Arc lamp Arc lamp An arc lamp or arc light is a lamp that produces light by an electric arc (also called a voltaic arc). The carbon arc light, which consists of an arc between carbon electrodes in air, invented by Humphry Davy in the first decade of the 1800s, was the first practical electric light. It was widely used starting in the 1870s for street and large building lighting until it was superseded by the incandescent light in the early 20th century. It continued in use in more specialized applications where a high intensity point light source was needed, such as
Safety lamp copper coated with a fusible metal. If the lamp gets too hot the metal melts and closes up the air holes, extinguishing the lamp. The lamp has been tested and according to Lupton ""successfully resisted every effort to explode it up to a velocity of more than 100 feet per second"". It was not until tungsten filaments replaced carbon that a portable electric light became a reality. An early pioneer was Joseph Swan who exhibited his first lamp in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1881 and improved ones in subsequent years. The Royal Commission on Accidents in Mines set up in