The first electric lighting with candles p n Yablochkov. Pavel Nikolaevich Yablochkov - inventor of the arc lamp. The Russian idea came to life in Paris

Instruction

Take an unnecessary pocket film camera with a flash. Take the batteries out of it. Put on rubber gloves and disassemble the machine.

Discharge the flash storage capacitor. To do this, take a resistance of about 1 kOhm and a power of 0.5 W, bend its terminals, clamp it in small pliers with insulated handles, and then, holding the resistor only with pliers, close the capacitor with it for several tens of seconds. After that, finally discharge the capacitor , locking it with a screwdriver blade with an insulated handle for a few more tens of seconds.

Measure the voltage - it should not exceed a few volts. If necessary, discharge the capacitor again. Solder a jumper wire to the capacitor leads.

Now discharge the capacitor in the sync contact circuit. It has a low capacitance, so to discharge it, it is enough to briefly close the sync contact. At the same time, keep your hands away from the flash lamp, because when the sync contact is triggered, a high voltage pulse is supplied to it from a special step-up.

Take a hollow frame with a diameter of several . Wind around it several hundred turns of insulated wire with a diameter of about a millimeter. Wrap several layers of electrical tape over the winding.

Turn on the coil in series with the flash storage capacitor. If the camera does not have a flash test button, connect a button with good insulation, for example, a bell, in parallel with the sync contact.

Make small notches in the body of the device for the output of wires from the button and the coil. They are needed so that when assembling the case, these wires are not pinched, which threatens to break them. Remove the jumper from the flash storage capacitor. Reassemble the apparatus, then remove the rubber gloves.

Insert batteries into the device. Turn it on by turning the flash away from you, wait for the capacitor to charge, then insert a screwdriver blade into the coil. While holding the screwdriver by the handle so that it does not fly out, press the button. Simultaneously with the flash, an electromagnetic pulse will appear, which will magnetize the screwdriver.

If the screwdriver is not magnetized well enough, you can repeat the operation a few more times. As you use the screwdriver, it will gradually lose magnetism. You should not worry about this - because now you have a device with which you can always restore it. Please note that not all home craftsmen like magnetized screwdrivers. Some find them very comfortable, others - on the contrary, very uncomfortable.

Nowadays, it is hard to imagine that the word "electrical engineering" was not known only about 100 years ago. It is not so easy to find a pioneer in experimental science as in theoretical science. It is written in textbooks: the Pythagorean theorem, Newton's binomial, the Copernican system, Einstein's theory, the periodic table ... But not everyone knows the name of the one who invented the electric light.

Who created a glass cone with metal hairs inside - an electric light bulb? It is not easy to answer this question. After all, it is associated with dozens of scientists. In their ranks is Pavel Yablochkov, whose brief biography is presented in our article. This Russian inventor stands out not only for his height (198 cm), but also for his work. His work marked the beginning of lighting with electricity. It is not for nothing that the figure of such a researcher as Yablochkov Pavel Nikolaevich still enjoys authority in the scientific community. What did he invent? The answer to this question, as well as many other interesting information about Pavel Nikolaevich, you will find in our article.

Origin, years of study

When Pavel Yablochkov (his photo is presented above) was born, there was cholera in the Volga region. His parents were frightened by the great plague, so they did not carry the child to the church for baptism. In vain, historians tried to find the name of Yablochkov in church records. His parents were small landowners, and Pavel Yablochkov's childhood passed quietly, in a large landowner's house with half-empty rooms, a mezzanine and orchards.

When Pavel was 11 years old, he went to study at the Saratov gymnasium. It should be noted that 4 years before this, Nikolai Chernyshevsky, a freethinker teacher, left this educational institution for the St. Petersburg Cadet Corps. Pavel Yablochkov did not study at the gymnasium for long. After some time, his family became very impoverished. There was only one way out of this situation - a military career, which has already become a real family tradition. And Pavel Yablochkov went to the Pavlovsk Royal Palace in St. Petersburg, which was called the Engineering Castle after its residents.

Yablochkov - military engineer

The Sevastopol campaign at that time was still in the recent past (not even ten years had passed). It showed sailor prowess, as well as the high art of domestic fortifiers. Military engineering in those years was at a premium. General E. I. Totleben, who became famous during the Crimean War, personally nurtured the engineering school, where Pavel Yablochkov was now studying.

His biography of these years is marked by living in the boarding house of Caesar Antonovich Cui, an engineer-general who taught at this school. He was a talented specialist and even more gifted composer and music critic. His romances and operas live on today. Perhaps it was these years spent in the capital that were the happiest for Pavel Nikolaevich. Nobody pushed him, there were no patrons and creditors yet. Great insights had not yet come to him, however, there were no disappointments that later filled his whole life.

