(“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, and in this matter the name Yablochkov occupies one of the prominent places among electrical engineers. By placing his portrait in this issue of the magazine, 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 primary education received at the Saratov gymnasium. After completing the course there, 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 Sapper Brigade. Soon he was made head of the telegraph 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 - the electric candle.
To understand the significance 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.
To produce incandescent light, an electric current is passed through very bad conductors, which therefore become very hot and produce light. Incandescent lamps can be divided into two sections: a) incandescence is produced with the access of air (Rainier and Verdeman lamps); b) incandescence is carried out in a vacuum. In Rainier and Verdemann lamps, the current flows through a cylindrical ember; Since coal burns quickly when exposed to air, these lamps are very inconvenient and are not used anywhere. Now exclusively incandescent lamps are used, the design of which is, in general, 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 using a mercury pump until it is almost completely empty. Here the benefit is achieved that the carbon filament (usually very thin), although it heats up very strongly, can last up to 1200 hours or more, almost without burning, due to the lack of air. All incandescent lamp systems differ from each other only in the way the carbon filament is processed and the shape that the filaments are given. In Edison's lamp, the threads are made from charred fibers of bamboo wood, and the threads themselves are bent in the shape of the letter U. In Swan's lamp, the threads are made from cotton paper and are folded into a loop of one and a half turns. In the Maxim lamp, the threads are made from charred Bristol board and bent into the shape of the letter M. Gerard prepares the threads from compressed coke and bends them at an angle. Cruto deposits coal on a thin platinum thread, etc.
Voltaic arc lamps are based on the voltaic arc phenomenon, well known from physics, which Humphry Davy first observed back in 1813. By passing current from 2000 zinc-copper pairs through two coals, he obtained an arc-shaped fiery tongue between the ends of the coals, to which he gave the name 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; The coals move away from each other only when their ends become hot. This is the first and very important inconvenience of a voltaic arc. An even more important inconvenience arises with further combustion. If the current is constant, then the coal that is connected to the positive pole is consumed twice as much as the other coal connected to the negative pole. In addition, the positive coal develops a depression (called a crater) at the end, while the negative coal retains its sharp shape. When the coals are arranged vertically, the positive coal is always placed at the top in order to take advantage of the rays reflected from the concave surface of the crater (otherwise the rays going up would disappear). With alternating current, both coals retain their sharp shape and burn equally, but there is no reflection from the top coal, and therefore this method is less profitable.
This clearly shows the disadvantages of systems with a voltaic arc. Before lighting such lamps, it is necessary to bring the ends of the coals together, and then, throughout the burning process, rearrange the ends of the coals as they burn. In short, it was necessary to assign a person to almost every lamp 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 come closer together as they burned, without requiring human supervision. Many very ingenious regulators were invented (Serren, Jaspar, Siemens, Gram, Bresch, Weston, Kans, etc.), but all of them did not help the matter much. Firstly, they were extremely complex and cunning, and secondly, they still achieved little of the goal and were very expensive.
While everyone was just coming up with various subtleties in regulators, Mr. Yablochkov came up with a brilliant idea, at the same time so simple that it’s simply surprising how no one attacked it before. How easy it was to open the casket can be seen from the following diagram:
a B C _______ d e _______ f _______ h
a B C D— old voltaic arc system; electric current passed through A And G, the arc was between b And V; the inventors' task was to regulate the distance between b And V, which varied according to the current strength, quality and size of the coals ab And vg, etc. Obviously, the task was tricky and complex, where you cannot do without thousands of screws, etc.
The right half of the diagram represents brilliant solution tasks done by Yablochkov. He arranged the coals 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 interstitial layer is made of combustible material (non-conducting electricity) and if the current is alternating, then the ends e And h will burn evenly until all charcoal plates de And zhz will not burn out completely. No regulators or devices are needed - the casket opened more than simply! But main sign all sorts of things brilliant invention That's precisely the point: it's very simple...
As one would expect, in Russia they were distrustful of Yablochkov’s invention, and he had to go abroad. First experience in large sizes was taken on June 15, 1877 in London, in the courtyard West-India-Docks. The experiments were a brilliant success, and soon the name of Yablochkov spread throughout Europe. Currently, many buildings in Paris, London, etc. are illuminated using the Yablochkov system. Currently in St. Petersburg there is a large “Partnership for Electric Lighting and the Manufacturing of Electrical Machines and Apparatuses in Russia” under the company P. N. Yablochkov the Inventor and Co. (by the way, the partnership undertakes the arrangement of the movement of boats and carriages using batteries; board address: C .-Petersburg, Obvodny 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 millimeters; The isolating (intermediate) substance is called columbine. Columbine was originally made from kaolin (porcelain clay), but has now been replaced by a mixture equal parts lime sulfate and barite sulfate, which is very easily cast into molds, and at the temperature of a voltaic arc turns into vapor.
