Figure 8g. — Siemens' alternator (left), and separate exciter, for use in a Jablochkoff candle 

 system. From J. Dredge. Electric Illumination, London, n.d. (about 1882), vol. i, figs. 272, 



273- 



In April 1877, 16 of the "candles" were placed in the 

 Grands-Magasins du Louvre in Paris. The Parisian 

 Hippodroine followed a short time later with a system 

 that included both Serrin regulators and Jablochkoff 

 "candles"; however, this system was installed by 

 Hippolyte Fontaine instead of JablochkofF's Societe 

 Generale d'Electricite (fig. 83). Electric illumina- 

 tion moved from the laboratory to the stock market 

 when the A\'enue de FOpera and the Place de FOpera 

 were lighted by 62 of these new devices in May 1878 

 for the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1878 (fig. 84). 

 The grand total of soine 300 "candles" along the 

 boulevards and in public buildings made apparent 

 to all the newest of the wonders of electricity; ac- 

 cordingly, the price of gas stocks dropped 10 percent. 

 In December 1878 the Municipal Council of Paris 

 decided to try the "candles" for public illumination, 

 in competition with gas, for one year.'" 



"1 Les Mondes, 1877, vol. 42, pp. 709-710; 1879, vol. 48, 

 pp. 221-222; Engineering, 1877, vol. 23, pp. 366, 384-385; 

 1878, vol. 26, pp. 24, 479; 1879, vol. 27, pp. 104-105, 415; 

 La Lumiere eleclriqne, 1880, vol. 2, pp. 229-230, 301-305; 1881, 

 vol. 4, pp. 185-188; Revue industrielle, 1877, p. 369; Fontaine, 

 op. cit. (footnote 19), pp. 215-216; Defrance, op. cit. (footnote 

 2). 



London imitated the example of Paris a short time 

 later. After trying the Jablochkoff system on an 

 experimental scale at Billingsgate Market, in Decem- 

 ber 1878 the municipal government installed 20 

 "candles" along the Thames Embankment and 16 

 along the Holborn Viaduct; they were placed about 

 50 yards apart. The system proved to be so satis- 

 factory that, in May 1879, 20 more "candles" were 

 added along the Embankment, and in October of 

 the same year 10 were placed on Waterloo Bridge. 

 By 1880 subdi\-ision of the electric light had proceeded 

 to the point that a single central power station at 

 Charing Cross fed over 75 "candles" in one system 

 that extended 1 mile northeast along the Thames 

 Einbankment to Waterloo Bridge and Holborn 

 Viaduct and in another that extended 1 mile south- 

 west to Victoria Station."- The mechanical and 

 electrical details of the system were further refined 

 during the following year (fig. 85). 



"■'Engineering, 1878, vol. 26, pp. 494; 1880, vol. 29, p. 268; 

 Revue industrielle, 1880, vol. 9, p. 148; Berly, "Notes on the 

 Jablochkoff System of Electric Lighting," Journal oj the Society 

 of Telegraph Engineers, 1880, vol. 9, pp. 135-161. 



404 



BULLETIN 228: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 