The first failure befell Yablochkov when, at the end of his studies, he was promoted to second lieutenant, sent to serve in the Fifth Sapper Regiment, which belonged to the Kyiv fortress garrison. Battalion reality, which Pavel Nikolayevich met, turned out to be a little like the creative, interesting life of an engineer that he dreamed of in St. Petersburg. The military from Yablochkov did not work out: a year later he quit "due to illness."

First introduction to electricity

After that, the most unsettled period began in the life of Pavel Nikolaevich. However, it opens with one event that turned out to be very important in his future fate. A year after the resignation, Pavel Nikolaevich Yablochkov suddenly finds himself in the army again. His biography after that went in a completely different way ...

The future inventor is studying at the Technical Electroplating Institute. Here his knowledge in the field of "galvanism and magnetism" (the word "electrical engineering" while we have already said did not yet exist) expands and deepens. Many famous engineers and young scientists in their youth, like our hero, circled through life, trying on, looking closely, looking for something, until they suddenly found what they were looking for. Then no temptation could lead them astray. In the same way, 22-year-old Pavel Nikolaevich found his calling - electricity. Yablochkov Pavel Nikolaevich devoted his whole life to him. The inventions made by him are all related to electricity.

Work in Moscow, new acquaintances

Pavel Nikolaevich finally leaves the army. He went to Moscow and soon headed the department of the telegraph service of the railway (Moscow-Kursk). Here he has a laboratory at his disposal, here you can already test some, albeit still timid, ideas. Pavel Nikolaevich also finds a strong scientific community that unites natural scientists. In Moscow, he learns about the Polytechnic Exhibition, which has just opened. It presents the latest achievements of domestic technology. Yablochkov has like-minded people, friends who, like him, are passionate about electric sparks - tiny man-made lightning! With one of them, Nikolai Gavrilovich Glukhov, Pavel Nikolayevich decides to open his own "business". This is a universal electrical workshop.

Moving to Paris, candle patent

However, their "case" has collapsed. This happened because the inventors Glukhov and Yablochkov were not businessmen. In order to avoid a debt prison, Pavel Nikolayevich urgently travels abroad. In the spring of 1876, in Paris, Pavel Nikolaevich Yablochkov received a patent for an "electric candle". This invention would not exist if it were not for previous advances in science. Therefore, we will briefly talk about them.

The history of lamps before Yablochkov

Let's make a small historical digression dedicated to lamps in order to explain the essence of the most important invention of Yablochkov, without getting into the technical jungle. The first lamp is a torch. It has been known to mankind since prehistoric times. Then (before Yablochkov), first a torch was invented, then further - a candle, after some time - a kerosene lamp and, finally, a gas lantern. All these lamps, with all their diversity, are united by one common principle: something burns inside them when combined with oxygen.

Invention of the electric arc

V.V. Petrov, a talented Russian scientist, in 1802 described the experience of using galvanic cells. This inventor received an electric arc, created the world's first electric artificial light. Lightning is natural light. Mankind has known about him for a long time, another thing is that people did not understand his nature.

Modest Petrov did not send his work written in Russian anywhere. It was not known about it in Europe, so for a long time the honor of discovering the arc was attributed to the chemist Davy, the famous English chemist. Naturally, he knew nothing about Petrov's achievement. He repeated his experience 12 years later and named the arc after Volta, the famous Italian physicist. It is interesting that she has absolutely nothing to do with A. Volta himself.

Arc lamps and the inconveniences associated with them

The discovery of a Russian and an English scientist gave impetus to the emergence of fundamentally new arc electrodes. Two electrodes approached them, an arc flashed, after which a bright light appeared. However, the inconvenience was that the carbon electrodes burned out after a while, and the distance between them increased. Eventually, the arc went out. It was necessary to constantly bring the electrodes closer together. Thus, a variety of differential, clock, manual and other adjustment mechanisms appeared, which, in turn, required vigilant observation. It is clear that each lamp of this kind was an extraordinary phenomenon.

The first incandescent lamp and its disadvantages

The French scientist Jobar suggested using an electric incandescent conductor for lighting, rather than an arc. Shanzhi, his compatriot, tried to create such a lamp. A. N. Lodygin, a Russian inventor, brought it "to mind". He created the first practical incandescent light bulb. However, the coke rod inside her was very fragile and delicate. In addition, insufficient vacuum was observed in the glass flask, so he quickly burned this rod. Because of this, in the mid-1870s, it was decided to put an end to the incandescent lamp. The inventors returned to the arc again. And it was then that Pavel Yablochkov appeared.

electric candle

Unfortunately, we do not know how he invented the candle. Perhaps the thought of it appeared when Pavel Nikolayevich was tormented with the regulators of the arc lamp he had installed. For the first time in the history of railways, it was installed on a steam locomotive (a special train that went to the Crimea with Tsar Alexander II). Perhaps the sight of the arc that suddenly flared up in his workshop sunk into his soul. There is a legend that in one of the Parisian cafes, Yablochkov accidentally put two pencils side by side on the table. And then it dawned on him: there is no need to bring anything together! Let the electrodes be close, because the fusible insulation that burns in the arc will be installed between them. Thus, the electrodes will burn and shorten at the same time! As they say, everything ingenious is simple.