It was already said above that when igniting, the ends of the coals must be connected. For Yablochkov, the ends of the coals in the candle were 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 and lights the candle, which continues to burn with the help of columbine.
It goes without saying that Yablochkov candles require alternating current to ensure that both coals burn evenly.
One of the important disadvantages of the Yablochkov system was that the spark plugs had to be changed frequently when they burned out. Now this drawback has been eliminated - by installing candlesticks for several candles. As soon as the first candle burns out, the second lights up, then the third, etc. To illuminate the Louvre (in Paris), Mr. Clario came up with a special automatic switch for Yablochkov’s system.
Yablochkov candles are excellent for lighting workshops, shipyards, shops, railway stations, etc. In Paris, besides the Louvre, shops are illuminated using the Yablochkov system “ du Printemps", the Continental Hotel, the Hippodrome, the workshops of Farco, Gouin, the plant in Ivry, etc. In Moscow, the square near the Cathedral of Christ the Savior and the Stone Bridge, many factories and factories, etc. are illuminated using the same system.
In conclusion, one cannot help but recall the history of this invention once again without feeling extreme bitterness. Regrettably, there is no place in Russia for Russian inventors until they receive a foreign stamp. The inventor of the most ingenious method of electrical soldering of metals, Mr. Benardos, pushed for a long time and unsuccessfully at the doors of Russian capitalists, until he achieved success in Paris. Yablochkov would still “vegetate in obscurity” if he had not visited London and Paris. Even Babaev received the mark of fitness in America...
There is no prophet in his own country. These words perfectly summarize the life of the inventor Pavel Yablochkov. Russia is second in terms of scientific and technological progress half of the 19th century century in some areas noticeably lagged behind the leading European countries and the USA. Therefore, it was easier for compatriots to believe that everything ingenious and advanced comes from afar, rather than being born in the minds of scientists working next to them.
When Yablochkov invented the arc lamp, the first thing he wanted to do was 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 candles” began to appear on the main streets of European capitals. The Old World Press extols our inventor. “Russia is the birthplace of electricity”, “You should see Yablochkov’s candle” - European newspapers of that time were full of such headlines. La lumiere russe(“Russian light” is what the French called Yablochkov’s lamps) rapidly spread throughout the cities of Europe and America.
Here it is - success in modern understanding. Pavel Yablochkov becomes a famous and rich man. But people of that generation thought differently - and far from the concepts of everyday success. Foreign fame was not what the Russian inventor was striving for. Therefore after completion Russian-Turkish War he committed an act unexpected for our modern perception. He bought from the French company that invested his work for one million francs (!) the right to use his invention in home country and went to Russia. By the way, a colossal sum of a million francs was the entire fortune accumulated by Yablochkov due to the popularity of his invention.
Yablochkov thought that after European success he would receive a warm welcome in his homeland. But he was wrong. Yablochkov’s invention was now treated, of course, with greater interest than before he went abroad, but 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 began to fade. In Russia, arc lamps have not become widespread. In advanced countries they have a serious competitor - the incandescent lamp.
The development of incandescent lamps has been carried out since the beginning of the 19th century. One of the founders of this direction was the Englishman Delarue, who back in 1809 received light by passing current through a platinum spiral. Later, our compatriot, retired officer Alexander Lodygin, created an incandescent lamp with several carbon rods - when one burned out, another automatically turned on. Through constant improvement, Lodygin managed to increase the service 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 lamp cylinder. The talented inventor Lodygin was an unimportant entrepreneur, so he plays 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 must be admitted that the fame of the American inventor came deservedly. After Edison began developing the incandescent lamp in 1879, he conducted thousands of experiments, spending research work more than 100 thousand dollars - a fantastic amount at that time. 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 systems for electric lighting and centralized power supply.
As for Yablochkov, then in last years In life, he led a rather modest life: the press forgot about him, and entrepreneurs did not turn to him. For changing grandiose projects The development of the world's capitals came with the more modest work of creating an electric lighting system in Saratov, the city where he spent his youth and where he now lived. Here Yablochkov died in 1894 - unknown and poor.
For a long time it was believed that Yablochkov arc lamps were a dead-end branch in the field of evolution of artificial lighting. However, at some point, the brightness of arc lamps was appreciated by automobile companies. Yablochkov's 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 ways a highly improved Yablochkov candle.
