It lingers between the tips of the carbon rods, and electricity streaks through, illuminating the vapor and whatever is beyond it. Arc lamps were bright, but incredibly unsteady. People were ...

Electricity was mostly a lab curiosity until the late 1800s, when carbon arc lamps began lighting the streets of major U.S. cities. The lamps were composed of two carbon rods connected to a current ...

Davy's 1802 invention was known as an electric arc lamp, named for the bright arc of light emitted between its two carbon rods, according to "The Life of Sir Humphrey Davy" (HardPress Publishing ...

An arc light, or arc lamp, is a source of illumination created when electricity flows between two carbon electrodes. Use of arc lamps dwindled in the 20th century, edged out by incandescents ...

Though the roving carbon arc lamps are harder to find, they aren’t extinct. Smaller Sky Tracker lights still show up at film premieres and store openings, but the massive lamps you know from the ...