How Yablochkov's candle conquered the world

Yablochkov's candle was really simple in its design. And this was her great advantage. For businessmen who are not versed in technology, its meaning was available. That is why Yablochkov's candle conquered the world with unprecedented speed. Its first demonstration took place in the spring of 1876 in London. Pavel Nikolaevich, who had recently run away from creditors, returned to Paris already. The campaign for the exploitation of patents belonging to him arose instantly.

A special factory was founded, which produced 8,000 candles daily. They began to illuminate the famous shops and hotels of Paris, the indoor hippodrome and the opera, the port in Le Havre. A garland of lanterns appeared on Opera Street - an unprecedented sight, a real fairy tale. Everyone had "Russian light" on their lips. He was admired in one of the letters by P. I. Tchaikovsky. Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev also wrote to his brother from Paris that Pavel Yablochkov had invented something completely new in the field of lighting. Pavel Nikolaevich noted later, not without pride, that electricity spread throughout the world precisely from the French capital and reached the courts of the king of Cambodia and not vice versa - from America to Paris, as they say.

"Fading out" of the candle

Amazing things marked the history of science! The entire electric lighting engineering of the world, headed by P. N. Yablochkov, for about five years, triumphantly moved, in essence, along a hopeless, false path. The candle festival did not last long, as did the material independence of Yablochkov. The candle did not “extinguish” immediately, but it could not withstand the competition with incandescent lamps. Contributed to this significant inconvenience that she had. This is a decrease in the luminous point during the combustion process, as well as fragility.

Of course, the work of Svan, Lodygin, Maxim, Edison, Nernst and other inventors of the incandescent lamp, in turn, did not immediately convince mankind of its advantages. Auer in 1891 installed his cap on a gas burner. This cap increased the brightness of the latter. Even then, there were cases when the authorities decided to replace the installed electric lighting with gas. However, already during the life of Pavel Nikolayevich, it was clear that the candle invented by him had no prospects. What is the reason why the name of the creator of the "Russian world" is firmly inscribed in the history of science to this day and has been surrounded by respect and honor for more than a hundred years?

The value of Yablochkov's invention

Yablochkov Pavel Nikolaevich was the first to approve electric light in the minds of people. The lamp, which was very rare only yesterday, has already approached man today, has ceased to be some kind of overseas miracle, convinced people of its happy future. The turbulent and rather short history of this invention contributed to the solution of many urgent problems that faced the technology of that time.

Further biography of Pavel Nikolaevich Yablochkov

Pavel Nikolaevich lived a short life, which was not very happy. After Pavel Yablochkov invented his candle, he worked a lot both in our country and abroad. However, none of his subsequent achievements influenced the progress of technology as much as his candle. Pavel Nikolayevich put a lot of work into the creation of the first electrical engineering magazine in our country called "Electricity". He began to appear in 1880. In addition, on March 21, 1879, Pavel Nikolaevich read a report on electric lighting in the Russian Technical Society. He was awarded the Society's medal for his achievements. However, these signs of attention were not enough for Pavel Nikolaevich Yablochkov to be provided with good working conditions. The inventor understood that in the backward Russia of the 1880s there were few opportunities for the implementation of his technical ideas. One of them was the production of electrical machines, which were built by Pavel Nikolaevich Yablochkov. His brief biography is again marked by a move to Paris. Returning there in 1880, he sold a patent for a dynamo, after which he began preparations for participation in the World Electrical Exhibition, held for the first time. Its opening was scheduled for 1881. At the beginning of this year, Pavel Nikolaevich Yablochkov devoted himself entirely to design work.

A brief biography of this scientist continues with the fact that Yablochkov's inventions at the 1881 exhibition received the highest award. They deserve recognition outside of the competition. His authority was high, and Yablochkov Pavel Nikolaevich became a member of the international jury, whose tasks included reviewing the exhibits and deciding on the awarding of awards. It should be said that this exhibition itself was a triumph for the incandescent lamp. Since that time, the electric candle gradually began to decline.

In subsequent years, Yablochkov began to work on galvanic cells and dynamos - generators of electric current. The path that Pavel Nikolayevich followed in his works remains revolutionary in our time. Successes on it can usher in a new era in electrical engineering. Yablochkov no longer returned to the light sources. In the following years, he invented several electrical machines and received patents for them.

