All About Inventions and Discoveries
The Romance of modern scientific and mechanical Achievements

Coming of Electric Lighting 223 had burned out new carbons had to be introduced by hand. With a view to reducing this disadvantage as far as possible, an improvement—comprising a device for holding several candles—was made, in which successive lighting of the candles was carried out by an attendant with the aid of a switch. The reign of the Jablochkoff candle was sum- marily cut short, in the main, by the appearance of the arc lamp devised by Charles F. Brush, an American inventor. This was very similar in its general features to that in use to-day. The following year—1878— this experimenter also perfected the series arc dynamo. These two improvements brought the electric arc lamp well within the realms of practical use, and as a result of vigorous campaigning and enterprise to initiate the public into the advantages of the new illumination, great headway was made throughout the world. Developments followed in such rapid suc- cession, and the contributions of the men of science were so skilfully applied, that the invention became firmly planted among the community, especially as the light was so vastly superior to gas, no matter from what point of view it was considered. But as time passed the problem of electric illu- mination assumed a new significance. The arc-lamp’s sphere of utility was somewhat limited, and the need for some other form of electric lighting became felt more and more acutely. The arc-lamp was ex- cellent for the brilliant illumination of streets, open spaces, and interiors of spacious buildings, but was not adapted to the illumination of the average shop or the suburban home. Here gas reigned supreme, and at the time this form of consumption constituted