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 It was widely used starting in the 1870s for street and large building lighting until it was superseded by the incandescent light in the early 20th century.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
Carbide lamp produced at Niagara Falls before the turn of the twentieth century. In 1895, Willson sold his patent to Union Carbide. Domestic lighting with acetylene gas was introduced circa 1894 and bicycle lamps from 1896. In France, Gustave Trouvé, a Parisian electrical engineer, also made domestic acetylene lamps and gasometers. The first carbide bicycle lamp developed in the United States was patented in New York on August 28, 1900 by Frederick Baldwin. Another early lamp design is shown in a patent from Duluth, Minnesota on October 21, 1902. In the early 1900s, Gustaf Dalén invented the Dalén light. This combined two