The last years of the inventor's life

In the period from 1881 to 1893, Yablochkov conducted his experiments in difficult material conditions, in continuous work. He lived in Paris, completely surrendering to the problems of science. The scientist skillfully experimented, applied many original ideas in his work, going in unexpected and very bold ways. Of course, he was ahead of the state of technology, science and industry of that time. The explosion that occurred during the experiments in his laboratory almost cost Pavel Nikolaevich his life. The constant deterioration of the financial situation, as well as heart disease, which progressed all the time - all this undermined the strength of the inventor. After a thirteen-year absence, he decided to return to his homeland.

Pavel Nikolayevich left for Russia in July 1893, but fell very ill immediately upon arrival. He found such a neglected economy on his estate that he could not even hope for an improvement in his financial situation. Together with his wife and son, Pavel Nikolaevich settled in a Saratov hotel. He continued his experiments even when he was sick and deprived of his livelihood.

Yablochkov Pavel Nikolayevich, whose discoveries are firmly inscribed in the history of science, died of heart disease at the age of 47 (in 1894), in the city of Saratov. Our homeland is proud of his ideas and works.

("Science and Life" No. 39, 1890)

Of course, all readers know the name of P. N. Yablochkov, the inventor of the electric candle. Every day the question of electric lighting of cities and large buildings is more and more put forward in the queue, and in this matter the name of Yablochkov occupies one of the prominent places among electrical engineers. Placing his portrait in this issue of the journal, let's say a few words about the life of the Russian inventor, the essence and significance of his invention.

Pavel Nikolaevich Yablochkov was born in 1847 and received his initial education at the Saratov Gymnasium. At the end of the course in it, he entered the Nikolaev Engineering School, where he graduated with the rank of second lieutenant, and then was enrolled in one of the battalions of the Kyiv engineer brigade. Soon he was made head of the telegraph office on the Moscow-Kursk railway and here he thoroughly studied all the intricacies of electrical engineering, which gave him the opportunity to make an invention that made so much noise - an electric candle.

To understand the meaning of this invention, let's say a few words about electric lighting systems.

All devices for electric lighting can be divided into two main groups: 1) devices based on the principle of a voltaic arc, and 2) incandescent lamps.

In order to produce light by incandescence, an electric current is passed through very bad conductors, which therefore become very incandescent and emit light. Incandescent lamps can be divided into two sections: a) incandescence is carried out with air access (Renier and Verdeman lamps); b) incandescence is carried out in a vacuum. In Renier and Verdemann lamps, current flows through a cylindrical coal; since coal quickly burns out when exposed to air, these lamps are very inconvenient and are not used anywhere. Now exclusively incandescent lamps are used, the device of which, in general, is very simple. The ends of the wires are connected by means of a carbon thread and inserted into a glass flask or vial, from which the air is pumped out with the help of a mercury pump almost to perfect emptiness. Here the advantage is achieved that the carbon thread (usually very thin), although it heats up very strongly, can serve up to 1200 hours or more, almost without burning out, due to the absence of air. All systems of vacuum incandescent lamps differ from each other only in the way the carbon filament is processed and in the shape that the filaments are given. In the Edison lamp, the threads are made from charred bamboo wood fibers, while the threads themselves are bent in the shape of the letter U. In the Swan lamp, the threads are made from cotton paper and bent in a loop of one and a half turns. In Maxim's lamp, the filaments are made from charred Bristol cardboard and bent into the shape of the letter M. Gerard prepares the filaments from pressed coke and bends them at an angle. Kruto deposits coal on a thin platinum filament, etc.

Lamps with a voltaic arc are based on the well-known physics phenomenon of the voltaic arc, which Humphry Davy first observed back in 1813. Passing a current from 2000 zinc-copper pairs through two coals, he obtained an arc-shaped fiery tongue between the ends of the coals, which he gave the name of the voltaic arc. To obtain it, you must first bring the ends of the coals together until they touch, since otherwise there will be no arc, no matter what the current strength; coals move away from each other only when their ends are heated. This is the first and very important inconvenience of the voltaic arc. An even more important inconvenience arises with further combustion. If the current is constant, then the coal connected to the positive pole is consumed twice as much as the other coal connected to the negative pole. In addition, a depression (called a crater) forms at the end of the positive angle, while the negative one retains a sharp shape. With a vertical arrangement of coals, a positive coal is always placed at the top in order to use the rays reflected from the concave surface of the crater (otherwise the rays would disappear when going up). With alternating current, both coals retain a sharp shape and burn in the same way, but there is no reflection from the upper coal, and therefore this method is less profitable.