Yablochkov was born in 1847. He received his first knowledge at the Saratov gymnasium. In 1862 he moved to and began studying at a preparatory boarding school. A year later, Pavel Nikolaevich entered the Nikolaev Military Engineering School. A military career did not appeal young man. As a graduate of the school, he served for a year in the Russian army in a sapper battalion, and resigned from service.
At the same time, Pavel developed a new hobby - electrical engineering. He understands that it is important to continue his studies and enters the Officer Galvanic Classes. In classes he will study demolition techniques and minecraft. When his studies were completed, Yablochkov was sent to Kyiv, to his former battalion, where he headed the galvanizing team. Paul confirmed the saying that it is impossible to step into the same river twice. He soon left the service.
In 1873, Pavel became the head of the telegraph of the Moscow-Kursk Railway. He combined work with attending meetings Standing Committee Department of Applied Physics. Here he listened to a number of reports and gained new knowledge. He immediately met the electrical engineer Chikolev. The meeting with this man helped Pavel Nikolaevich finally determine his interests.
Yablochkov, together with engineer Glukhov, created a laboratory in which they studied electrical engineering issues and made something. In 1875, in this laboratory, scientist friends created an electric candle. This electric candle was the first arc lamp model without a regulator. Such a lamp satisfied all the technical needs of the current historical period. Scientists immediately received orders for the manufacture of lamps. Due to various reasons, Yablochkov’s laboratory was unable to make a profit and went bankrupt. Pavel Nikolaevich was forced to hide abroad from creditors for some time.
Outside his homeland, while in Paris, Pavel met Breguet. Breguet was a famous mechanic. He invited Yablochkov to work in his workshops. Breguet was involved in the design of telephones and electrical machines. In his workshop, Pavel Nikolaevich improved his electric candle. And he received a French patent for it. At the same time, Pavel developed an electric lighting system using single-phase alternating current. Yablochkov's innovations appeared in the Russian Empire two years after their invention. Pavel needed to pay off his creditors; as soon as this happened, his inventions appeared in his homeland. In November 1878, his electric candle illuminated Winter Palace, as well as the ships “Peter the Great” and “Vice Admiral Popov”
The lighting system developed by the scientist was called “Russian light”. The system was demonstrated with great success at exhibitions in London and Paris. “Russian Light” was used by all European countries.
Pavel Mikhailovich Yablochkov with capital letters. He made an invaluable contribution to the development of electrical engineering in the world; his achievements are recognized and undeniable. Pavel died in 1894.
In the spring of 1876, the world media was full of headlines: “Light comes to us from the North - from Russia”; “The Northern Light, the Russian Light is a miracle of our time”; “Russia is the birthplace of electricity.”
On different languages journalists admired the Russian engineer Pavel Yablochkov, whose invention, presented at an exhibition in London, changed the understanding of the possibilities of using electricity.
The inventor was only 29 years old at the time of his outstanding triumph.
Pavel Yablochkov during his years of work in Moscow. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
Born inventor
Pavel Yablochkov was born on September 14, 1847 in the Serdobsky district of the Saratov province, in the family of an impoverished small nobleman who came from an old Russian family.
Pavel's father studied at Morskoe in his youth cadet corps, but due to illness he was dismissed from service with an award civil rank XIV class. The mother was a powerful woman who held in strong hands not only the household, but also all family members.
Pasha became interested in design as a child. One of his first inventions was an original land surveying device, which was then used by residents of all surrounding villages.
In 1858, Pavel entered the Saratov men's gymnasium, but his father took him away from the 5th grade. The family was strapped for money, and there was not enough money for Pavel’s education. Nevertheless, they managed to place the boy in a private preparatory boarding house, where young people were prepared to enter the Nikolaev Engineering School. It was maintained by the military engineer Caesar Antonovich Cui. This extraordinary person, who was equally successful in military engineering and writing music, aroused Yablochkov’s interest in science.
In 1863, Yablochkov brilliantly passed the entrance exam to the Nikolaev Engineering School. In August 1866, he graduated from college with the first category, receiving the rank of engineer-second lieutenant. He was appointed a junior officer in the 5th engineer battalion, stationed in the Kyiv fortress.
Attention, electricity!
The parents were happy because they believed that their son could make a great military career. However, Pavel himself was not attracted to this path, and a year later he resigned from service with the rank of lieutenant under the pretext of illness.
Yablochkov showed great interest in electrical engineering, but he did not have enough knowledge in this area, and to fill this gap, he returned to military service. Thanks to this, he had the opportunity to enter the Technical Galvanic Institution in Kronstadt, the only school in Russia that trained military electrical engineers.
After graduation, Yablochkov served the required three years and in 1872 he left the army again, now forever.
Yablochkov's new place of work was the Moscow-Kursk Railway, where he was appointed head of the telegraph service. He combined his work with inventive activity. Having learned about the experiments Alexandra Lodygina to illuminate streets and premises with electric lamps, Yablochkov decided to improve the then existing arc lamps.
