Street Light Technical Information Willis Lamm   STREET LIGHTS: Patents from 1892 through 1893

Patents are an effective way to understand the development of street lighting in the United States. In this section I have posted patents as I located them. (Early patents are difficult to locate as they were not cross-indexed.) All patents are listed in order of their filing dates. Click on the patent number or thumbnail to view the entire patent.

Around 1890 electric street lighting started to dominate. Most street light circuits were high tension series, allowing many lamps to be controlled from a single point. Much of the developments involved devices that would keep the circuit alive if an arc lamp failed or incandescent lamp burned out. Many of these lamps were isolated by autotransformers, however a failed lamp could affect the efficiency of the circuit. Other devices were designed to help protect lineman servicing lamps and changing lamp bulbs. Meanwhile inventors were still designing improvements to natural gas, acetylene and oil burning streetlamps that were still commonly used where electricity was not readily available.

Patent No. 516574th Filing date: January 2, 1892 Patent date: March 13, 1894 Title: Electric-Arc Lamp Inventor: Fred L. McGahan Claims: Sprocket operated electrode feed.
Patent No. 477984 Filing date: March 23, 1892 Patent date: June 28, 1892 Title: Electric Lamp or Conductor Support Inventor: Charles Bell Claims: Clamp type suspension hanger with wing nut release.
Patent No. 515473 Filing date: May 14, 1892 Patent date: February 27, 1894 Title: Regulator for Continuous-Current Arc-Light Circuits Inventor: Daniel Higham Assignee: Higham Electric Co. Claims: DC arc lamp circuit regulator.
Patent No. 515806 Filing date: August 12, 1892 Patent date: March 6, 1894 Title: Electric-Lighting System Inventor: Harvey J. Wells Claims: Multi circuit controller for lamp circuits.
Patent No. 514583 Filing date: September 22, 1892 Patent date: February 13, 1894 Title: Electric-Arc Lamp Inventor: John E. Woolverton Assignee: Woolverton Glow Arc Electric Light Co. Claims: Improved arc lamp with two sets of electrodes held by lazy tongs.
Patent No. 513111 Filing date: October 22, 1892 Patent date: January 23, 1894 Title: Electric-Arc Lamp Inventor: William Jandus Claims: Improved arc lamp with two sets of electrodes.
Patent No. 513725 Filing date: November 7, 1892 Patent date: January 30, 1894 Title: Electric-Arc Lamp Inventor: William Jandus Claims: Improved arc lamp using solenoid feeder.
Patent No. 515205 Filing date: December 8, 1892 Patent date: February 20, 1894 Title: Electric-Arc Lamp Inventor: Bruce Ford Claims: Arc lamp with automatic electrode release.
Patent No. 516822 Filing date: January 9, 1893 Patent date: March 20, 1894 Title: Alternating Electric-Arc Lamp Inventor: Edward R. Knowles Assignee: Schuyler Electric Co. Claims: Alternating current elecric arc lamp.
Patent No. 514057 Filing date: January 10, 1893 Patent date: February 6, 1894 Title: Hood for Electric-Arc Lamps Inventor: Sigmund Bergmann Claims: Dust and rain hood for elecric arc lamps.
Patent No. 514058 Filing date: January 10, 1893 Patent date: February 6, 1894 Title: Electric Arc Light Fixture Inventor: Sigmund Bergmann Claims: Removable bottom pan to remove dust and ash.
Patent No. 515022 Filing date: February 20, 1893 Patent date: February 20, 1894 Title: Electric Arc Lamp Inventor: Samuel W. Rushmore Claims: Improved balance in a "focusing" type arc lamp (where both electrodes move.)
Patent No. 514425 Filing date: March 17, 1893 Patent date: February 6, 1894 Title: Electric-Arc Lamp Inventor: William B. Luce Claims: Friction feed for electrodes.
Patent No. 512481 Filing date: March 22, 1893 Patent date: January 9, 1894 Title: Electric-Arc Lamp Inventor: Regina Niewerth Claims: Improved arc lamp using multiple electrodes.
Patent No. 511049 Filing date: March 24, 1893 Patent date: December 19, 1893 Title: Electric-Arc Lamp Inventor: August Hormel and George S. Junginger Claims: Improved arc lamp carbon electrode consumption.
Patent No. 512880 Filing date: March 31, 1893 Patent date: January 16, 1894 Title: Electric-Arc Lamp Inventor: Charles J. Hartley Claims: Improved arc lamp.
Patent No. 511495 Filing date: April 5, 1893 Patent date: December 26, 1893 Title: Electric-Arc Lamp Inventor: Reginald Belfield Assignee: George Westinghouse, Jr. Claims: Improved arc lamp carbon feeding mechanism.
Patent No. 519726 Filing date: May 29, 1893 Patent date: MAy 15, 1894 Title: Electric-Arc Lamp Inventor: Wilhelm Mathiesen Claims: Ratchet type carbon feeding mechanism.
Patent No. 515850 Filing date: June 17, 1893 Patent date: March 8, 1894 Title: Electric-Arc Lamp Inventor: James J. Wood Claims: Multiple circuit arc lamp.
Patent No. 515342 Filing date: June 19, 1893 Patent date: February 27, 1894 Title: Electric-Arc Lamp Inventor: Georg Kirkegaard Claims: Improved arc lamp with lamp cutout.
Patent No. 513921 Filing date: August 8, 1893 Patent date: January 30, 1894 Title: Electric-Arc Lamp Inventor: Manuel Rafael Gutierrez Claims: More compact arc lamp carbon feeding mechanism.
Patent No. 520991 Filing date: August 19, 1893 Patent date: June 5, 1894 Title: Electric-Arc Lamp Inventor: Louis E. Howard Claims: Diffusing envelope for arc lamps.
Patent No. 518719 Filing date: September 28, 1893 Patent date: April 24, 1894 Title: Electric-Arc Lamp Inventor: Carl Hoffman Assignee: Siemens & Halske Claims: Improved electrode feeding system and cutout mechanism.
Patent No. 518654 Filing date: September 29, 1893 Patent date: April 24, 1894 Title: Electric-Arc Lamp Inventor: Rudolph Segerdahl Claims: More precisely regulated carbon electrode feeding system.
Patent No. 519912 Filing date: October 23, 1893 Patent date: May 15, 1894 Title: Electric-Arc Lamp Inventor: Jesse F. Kester Assignee: F. P. Little Electrical Construction and Supply Co. Claims: Gravity feed arc lamp.
Patent No. 512482 Filing date: October 24, 1893 Patent date: January 9, 1894 Title: Electric-Arc Lamp Inventor: Regina Niewerth Claims: Improved arc lamp using multiple electrodes.

Continue to 1894 - 1899

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Please note: This index is a work in progress. If you notice an error or are aware of something that is missing, please feel free to Email me. Thanks!