Arc and Sun Furnace History
The ancient electric carbon arc and sun furnace images followed by the first-paragraph previews below lead to the rest of the stories:
Arc furnaces may be ancient history—ever since the ancient Egyptian, Babylonian, Indian, Hebrew, Parthian, Greek, Roman, and other civilizations employed electric carbon arc technology to light up their temples, tombs, and lighthouses. In The Electric Mirror on the Pharos Lighthouse and Other Ancient Lighting, Larry Brian Radka has presented adequate ancient physical and literary electric lighting evidence to firmly establish that fact. . . .
Electric arc furnaces came into extensive use in the early twentieth century, and General Electric Company’s G. E. 2250-LB model above was touted as “the most efficient and economical apparatus for melting non-ferrous metals and alloys” in a 1921 sales brochure. It claimed that “by means of the G-E Electric Furnace the highest quality of product can be secured with a minimum loss of volatile alloys,” and that “working conditions are vastly superior to those where fuel-fired furnaces are used.” This meant the workers were exposed to less heat radiating from the open fuel-fired furnaces, like the one below, where several workers are smoking on the job: . . . .
This page was last modified on Wednesday, August 18, 2010