How did the train spotlight come about?
In the spring of 1874, a government train was supposed to travel along the Moscow-Kursk road. The road management decided to illuminate the path for the train at night using electricity. However, officials did not really understand how to do this. Then they remembered the hobby of the head of the telegraph service and turned to him. Yablochkov agreed with great joy.
On a steam locomotive for the first time in history railway transport installed a spotlight with an arc lamp - a Foucault regulator. The device was unreliable, but Yablochkov made every effort to make it work. Standing on the front platform of the locomotive, he changed the coals in the lamp and tightened the regulator. When changing locomotives, Yablochkov moved to a new one along with a searchlight.
The train successfully reached its destination, to the delight of Yablochkov’s management, but the engineer himself decided that this method of lighting was too complex and expensive and required improvement.
Yablochkov leaves his railroad service and opens a physical instrument workshop in Moscow, where numerous experiments with electricity are carried out.
"Yablochkov's Candle" Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
The Russian idea came to life in Paris
The main invention in his life was born during experiments with electrolysis table salt. In 1875, during one of the electrolysis experiments, parallel coals immersed in an electrolytic bath accidentally touched each other. Immediately a flare-up broke out between them electric arc, which illuminated the walls of the laboratory with bright light for a short moment.
The engineer came up with the idea that it was possible to create an arc lamp without an interelectrode distance regulator, which would be much more reliable.
In the fall of 1875, Yablochkov intended to take his inventions to the World Exhibition in Philadelphia in order to demonstrate the successes of Russian engineers in the field of electricity. But the workshop was not doing well, there was not enough money, and Yablochkov could only get to Paris. There he met Academician Breguet, who owned a physical instrument workshop. Having assessed the knowledge and experience of the Russian engineer, Breguet offered him a job. Yablochkov accepted the invitation.
In the spring of 1876, he managed to complete the work of creating an arc lamp without a regulator. On March 23, 1876, Pavel Yablochkov received French patent No. 112024.
Yablochkov's lamp turned out to be simpler, more convenient and cheaper to operate than its predecessors. It consisted of two rods separated by an insulating kaolin gasket. Each of the rods was clamped into a separate terminal of the candlestick. An arc discharge was ignited at the upper ends, and the arc flame shone brightly, gradually burning the coals and vaporizing the insulating material.
Money for some, science for others
On April 15, 1876, an exhibition of physical instruments opened in London. Yablochkov represented the Breguet company and at the same time spoke on his own behalf. On one of the days of the exhibition, the engineer presented his lamp. The new light source created a real sensation. The name “Yablochkov candle” was firmly attached to the lamp. It turned out to be extremely convenient to use. Firms operating “Yablochkov candles” were rapidly opening all over the world.
But the incredible success did not make the Russian engineer a millionaire. He took the modest post of head of the technical department of the French "General Company of Electricity with Yablochkov's patents."
He received a small percentage of the profits received, but Yablochkov did not complain - he was quite happy with the fact that he had the opportunity to continue scientific research.
Meanwhile, “Yablochkov candles” appeared on sale and began to sell out in huge quantities. Each candle cost about 20 kopecks and burned for about an hour and a half; After this time, a new candle had to be inserted into the lantern. Subsequently, lanterns with automatic replacement of candles were invented.
“Yablochkov’s Candle” in the music hall in Paris. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
From Paris to Cambodia
In 1877, “Yablochkov’s candles” conquered Paris. First they illuminated the Louvre, then Opera theatre, and then one of the central streets. The light of the new product was so unusually bright that at first Parisians gathered to simply admire the invention of the Russian master. Soon, “Russian electricity” was already lighting up the hippodrome in Paris.
The success of Yablochkov candles in London forced local businessmen to try to get them banned. The discussion in the English Parliament lasted for several years, and Yablochkov’s candles continued to work successfully.
“Candles” conquered Germany, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, and in Rome they illuminated the ruins of the Colosseum. By the end of 1878, the best stores in Philadelphia, a city in which Yablochkov never made it to the World Exhibition, also illuminated his “candles.”
Even the Shah of Persia and the King of Cambodia illuminated their chambers with similar lamps.
In Russia, the first test of electric lighting using the Yablochkov system was carried out on October 11, 1878. On this day, the barracks of the Kronstadt training crew and the square near the house occupied by the commander of the Kronstadt training crew were illuminated seaport. Two weeks later, on December 4, 1878, “Yablochkov’s candles” illuminated the Bolshoi (Kamenny) Theater in St. Petersburg for the first time.
