The Story of Electricity

w it, was first discovered by Sir Humphrey Davy, the Cornish philosopher, in the year 1811 or thereabout. With the magic o

ue flame, for there is little combustion, but rather a nebulous blaze of silvery lustre in a bluish veil of heated air. The points of carbon are white-hot, and the positive is eaten away into a hollow or crater by the current, which violently tears its particles from their seat and whirls them into the fierce vortex of the arc. The negative remains pointed, but it

ions, streets and open spaces, search-lights and lighthouses. They are sometimes naked, but as a rule their brightness is tempered by globes of ground or opal glass. In search-lights a parabolic mirror projects all the rays in any one direction, and in

unted portion of it flows through the solenoid M', and as both of these solenoids act as electromagnets on the soft iron C, each tending to suck it into its interior, the iron rests between them when their powers are balanced. When, however, the arc grows too wide, and the current therefore becomes to

K and K' being in contact, a strong current starts through the lamp energising H and H', which suck in their core pieces N and S, lifting C, and by it the "washer-clutch" W and the rod N and carbon K, establishing the arc. K is lifted until the increasing resistance of the lengthening arc weakens the current in H H' and a balance is established. As the carbons burn away, C gradually lowers until a stop under W holds it horizontal and allows

ade white-hot by sending a sufficient current through it, and this f

would seem to warrant. It therefore pays to elevate the temperature of the filament as high as possible. Unfortunately the most refractory metals, such as platinum and alloys of platinum with iridium, fuse at a temperature of about 3450 degrees Fahrenheit. Electricians have therefore forsaken metals, and fallen back on carbon for producing a light. In 1845 Mr. Staite devised an incandescent lamp consisting of a fine rod or stick of carbon rendered white-hot by the current, and to preserve the carbon from burning in the atmosphere, he enclosed it in a glass bulb, from which the air was exhausted by an air

E is the filament, moulded into a loop, and cemented to two platinum wir

de by a mercurial air pump of the Sprengel sort, and the pressure of air in it is only about one-millionth of an atmosphere. The bulb is fastened with a holder like that shown in figure 64, where two l

ase. The other end is attached to the metal button in the centre of the extreme bottom of the base. Screwing the lamp into the s

be chosen with regard to their size and internal resistance as well as to their kind, so that when the battery, in series, is connected to the lamp, the resistance of the whole circuit, including the filament or lamp, the battery itself, and the connecting wires shall give by Ohm's law a current of 1\2 an ampere. It will be understood that the current has the same strength in every part of the circuit, no matter how it is made up. Thus, if 1/2 of an ampere is flowing in the lamp, it is also flowing in the battery and wires. An Edison-Swa

ignite any inflammable stuffs near it. Hence its peculiar merit as a light for colliers working in fiery mines. Independent of air, it acts equally well under wate

ected in circuit on the series,

t is commonly reserved for the arc lamp, which has a resistance so low that a moderate electromotive force can ov

e the steps of a ladder. The current is thus divided into cross channels, like water used for irrigating fields, and it is

her in series, and a third or central main conductor is run from their middle poles. The plan saves

oups, with or without accumulators as local reser

e telegraph wires, or cables coated with india-rubber or gutta-percha, and buried underground or suspended ove

the conductors, with a sliding contact connected to the dynamo which travels over them. To guard against an excess of current on the lamps, "cut-outs," or safety-fuses, are inserted between the switch and

rays. Ruby, sapphire, and emerald give a deep red, crimson, or lilac phosphorescence, and sulphate of zinc a magnificent green glow. Tesla has also shown that vacuum bulbs can be lit inside without any outside connection with the current, by means of an apparatus like that shown in figure 70, where D is an alternating dynamo, C a condenser, P S the primary and secondary coils of a sparking transformer, T T two metal sheets or plates, and SB the

rful engine of research had been placed in the hands of the chemist. As a matter of fact, the temperature of the carbons in the arc is comparable to that of the Sun. It measures 5000 to 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit, and is the highest artificial heat known. Sir William Siemens was among the first to make an electric furnace heated by

res, boiler plates, rails, and other metal work, by h

le of this sort, which requires no outside fire to boil it, since the current flows through fine wires of platinum or some highly resisting metal embedded in fireproof insulating cement in its bottom. Figures 72 and 73 are a sauce-pan and a flat-iron heated in the same way. Figure 74 is a cigar-lighter for smoking rooms, the fusee F consisting of short platinum wires, which become red-hot when it is unhooked, and at the same time the lamp Z i

nside a hot water bag, thus keeping it at a uni