With the dawn of the 19th century the beginning of what we would know as outdoor lighting was beginning to take shape. While the means and technology was primitive the discoveries and advancements in this century make what we know as outdoor lighting today possible.
Gas is king
At the start of the 19th century oil was now king. William Murdoch’s gas lighting system was demonstrated in Paris in 1800 and in England in 1802. Public places in Paris like the Passage des Panoramas, Place du Carrousel, Rue de Rivoli, Rue de la Paix, Place Vendome and the Grand Boulevards all had gas lighting installed and illuminating the night. Paris gained the nickname the City of Light thanks to gas. In London Pall Mall was the first street to have gas lighting installed in 1807 and the Westminster Bridge was lit in 1813. The world’s first gas company, Gas Light and Coke Company was granted a charter in 1812.
This natural gas made its debut in the United States Newport, Rhode Island in 1803 and later in Baltimore, Maryland at Rembrandt Peale’s Museum in 1816. Peale founded a gas company and installed gas streetlights in the city, a first in the United States. There were other forms of oil that were being used as well. Whale oil was particularly common in New England as it burned clean and consistently. While it was plentiful acquiring it was one of the most dangerous jobs on the planet which drove up prices and helped to be its downfall.
Huge economic benefits to gas lighting
Cities that were able to install gas lighting set themselves up for major economic booms. Where previously businesses closed down when the sun set as they were not able to stay open gas allowed the Industrial Revolution was to take off. Workers were not bound by natural light to do their work and were able to safely walk to and from their jobs. New innovations like the steam engine, pioneered in part by William Murdoch, helped to push humankind forward.
Outdoor lighting developed from mining technology?
The Industrial Revolution also helped to pioneer new technology in the lighting field. British scientist Humphry Davy developed an electric arc lamp using charcoal sticks and a battery. He was working to develop a safer method of getting light in a coal mine after the Felling mine disaster of 1812. He called his invention the Davy lamp but it proved to be unsafe since the components quickly rusted away. This has since been improved upon with mercury vapor, sodium and fluorescent lamps as well as better materials for its construction. Scientists at the time also discovered electroluminescence, or where electrons release energy in the form of light. These were primitive LED and OLED lights.
Steam power could not provide light
Steam was becoming a major source of power but oil was still king when it came to illumination. While electricity was known it was difficult to harness or generate in sufficient quantities to do what humans wanted it to do. That began to change in 1831 when British scientist Michael Faraday (a former assistant to Humphrey Davy) discovered electromagnetism induction while successfully producing electricity. He also developed an electric dynamo, a primitive electrical generator. What electricity could illuminate would prove to be difficult to find. Glassblower Heinrich Geissler invented a gas discharge lamp in 1857 that became known as the Geissler Tube. He built on that eventually developing a fluorescent lamp. Originally the Geissler Tube was used for entertainment purposes but would evolve into more modern neon tubes and the much more groundbreaking vacuum tube that helped to pioneer modern day electronics.
Electricity
Gas lighting was still in use in nearly every major modern city around the world as electricity was just not practical but the times were changing. There was competition though as kerosene was becoming the more dominant fuel. That changed in 1879 after thousands of failures Thomas Edison developed and patented the carbon-thread incandescent lamp. The carbon-thread was a high-resistant illuminant that was able to operate in a vacuum. The filament used came from pasteboard and when carbonized produced a white heat. Edison was not the first to develop an incandescent light but he was the first to perfect it. His first successful experiment remained lit for 13 ½ hours. He later discovered that carbonized bamboo could last for 1,200 hours, an idea he got examining a bamboo fishing pole while in Wyoming to observe a total solar eclipse.
Edison set to work mass producing his lighting system and by 1881 his system was lighting the homes of the wealthy and businesses along the east coast as well as a steamship. He also developed a direct current electrical generator as a part of the new Edison Illuminating Company (Henry Ford worked as an engineer in this company for a time) that was used to light Pearl Street in Lower Manhattan and vowing to provide cheap electricity for everyone.
Electricity was not a hit at first
New York was not the first city to have an electrical light. Los Angeles employed four carbon arc lamps that used alternating current developed by Russian-born Pavel Yablochkov in 1875, alternately known as “Yablochkov Candles.” Paris and London were also quick to adopt electrical carbon arc street lights. Paris had them in place in select locations in time for the 1878 Paris Universal Exposition and along all major streets by 1881. The US was also quick to adopt these with over 130,000 installed by 1890.
Electrical arc lights had several major disadvantages which were quickly recognized. They emitted an intense light which worked well in industrial sites but not on city streets. They also burned out frequently requiring a lot of maintenance. A better solution was needed and Edison’s incandescent bulb fit the bill. Cities all over the world employed them, from England to Romania to South Africa to Australia to Costa Rica and the United States all had cities illuminated by incandescent bulbs by 1890. Edison though was embroiled in litigation regarding his patents and was facing competition from George Westinghouse who was a proponent of alternating current (AC).
AC or DC? And we don’t mean the band.
While modern lighting as we know it had arrived which form of electricity would become the prevalent form: AC or DC? Edison and the proponents of DC believed that AC was unsafe and unworkable at high voltages. AC though required thinner wires and could be transmitted over longer distances whereas DC could only be transmitted within one mile of the plant leaving smaller cities and rural areas in the dark. AC would win the War of the Currents, becoming more prevalent and profitable forcing Edison’s chief financier J.P. Morgan to force Edison out of General Edison Electric and merge the company to form General Electric in 1892.
The stage has been set for modern outdoor lighting. Where will it continue?
Reference:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Murdoch
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passage_des_Panoramas
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Place_du_Carrousel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rue_de_Rivoli
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rue_de_la_Paix,_Paris
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Place_Vendôme
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boulevards_of_Paris
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pall_Mall,_London
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westminster_Bridge
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_Light_and_Coke_Company
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newport,_Rhode_Island
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltimore
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rembrandt_Peale
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Revolution
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humphry_Davy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Faraday
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_Geißler
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geissler_tube