Yablochkov returned all inventions to Russia
Yablochkov’s merits were recognized in scientific world. On April 21, 1876, Yablochkov was elected a full member of the French Physical Society. On April 14, 1879, the scientist was awarded a personalized medal of the Imperial Russian Technical Society.
In 1881, the first International Electrotechnical Exhibition opened in Paris. On it, Yablochkov's inventions were received highly appreciated and were declared out of competition by the decision of the International Jury. However, the exhibition became evidence that the time of the “Yablochkov candle” was running out - an incandescent lamp was presented in Paris that could burn for 800-1000 hours without replacement.
Yablochkov was not at all embarrassed by this. He switched to creating a powerful and economical chemical current source. Experiments in this direction were very dangerous - experiments with chlorine resulted in a burn to the mucous membrane of the lungs for the scientist. Yablochkov began to have health problems.
For about ten years he continued to live and work, shuttling between Europe and Russia. Finally, in 1892, he and his family returned to their homeland for good. Wanting all inventions to become the property of Russia, he spent almost all of his fortune on buying out patents.
Monument at the grave of Pavel Yablochkov. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org / Andrei Sdobnikov
Pride of the Nation
But in St. Petersburg they managed to forget about the scientist. Yablochkov left for the Saratov province, where he intended to continue scientific research in the silence of the village. But then Pavel Nikolaevich quickly realized that there were simply no conditions in the village for such work. Then he went to Saratov, where, living in a hotel room, he began drawing up a plan for electric lighting of the city.
Health, undermined by dangerous experiments, continued to deteriorate. In addition to breathing problems, I was bothered by pain in my heart, my legs were swollen and completely gave out.
At about 6 o'clock in the morning on March 31, 1894, Pavel Nikolaevich Yablochkov passed away. The inventor passed away at the age of 46. He was buried on the outskirts of the village of Sapozhok in the fence of the Archangel Michael Church in the family crypt.
Unlike many figures pre-revolutionary Russia, the name of Pavel Yablochkov was revered in Soviet times. Streets were named after him in various cities across the country, including Moscow and Leningrad. In 1947, the Yablochkov Prize was established for the best work in electrical engineering, which is awarded once every three years. And in 1970, a crater was named in honor of Pavel Nikolaevich Yablochkov. back side Moons.
Pavel Nikolaevich Yablochkov (1847-1894)
Pavel Nikolaevich Yablochkov, a remarkable inventor, designer and scientist, had a tremendous influence on the development of modern electrical engineering. His name still does not leave the pages of scientific electrical engineering literature. His scientific and technical heritage is very significant, although it has not yet been systematically studied.
Pavel Nikolaevich Yablochkov was born on September 14, 1847 on his father’s family estate in the village. Tales about the village. Petropavlovsk Serdobsky district, Saratov province. His father was known as a very demanding and strict man. There was a small estate in good condition, and the Yablochkov family, although not rich, lived in abundance; For good upbringing and children's education there were all possibilities.
Very little information has been preserved about the childhood and adolescence of P. N. Yablochkov. It is only known that the boy was distinguished from childhood inquisitive mind, good abilities and loved to build and design. At the age of 12, he came up with, for example, a special goniometer tool, which turned out to be very simple and convenient for land surveying work. The surrounding peasants willingly used it during land redistribution. Home schooling was soon replaced by gymnasium classes in Saratov. Until 1862, P. N. Yablochkov studied at the Saratov gymnasium, where he was considered a capable student. However, three years later Pavel Nikolaevich was in St. Petersburg, in a preparatory boarding school run by the later famous military engineer and composer Caesar Antonovich Cui. It can be assumed that Yablochkov’s special love for design and, in general, the interest that he early years showed an interest in technology, forced him to leave the gymnasium bench and prepare to enter an educational institution that would have enough opportunities for the development of the young man’s engineering inclinations. In 1863 Pavel Nikolaevich entered the Military Engineering School and thus chose the career of an engineer.
