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History of electric light

Chapter 27: RUSSIAN INCANDESCENT LAMP INVENTORS
By Henry Schroeder
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Engineering & TechnologyHistory - Modern (1750+)

About This Book

A chronological, technical survey of electric lighting traces developments from early experiments with friction machines, Leyden jars and voltaic piles through advances in batteries, electromagnetic discoveries and the invention of the dynamo. It follows the parallel evolution of arc and incandescent illumination, outlining experimental filament and arc-control methods and the move to commercial installations and distribution schemes such as series, multiple and three‑wire systems. Later sections review later lamp technologies—Nernst, mercury‑vapor, gas‑filled and tungsten types—together with transformers, rectifiers, standardized voltages and sockets. The book is illustrated and includes a chronology, cost and usage statistics, and a selected bibliography.

RUSSIAN INCANDESCENT LAMP INVENTORS

In 1872 Lodyguine, a Russian scientist, made an incandescent lamp consisting of a “V” shaped piece of graphite for a burner, which operated in nitrogen gas. He lighted the Admiralty Dockyard at St. Petersburg with about two hundred of these lamps. In 1872 the Russian Academy of Sciences awarded him a prize of 50,000 rubles (a lot of real money at that time) for his invention. A company with a capital of 200,000 rubles (then equal to about $100,000) was formed but as the lamp was so expensive to operate and had such a short life, about twelve hours, the project failed.

Lodyguine’s Incandescent Lamp, 1872.

The burner was made of graphite and operated in nitrogen gas.

Konn’s Incandescent Lamp, 1875.

In this lamp the graphite rods operated in a vacuum.

Kosloff, another Russian, in 1875 patented a graphite in nitrogen incandescent lamp, which had several graphite rods for burners, so arranged that when one failed another was automatically connected. Konn, also a Russian, made a lamp similar to Kosloff’s except that the graphite rods operated in a vacuum. Bouliguine, another Russian, in 1876 made an incandescent lamp having a long graphite rod, only the upper part of which was in circuit. As this part burned out, the rod was automatically pushed up so that a fresh portion then was in circuit. It operated in a vacuum. None of these lamps was commercial as they blackened rapidly and were too expensive to maintain.

Bouliguine’s Incandescent Lamp, 1876.

A long graphite rod, the upper part of which only was in circuit, operated in vacuum. As this part burned out, the rod was automatically shoved up, a fresh portion then being in the circuit.