon stick is incandescent in an atmosphere of carbonic acid or carbonic oxide—a certain degree of dissociation and re-combination is continually