But military school with its intensive combat training, with a general bias towards training in fortification and the construction of various military engineering structures, was not able to satisfy the inquisitive young man, full of various technical interests. Only the presence of such outstanding Russian scientists as Ostrogradsky, Pauker, Vyshnegradsky and others among the teachers smoothed out many of the shortcomings of teaching. Released in August 1866 as a second lieutenant in the 5th engineer battalion of the engineering team of the Kyiv fortress, P. N. Yablochkov entered the engineering field to which he so aspired. However, his work gave him almost no opportunities for development creative forces. He served as an officer for only 15 months and at the end of 1867 he was dismissed due to illness. The enormous interest that everyone showed at that time in the use of electricity for practical purposes could not but affect P. N. Yablochkov. By this time, both abroad and in Russia, many important works and inventions had been done in the field of electrical engineering. Only recently, based on the work of the Russian scientist P. L. Schilling, the electromagnetic telegraph became widespread; few years have passed since the successful experiments of the St. Petersburg professor and academician B. S. Jacobi on the use of an electric motor to move a ship and since the day he invented galvanoplasty; The important works of Wheatstone and Siemens, who discovered the principle of self-induction and laid the practical foundation for the construction of dynamos, had just become known. At that time, the only school in Russia where it was possible to study electrical engineering was the Officer Galvanic Classes. And in 1868, one could again see P. N. Yablochkov in an officer’s uniform as a student of this school, which for a year taught military mines, demolition technology, the design and use of galvanic elements, and military telegraphy. At the beginning of 1869, P. N. Yablochkov, after completing galvanic classes, was re-enlisted in his battalion, where he became the head of the galvanic team, simultaneously serving as a battalion adjutant, whose duties were in charge of office work and reporting.
Having studied the fundamentals of modern electrical engineering in galvanic classes, P. N. Yablochkov understood better than before what enormous prospects electricity had in military affairs and in everyday life. But the atmosphere of conservatism, limitation and stagnation in active military service again made itself felt. Hence Yablochkov’s decisive step - leaving military service upon expiration of the mandatory one-year period and leaving permanently. In 1870 he retired; that's where it ended military career and began his activity as an electrical engineer, which lasted continuously until his death, a rich and varied activity.
The only area in which electricity was already firmly in use during these years was the telegraph, and P. N. Yablochkov, immediately after retiring, took the post of head of the telegraph service of the Moscow-Kursk Railway, where he could come into direct contact with various issues of practical electrical engineering that deeply interested him.
In Moscow at this time there were already many people interested in electrical engineering. The most important questions related to the use of electricity were widely debated in the Society of Amateurs of Natural History. Not long before this, the Polytechnic Museum, which was created, was a place where Moscow pioneers of electrical engineering gathered. Here the opportunity opened up for Yablochkov to do experiments. At the end of 1873, he managed to meet with the outstanding Russian electrical engineer V. N. Chikolev. From him, Pavel Nikolaevich learned about the successful work of A. N. Lodygin on the design and use of incandescent lamps. These meetings had a tremendous influence on P. N. Yablochkov. He decided to devote his experiments to the use of electric current for lighting purposes and by the end of 1874 he was so immersed in his work that his service as head of the telegraph of the Moscow-Kursk Railway, with its petty daily worries, became little interesting and even shy for him. P. N. Yablochkov leaves her and completely surrenders to his scientific studies and experiences.
He is equipping a workshop for physical instruments in Moscow. Here he managed to build an electromagnet of an original design - his first invention, and here he began his other works. However, the business of the workshop and the store attached to it was going poorly and could not provide by the necessary means neither Yablochkov himself nor his work. On the contrary, the workshop absorbed P. N. Yablochkov’s significant personal funds, and he was forced to interrupt his experiments for a while and begin to carry out some orders, such as, for example, the installation of electric lighting for the railway track from a steam locomotive to ensure safe passage royal family to Crimea. This work was successfully carried out by P. N. Yablochkov and was the first case of electric lighting on railways in world practice.
In his workshop, Pavel Nikolaevich did many experiments on blower lamps, studied their shortcomings, and realized that correct solution the issue of regulating the distance between coals, i.e. the issue of regulators, will have crucial for electric lighting.
However, Yablochkov’s financial affairs were completely upset. His own workshop fell into disrepair, since Pavel Nikolaevich did little of it, and spent all his time on his experiments. Feeling the futility of his work in technically backward Russia in the 70s, he decided to go to America to the opening Philadelphia exhibition, where he hoped to get acquainted with electrical innovations and at the same time exhibit his electromagnet. In the fall of 1875, P. N. Yablochkov left, but due to lack of funds to continue the trip, he remained in Paris, where many different and interesting works on the use of electricity. Here he met with the famous mechanical designer Academician Breguet.
Breguet immediately identified in P. N. Yablochkov the presence of outstanding design abilities and invited him to work in his workshops, in which at that time mainly design was carried out telegraph apparatus and electrical machines. Having started work in the Breguet workshops in October 1875, P. N. Yablochkov did not stop his main work - improving the regulator for the arc lamp, and already at the end of this year he fully formalized the design of the arc lamp, which, having found wide use under the name " electric candle", or "Yablochkov candle", made a complete revolution in the technology of electric lighting. This revolution caused fundamental changes in electrical engineering, as it opened a wide path to the use of electric current, in particular alternating current, for significant practical needs.
