The Einhorn (Unicorn) Press

 

 

SENT ON 4/17/2009 FROM LARRY BRIAN RADKA, AN EBAY PERUSER:  Hi, From studying the pictures, it looks like this carbon arc street lamp as been modified with a newer filament lamp light socket, and the internal carbon arc regulating mechanism has been removed. I saw one of these go for about $350 in an auction a few months back, and it was in tact, that is, had all its original carbon arc qualities. If you want to see a few night photographs of carbon arc lamps in London and Paris, go to one of my Web pages on the subject at http://einhornpress.com/London.aspx and peruse them. I hope this info helps you. Larry  Apr-18-09

RECEIVED ON 4/18/2009 FROM RICH, AN EBAY SELLER:   Larry,  I really appreciate your information and will add it to my description. Being modified may be a good thing if someone wants to wire it for illumination as a unique antique driveway lamp. Do you know approx. what year they were made?  Best regards,  Rich

SENT ON 4/18/2009 FROM LARRY:  Rich, these enclosed carbon arc type street lamps were sold around 1900, give or take a decade or so.  They are beautiful old pieces of our little-known electric light history, and antiques well worth the investment by anyone, just to display anywhere the neighbors can admire them, even with a more modern type of illuminating device such as a filament (so-called incandescent lamp).
 
Around 1914, more powerful, so-called incandescent lamps were developed.  "Incandescent lamps" misnomers for "filament lamps," (or lights or bulbs) are any type of devices that emit light from heat, like the old limelight—lime heated to emit a bright light.  "Incandescent" lamps are misnomers for "filament-type" lamps down through a long trail of our history books because sloppy newspaper and magazine reporters (not unlike today) misnamed them and careless historians who relied on their inaccurate information passed it on to our naive public.  None of these so-called professionals really knew a damn thing about what they were writing about, in most cases, again, just like those so-called professional reporters and historians today.
 
(Maybe I should not be too hard on them though.  After all, for over fifty years our history books as well as erudite technical books reported that electric current flowed from the positive pole to the negative pole, and publishers continued to print the gross error for another fifty years after they knew it to be incorrect.  People just hate to admit to mistakes, and professionals are among the worse variety, and that's why I'm glad I am an amateur who doesn't depend on money to determine the truth.)
 
You're right, it is better that it is modified with a filament (incandescent) socket if the layman wants to put it on display.  Otherwise, if the arc light guts were still in it, and working (unlikely by now), one would have to have the proper carbons for it, no easy items to obtain now; and a substantial knowledge of how to get them to work and maintain them. I have many types of carbon arc lights around here, and some can be very difficult to adjust and maintain, although others work pretty well.  Some require a high current DC Voltage supply, and others will work off around 6 to 12 amperes from the 120 volt AC on our power lines today.
 
Nevertheless, unless the Ebay purchaser knows quite a bit about carbon arc lights and how their various mechanical and electric features work, I would not recommend that the average Joe Blow buy one complete with its old carbon arc guts for a carbon arc display or any other active electrical purpose.  They can be extremely dangerous from Ultra Violet light to the eyes if viewing them close up (causing “welder’s eye” like careless carbon arc welders suffer sometime) and possible lethal electrical shock to the body.
 
It's much safer to go with the variety you have up for auction, where the look remains the same outside although the unseen old carbon arc insides have been removed and replaced with a modern type light socket.
 
If one wants to see how they looked like at night around 1913, check out http://einhornpress.com/London.aspx or several of the other pages I have posted at the same Web site on carbon arc lights and their long history.  Much more is to come, but I am too busy now building a carbon arc light searchlight power supply to address the issue anytime soon.
 
Best wishes from here on the very interesting electrical item you have up for auction.
 
Larry
 
P.S.  Do you mind Rich if I copy your picture of the outside of the lamp?  I may then tack it on the page that is linked above.  Of course, I would denote the source of them as best as I can, unless you send me more information on your full name or whatever.  This way, the losers in your auction and others can go there and see what one looked like over a century ago.

RECEIVED 4/19/2009 FROM RICH:  Hi again Larry,  You are a life saver.  I should cut you in for agent fee on the auction.  I placed your comments in on my auction description.
Thank you for your input.  You must be an electrical engineer. My wife’s grandfather was also.  He was a genius with electrical gadgets.

He actually knew Henry Ford.

Thanks again for your wonderful help,

Kindest regards,

Rich Margittay,  Dearborn Michigan,  Home Town of Henry Ford.

 
PS:  Are you planning to bid?

SENT 4/19/2009 FROM LARRY:  No Rich, I am not planning to bid because I am strictly dealing with the electrical aspects of old carbon arc lights in my retirement.  However, your lamp would be a worthwhile investment for anyone interested in electric light history or in just collecting rare antiques.  And, as referred to before, your old carbon arc street lamp would be a nice show piece for anyone's neighbors to admire hanging outside, a rare survivor of the Arc Light Age.  One won't find many around these days.  I know because I carefully monitor Ebay.
 
I am just an old retired broadcast engineer, nothing special by far in this great technical society today.  I will try to post a couple of your pictures of your lamp on the linked Web page mentioned before, and a copy of these emails if you don't mind; and I assume you don't since you emailed me your full name and location.  That Web page is long on pictures and short on text, so these emails would fill it out a bit, and might make it more interesting to Web surfers who look at the pictures.
 
Have a nice day and I wish you the best with your sale on Ebay of that old carbon arc street lamp!
 
Larry

See The Electric Mirror on the Pharos Lighthouse and Other Ancient Lighting for more illustrations and information on ancient carbon arc lighting.