From here, the shortcomings of systems with a voltaic arc are clearly visible. Before lighting such lamps, it is necessary to bring the ends of the coals together, and then rearrange the ends of the coals during the entire burning process as they burn. In a word, almost every lamp had to be assigned a person to monitor the combustion. It is clear that such a system is completely unsuitable for lighting, for example, entire cities and even large buildings. To eliminate these inconveniences, many inventors began to invent mechanical regulators, so that the coals would automatically approach each other as they burned, without requiring human supervision. Many very ingenious regulators have been devised (Serren, Jaspar, Siemens, Gramm, Bresch, Weston, Cans, etc.), but they have not helped the cause much. Firstly, they were extremely complex and ingenious, and secondly, they still did not achieve the goal very well and were very expensive.

While everyone was thinking up only various subtleties in regulators, Mr. Yablochkov came up with a brilliant idea, at the same time so simple that it is simply amazing how no one had attacked her before. How easy it was to open the chest can be seen from the following diagram:

a B C _______ d d _______ e f _______ h

a B C D- the old system of voltaic arc; electric current flowed through a and G, the arc was between b and in; the task of the inventors was to regulate the distance between b and in, which varied according to the current strength, quality and size of coals ab and vg, etc. It is obvious that the task was cunning and difficult, where one cannot do without a thousand screws, etc.

The right half of the diagram represents an ingenious solution to the problem made by Yablochkov. He arranged the coals in parallel; current enters through the ends d and and. coals de and zhz separated by a layer of non-conductor; therefore, a voltaic arc is obtained between the ends e from . Obviously, if the intermediate layer is made of combustible material (non-conductive electricity) and if the current is alternating, then the ends e and h will burn evenly until all carbon plates de and zhz won't burn to the end. You don't need any regulators, no fixtures - the chest was more than easy to open! But the main sign of any ingenious invention lies precisely in the fact that it is very simple ...

As expected, Yablochkov's invention was treated with distrust in Russia, and he had to go abroad. The first experience in large sizes was made on June 15, 1877 in London, in the courtyard West India Docks. The experiments were a brilliant success, and soon Yablochkov's name spread throughout Europe. At present, many buildings in Paris, London, etc. are illuminated according to the Yablochkov system. At present, in St. Petersburg there is a large "Partnership of electric lighting and the manufacture of electrical machines and apparatus in Russia" under the firm P. N. Yablochkov the inventor and Co. .-Petersburg, Bypass Canal, No. 80). At present, Mr. Yablochkov has made many improvements to his system, and his candles are now as follows.

The diameter of the coals is 4 mm; the insulating (intermediate) substance is called columbin. Initially, columbine was made from kaolin (china clay), and now it has been replaced by a mixture of equal parts of lime sulphate and barite sulphate, which is very easily cast into molds, and at the temperature of a voltaic arc turns into vapor.

It has already been said above that when igniting, the ends of the coals must be connected. At Yablochkov, the ends of the coals in the candle are separated by columbine, and, therefore, the problem of connecting them had to be solved. He solved it very simply: the ends of the candles are dipped in coal dough, which quickly burns out and lights the candle, which continues to burn even with the help of columbine.

It goes without saying that Yablochkov candles require alternating current so that both coals burn evenly.

One of the important drawbacks of the Yablochkov system was that the candles had to be changed frequently when they burned out. Now this drawback has also been eliminated - by the arrangement of candlesticks for several candles. As soon as the first candle burns out, the second lights up, then the third, and so on. To illuminate the Louvre (in Paris), Mr. Clario invented a special automatic switch for Yablochkov's system.

Yablochkov's candles are excellent for lighting workshops, shipyards, shops, railway stations, etc. In Paris, except for the Louvre, shops are illuminated according to the Yablochkov system. du Printemps”, the Continental Hotel, the Hippodrome, the workshops of Farko, Gouin, the factory in Ivry, etc. In Moscow, the area near the Cathedral of Christ the Savior and the Stone Bridge, many factories and factories, etc. are illuminated using the same system.

In conclusion, it is impossible not to recall the history of this invention once again without a feeling of extreme bitterness. Regrettably, but in Russia there is no place for Russian inventors until they receive a foreign stigma. The inventor of the most ingenious method of electrical soldering of metals, Mr. Benardos, long and unsuccessfully pushed through the doors of the Russian capitalists, until he achieved success in Paris. Yablochkov would still "vegetate in obscurity" if he had not been to London and Paris. Even Babaev received the stigma of fitness in America ...

There is no prophet in his own country. These words sum up the life of the inventor Pavel Yablochkov in the best possible way. In terms of the level of scientific and technological progress, Russia in the second half of the 19th century lagged far behind the leading European countries and the United States in some areas. Therefore, it was easier for compatriots to believe that everything ingenious and advanced comes from afar, rather than is born in the minds of scientists working next to them.

When Yablochkov invented the arc lamp, he first of all wanted to find a use for it in Russia. But none of the Russian industrialists took the invention seriously, and Yablochkov went to Paris. There he improved the design with the support of a local investor, and success came almost immediately.