March 23, 1876 is the formal date of birth of Yablochkov’s candle: on this day he was given the first privilege in France, which was then followed by a number of other privileges in France and other countries in new source light and its improvement. Yablochkov's candle was exceptionally simple and was an arc lamp without a regulator. Two parallel coal rods had a kaolin gasket between them along the entire height (in the first candle designs, one of the coals was enclosed in a kaolin tube); each of the coals was clamped with its lower end into a separate terminal of the lamp; these terminals were connected to the battery poles or connected to the network. Between the upper ends of the coal rods, a plate of non-conductive material (“fuse”) was strengthened, connecting both coals to each other. When current passed, the fuse burned out, and an arc appeared between the ends of the carbon electrodes, the flame of which created illumination and, gradually melting the kaolin during the combustion of coals, the base of the rods also decreased. When an arc lamp is powered with direct current, positive carbon burns twice as fast; in order to avoid extinguishing the Yablochkov candle when powered by direct current, it was necessary to make the positive carbon twice as thick as the negative one. P. N. Yablochkov immediately established that powering his candle with alternating current is more rational, since in this case both coals can be exactly the same and will burn evenly. Therefore, the use of the Yablochkov candle led to widespread use alternating current.
The success of Yablochkov's candle exceeded our wildest expectations. In April 1876, at an exhibition of physical instruments in London, Yablochkov's candle was the highlight of the exhibition. Literally the entire world technical and general press was full of information about the new light source and confidence that a new era was beginning in the development of electrical engineering. But for practical use candles, many more issues had to be resolved, without which it was impossible to carry out economically profitable and rational exploitation of the new invention. It was necessary to provide lighting installations with alternating current generators. It was necessary to create the possibility of simultaneous burning of an arbitrary number of candles in one circuit (until that time, each individual arc lamp was powered by an independent generator). It was necessary to create the possibility of long-term and continuous lighting with candles (each candle burned out for 1 1/2 hours).
The great merit of P. N. Yablochkov is that all these extremely important technical issues received the fastest resolution with the direct participation of the inventor himself. P. N. Yablochkov ensured that the famous designer Zinovy Gramm began producing alternating current machines. Alternating current soon gained decisive dominance in electrical engineering. Designers of electrical machines for the first time seriously began to build alternating current machines, and P. N. Yablochkov was responsible for the development of current distribution systems using induction devices (1876), which were the predecessors of modern transformers. P. N. Yablochkov was the first in the world to face the issue of power factor: during experiments with capacitors (1877), he first discovered that the sum of the currents in the branches of the circuit was greater than the current in the circuit before the branching. Yablochkov's candle had a decisive influence on many other works in the field of electric lighting, giving, in particular, impetus to the development of scientific photometry. P. N. Yablochkov himself turned to building electric machines.
At the end of 1876, P. N. Yablochkov made an attempt to apply his inventions in his homeland and went to Russia. This was on the eve of the Turkish war. P. N. Yablochkov was not a practical businessman. He was received with complete indifference, and essentially failed to do anything in Russia. He, however, received permission to set up experimental electric lighting at the Birzula railway station, where he carried out successful lighting experiments in December 1876. But these experiments did not attract attention, and P. N. Yablochkov was forced to leave for Paris again, severely shocked by this attitude towards his inventions. However, how true patriot I never left my homeland with the idea of seeing my inventions implemented in Russia.
Since 1878, Yablochkov candles began to be widely used abroad. A syndicate was created, which in January 1878 turned into a society for the exploitation of Yablochkov’s patents. Within 1 1/2-2 years, Yablochkov’s inventions traveled around the world. After the first installations in 1876 in Paris (Louvre department store, Chatelet theater, Place de l'Opéra, etc.), Yablochkov candle lighting devices appeared in literally all countries of the world. Pavel Nikolaevich wrote to one of his friends at that time: “From Paris, electric lighting spread throughout the world, reaching the palaces of the Shah of Persia and the King of Cambodia.” It is difficult to convey the delight with which lighting with electric candles was greeted all over the world. Pavel Nikolaevich became one of the most popular faces of industrial France and the whole world. The new method of lighting was called “Russian light”, “northern light”. The Society for the Exploitation of Yablochkov's Patents received enormous profits and could not cope with the surging mass of orders.
Having achieved brilliant success abroad, P. N. Yablochkov again returned to the idea of becoming useful to his homeland, but he was unable to achieve War Ministry Alexander II took over for exploitation the Russian privilege he declared in 1877. He was forced to sell it to the French Society.
The merits of P. N. Yablochkov and the enormous significance of his candle were recognized by the most authoritative scientific institutions. A number of reports were devoted to her at the French Academy and in major scientific societies.