After March 1876, when Yablochkov received a patent for his lamp, "Yablochkov's candles" began to appear on the main streets of European capitals. The press of the Old World praises our inventor. “Russia is the birthplace of electricity”, “You must see Yablochkov’s candle” - European newspapers of that time were full of such headlines. La lumiere russe("Russian light" - as the French called Yablochkov's lamps) was rapidly spreading through the cities of Europe and America.

Here it is - success in the modern sense. Pavel Yablochkov becomes a famous and rich man. But the people of that generation thought differently - and far from the concepts of worldly success. Foreign fame was not what the Russian inventor was striving for. Therefore, after the end of the Russian-Turkish war, he committed an act unexpected for our modern perception. He bought from the French company, which invested his work, for one million francs (!) The right to use his invention in his native country and went to Russia. By the way, a colossal amount of a million francs - this was the entire fortune accumulated by Yablochkov due to the popularity of his invention.

Yablochkov thought that after the European success he would have a warm welcome in his homeland. But he was wrong. Of course, Yablochkov's invention was now treated with more interest than before his departure abroad, but the industrialists this time were not ready to appreciate Yablochkov's candle.

By the time the material about Yablochkov was published in the pre-revolutionary "Science and Life" la lumiere russe started to fade. In Russia, arc lamps have not become widespread. In advanced countries, they have a serious competitor - an incandescent lamp.

Incandescent lamps have been developed since the beginning of the 19th century. One of the founders of this direction was the Englishman Delarue, who as early as 1809 received light by passing current through a platinum spiral. Later, our compatriot - a retired officer Alexander Lodygin - created an incandescent lamp with several carbon rods - when one burns out, the other automatically turns on. Through constant refinement, Lodygin managed to raise the life of his lamps from half an hour to several hundred hours. It was he who was one of the first to pump out air from the bulb of the lamp. The talented inventor Lodygin was an unimportant entrepreneur, so he played a rather modest role in the history of electric lighting, although he undoubtedly did a lot.

The most famous character in the history of electricity was Thomas Alva Edison. And it should be recognized that the glory of the American inventor came deservedly. After Edison began developing the incandescent light bulb in 1879, he conducted thousands of experiments, spending more than $100,000 on research work, a fantastic amount in those days. The investment paid off: Edison created the world's first incandescent lamp with a long life (about 1000 hours), suitable for mass production. At the same time, Edison approached the matter systematically: in addition to the incandescent lamp itself, he developed in detail the systems of electric lighting and centralized power supply.

As for Yablochkov, in the last years of his life he led a rather modest life: the press forgot about him, and entrepreneurs did not turn to him either. The grandiose projects of arranging world capitals were replaced by more modest work on the creation of an electric lighting system in Saratov, the city where he spent his youth and where he now lives. Here Yablochkov died in 1894 - unknown and not rich.

For a long time it was believed that Yablochkov's arc lamps were a dead end branch in the evolution of artificial lighting. However, at some point, the brightness of arc lamps was appreciated by car companies. The Yablochkov candle was revived at a new technological level - in the form of gas-discharge lamps. Xenon lamps, which are installed in the headlights of modern cars, are in some way a highly improved Yablochkov candle.

Yablochkov's inventions

On fig. 4 shows the "Yablochkov candle", as well as an electric lantern, as it was first implemented by Yablochkov. When operating on alternating current, both coals burn at the same speed, the insulating mass between them evaporates and, thus, a constant distance between the ends of the coals and a constant length of the electric arc are maintained, regardless of fluctuations in the voltage supplying the arc. On fig. Figures 5 and 6 show the device proposed by Yablochkov for placing four candles in a lantern, lit one after the other with the help of a commutator as each of them burns out.

Rice. 4. Candle and electric lamp Yablochkov.

Rice. 5. "Candlestick" (holder) for Yablochkov's candles.

Rice. 6. 1 - candlestick; 2 - Yablochkov switch.

The result of Yablochkov's experiments was not only the development of a candle. He found that the resistance of many refractory bodies to electric current, such as kaolin, magnesia, etc., decreases when heated, contrary to the then widespread belief that the resistance of all solids increases with increasing temperature, as is the case in metals. The strength of the electric current passing through the kaolin plate and heating it grows, and the red-hot plate begins to glow brightly. Having discovered this phenomenon, Yablochkov used it to make an incandescent lamp that did not require air removal. The filament body in this lamp was a kaolin plate cut in the shape of a particular figure or letter, as shown in Fig. 7.

Rice. 7. The shape of kaolin rods in the Yablochkov incandescent lamp.

The idea of ​​incandescent lamps, proposed by Yablochkov, is the same as in the lamp patented 20 years later and having the greatest success of the lamp of physicist-chemist V. Nernst.

Yablochkov believed that incandescent lamps were generally very disadvantageous. He did not at all believe in the possibility of their successful application on a large scale and therefore did not use this discovery of his to the fullest.

The ignition of an electric arc in the "Yablochkov candle" was initially achieved by placing special coals between the ends of the main coals, which served as a fuse. Soon, Yablochkov began to use as a fuse a strip of some metal applied to the upper face of the body insulating the coals.

Yablochkov also began to mix metal powders, such as zinc, into the insulating mass placed between the coals. During the combustion of coal, the insulating mass evaporated, and the metal contained in it was released on its surface in the form of a strip. This made it possible, by resuming the supply of current, to re-ignite the candle. The addition of various metals also responded to the brightness of the arc flame and made it possible to give the color of this flame one or another shade that was pleasant for general lighting.

"Candles of Yablochkov" was enough for an hour and a half of burning. In each lantern on the so-called "candlestick" several candles were strengthened. Of these, only one always burned, namely the one for which the burning conditions were most favorable. These most favorable conditions consisted in the fact that the candle was burning, the ohmic resistance of which was the smallest. When it went out, the next one lit up, and so on.

When operating on direct current, the temperature of the hot end of the two coals of the electric arc, which is connected to the positive pole of the current source, is much higher than the temperature of the hot end of the second coal, connected to the negative pole of the current source. In order for both angles to shorten equally quickly under these conditions, thereby ensuring a constant arc length, Yablochkov had to make the diameter of the positive angle approximately twice as large as the diameter of the negative one. The inconvenience caused by the need to accurately select the diameters of the coals, Yablochkov bypassed the fact that he proposed using alternating current to power the arc instead of the then generally accepted direct current. When operating on alternating current, the ends of both coals have the same temperature and burn at the same rate.

For electric lighting, according to the Yablochkov method, alternating current dynamos began to be built.

Rice. 8. The general scheme of Yablochkov's electric lighting: 1 - a lantern; 2 - switch; 3 - dynamo-electric machine.

Thus, the invention of the "Yablochkov candle" for the first time led to the use of alternating current in electrical engineering. This current, in addition to electric lighting, has, as it soon turned out, great advantages over direct current in other areas of electrical engineering.

Yablochkov solved the problem of crushing electric light in several different ways. In contrast to lamps with regulators, 4-5 "Yablochkov candles" could be connected in series in one electrical circuit. In addition, he proposed to include in series the primary windings of several inductor coils in the main electrical circuit of the machine, and feed circuits with candles connected in series with currents induced in the secondary windings of the same coils, as shown in Fig. 9.

Rice. 9. Yablochkov's scheme - crushing electric light using transformers: 1 - transformers; 2 - holders of "candles".

When using direct current machines, it was necessary to include a breaker in the primary circuit. When switching to alternating current, the matter was again greatly simplified, since the interrupters were no longer needed and the whole circuit worked on the principle of a transformer. Thus, P. N. Yablochkov was the first to apply this principle for practical purposes. A few years later, I. F. Usagin, a laboratory assistant in the physics department of Moscow University, built special devices instead of inductor coils to implement Yablochkov’s idea, which were already real transformers. The third method proposed by Yablochkov for crushing light was to use capacitors for this purpose.

According to the scheme shown in Fig. 10, one of the plates of each capacitor was connected to a common wire connected to one of the poles of the alternating current dynamo. Another plate of the same capacitor was grounded through one or more Yablochkov candles connected in series. The second pole of the dynamo was also grounded directly or through capacitors and candles, as shown in the figure.

Rice. 10. Yablochkov's scheme - crushing electric light with the help of capacitors: a - when turning on the "Yablochkov candles" without the mediation of the earth; b - "candles" are included between the outer lining of the Leyden jar (condenser) and the ground. The obliquely crossed rectangle shows the position of the AC dynamo.

Immediately after the invention and laboratory testing of the “candle”, Yablochkov gave the entire burner a technical design that allowed its use in practice. In 1876 he traveled to London for an exhibition of precision and physical instruments. "Yablochkov's Candle" was a great success at this exhibition.

After the return of the inventor from London, he met an enterprising Frenchman, the owner of workshops that manufactured diving instruments. He put at the disposal of Yablochkov his workshops for the mass production of candles and the necessary equipment. At the same time, a fairly powerful joint-stock "Society for the Study of Electric Lighting using Yablochkov's Methods" was established. Tests were organized to illuminate some first-class Parisian shops and large streets with the help of "Yablochkov candles". These trials expanded with more and more success. The widespread use of new electric lighting began not only in Paris, but also in other major European centers - London, St. Petersburg, Madrid, Naples, Berlin. It was truly a triumphal procession of "Yablochkov's candle" across Europe. In the east, it spread, in the words of contemporaries, "to the palaces of the Shah of Persia and the King of Cambodia."

The Parisians, accustomed to the dim light of kerosene and gas burners and stearin candles, were amazed at the brilliance and brightness of the new lighting and everywhere admired the “Russian light”, as they called it.

Yablochkov's contemporaries colorfully describe how every evening at the beginning of twilight a large crowd of people gathered on Opera Square. All eyes were fixed on two rows of matte white balls suspended from high poles on both sides of the Opera Avenue. Suddenly these garlands of balls lit up with a pleasant light. The audience who gathered there compared them to a string of pearls against a background of black velvet.

In modern Yablochkov magazines, we find images of premises, a hippodrome, streets, a harbor, hotels, brightly illuminated by the “Russian light” (see Fig. 11, 12, 13, 14, 15).

This name was engraved at the request of Yablochkov on the frame of all his lanterns. At the Paris exhibition of 1878, "Yablochkov's candles" were a huge success.

Rice. 11. Hippodrome illuminated by Yablochkov's lanterns.

Rice. 12. Seaport illuminated by Yablochkov's lanterns.

Yew. 13. Opera Avenue in Paris, illuminated by Yablochkov's lanterns.

Rice. 14. Salon of the hotel, lit by Yablochkov's lanterns.

Rice. 15. Store lit by Yablochkov's lanterns.

Candle Yablochkov- one of the options for an electric carbon arc lamp, invented in 1875 by Pavel Yablochkov.

It was first demonstrated as street and theater lighting at the 1878 Paris World's Fair, especially on the avenue de l'Opéra. The candles were covered with glazed glass balls, with 4 or 12 candles connected in series.

Device

The Yablochkov candle consists of two coal blocks, approximately 6 × 12 mm in cross section, separated by an inert material, such as gypsum or kaolin. A jumper made of thin wire or carbon paste is fixed at the upper end. The structure is assembled and fixed vertically on an insulated base.

When the candle was connected to a current source, the safety wire at the end burned out, setting the arc on fire. The arc began to burn, gradually eating away the electrodes and the separating gypsum layer. The first candles were powered by alternating current from a Gramm generator.

When disconnected from the source, the candle went out and it could not be started again, since there was no contact between the electrodes. It was necessary to replace the candle with a new one. However, later this drawback was eliminated - Yablochkov began to mix powders of various metals into the insulating mass that separated the electrodes. When the current was turned off and the candle went out, a strip of metal formed at the end of the insulating mass. When the electricity was re-applied, the candle was lit again.

The advantage of the design was the absence of the need for a mechanism that maintains the distance between the electrodes for arcing. The electrodes were enough for about 2 hours.

incandescent Fluorescent gas-discharge Electric arc On combustion Semiconductor Other Types of luminescence lighting decor

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An excerpt characterizing the Yablochkov Candle

Denisov, biting his mustache, listened to the conversation with a gloomy look, apparently not wanting to intervene in it. When asked by the captain's staff, he shook his head negatively.
“You are talking to the regimental commander about this dirty trick in front of the officers,” the headquarters captain continued. - Bogdanich (Bogdanich was called the regimental commander) laid siege to you.
- He didn’t siege, but said that I was telling a lie.
- Well, yes, and you said something stupid to him, and you need to apologize.
- Never! shouted Rostov.
“I didn’t think it was from you,” the headquarters captain said seriously and sternly. - You do not want to apologize, and you, father, not only before him, but before the whole regiment, before all of us, you are to blame all around. And here's how: if only you thought and consulted how to deal with this matter, otherwise you directly, but in front of the officers, and thumped. What should the regimental commander do now? Should we put the officer on trial and mess up the entire regiment? Shame the entire regiment because of one villain? So, what do you think? But in our opinion, it is not. And well done Bogdanich, he told you that you are not telling the truth. It’s unpleasant, but what to do, father, they themselves ran into it. And now, as they want to hush up the matter, so you, because of some kind of fanabery, do not want to apologize, but want to tell everything. You are offended that you are on duty, but why should you apologize to an old and honest officer! Whatever Bogdanich may be, but all honest and brave, old colonel, you are so offended; and messing up the regiment is okay for you? - The voice of the captain's staff began to tremble. - You, father, are in the regiment for a week without a year; today here, tomorrow they moved to adjutants somewhere; you don’t give a damn what they will say: “Thieves are among the Pavlograd officers!” And we don't care. So, what, Denisov? Not all the same?
Denisov remained silent and did not move, occasionally glancing with his shining black eyes at Rostov.
“Your fanabery is dear to you, you don’t want to apologize,” continued the headquarters captain, “but we old people, how we grew up, and God willing, will die in the regiment, so the honor of the regiment is dear to us, and Bogdanich knows it. Oh, how dear, father! And this is not good, not good! Take offense there or not, but I will always tell the truth to the uterus. Not good!