Years of brilliant successes of candles finally cemented the victory of electric lighting over gas lighting. Therefore, design thought continued to continuously work on improving electric lighting. P. N. Yablochkov himself built a different type of electric light bulb, the so-called “kaolin” one, the glow of which came from fire-resistant bodies heated by electric current. This principle was new and promising for its time; however, P. N. Yablochkov did not delve into the work on the kaolin lamp. As you know, this principle was applied a quarter of a century later in the Nernst lamp. Work also intensified on arc lamps with regulators, since the electric candle was of little use for floodlights and similar intensive lighting installations. At the same time, Lodygin in Russia, and a little later Lane-Fox and Swan in England, Maxim and Edison in America, managed to complete the development of incandescent lamps, which not only became a serious competitor to the candle, but also replaced it in a fairly short time.
In 1878, when the candle was still in its brilliant period of use, P. N. Yablochkov decided to once again go to his homeland to exploit his invention. Returning to his homeland was associated with great sacrifices for the inventor: he had to buy back French society Russian privilege and had to pay about a million francs for this. He decided to do this and came to Russia without funds, but full of energy and hopes.
Arriving in Russia, Pavel Nikolaevich encountered great interest in his work from various circles. Funds were found to finance the enterprise. He had to re-create workshops and conduct numerous financial and commercial affairs. Since 1879, many installations with Yablochkov candles appeared in the capital, the first of which illuminated the Liteiny Bridge. Paying tribute to the times, P. N. Yablochkov also began a small production of incandescent lamps in his workshops. The commercial direction, which P. N. Yablochkov’s work in St. Petersburg predominantly received this time, did not bring him satisfaction. It did not ease his heavy mood that his work on designing an electric machine and his activities in organizing the electrical engineering department at the Russian Academy of Sciences were progressing successfully. technical society, of which Pavel Nikolaevich was elected vice-chairman.
He put a lot of work into founding the first Russian electrical engineering magazine, Electricity, which began to be published in 1880. On March 21, 1879, he read a report on electric lighting at the Russian Technical Society. The Russian technical community honored him with the award of the Society's medal for the fact that “he was the first to achieve a satisfactory solution in practice to the issue of electric lighting.” However, these external signs of attention were not sufficient to create good working conditions for P. N. Yablochkov. Pavel Nikolaevich saw that in backward Russia in the early 80s there were too few opportunities to implement it technical ideas, in particular for the production of electrical machines built by him. He was again drawn to Paris, where so recently happiness had smiled upon him. Returning to Paris in 1880, P. N. Yablochkov again entered the service of the Society for the exploitation of his inventions, sold his patent for a dynamo to the Society and began preparing to participate in the first World Electrotechnical Exhibition, scheduled to open in Paris in 1881. At the beginning of 1881, P. N. Yablochkov left his service in the Company and devoted himself entirely to design work.
At the electrical exhibition of 1881, Yablochkov's inventions received the highest award: they were recognized out of competition. Scientific and technical official spheres highly valued his authority, and Pavel Nikolaevich was appointed a member of the international jury for reviewing exhibits and awarding awards. The 1881 exhibition itself was a triumph for the incandescent lamp: the electric candle began to decline.
From that time on, P. N. Yablochkov devoted himself to working on electric current generators - dynamos and galvanic elements; he never returned to the light sources.
In subsequent years, P. N. Yablochkov received a number of patents for electrical machines: for a magneto-electric alternating current machine without rotational movement(later the famous electrical engineer Nikola Tesla built a car based on this principle); to a magnetic-dynamo-electric machine built on the principle of unipolar machines; an alternating current machine with a rotating inductor, the poles of which were located on a helical line; on an electric motor that can operate on both alternating and DC and can also serve as a generator. P. N. Yablochkov also designed a machine for direct and alternating currents, operating on the principle electrostatic induction. A completely original design is the so-called “Yablochkov cliptic dynamo.”
Pavel Nikolaevich's work in the field of galvanic cells and batteries and the patents he took reveal the exceptional depth and progressiveness of his plans. In these works, he deeply studied the essence of the processes occurring in galvanic cells and batteries. He built: combustion elements, which used the combustion reaction as a source of current; elements with alkali metals(sodium); three-electrode element (car battery) and many others. These works of his show that he worked with persistent consistency to find the possibility of direct application chemical energy for the purposes of high current electrical engineering. The path that Yablochkov followed in these works is a revolutionary path not only for his time, but also for modern technology. Successes along this path could open a new era in electrical engineering.
In continuous work, in difficult material conditions, P. N. Yablochkov conducted his experiments in the period 1881-1893. He lived in Paris as a private citizen, completely devoting himself to scientific problems, skillfully experimenting and bringing a lot to the work original ideas, heading in bold and unexpected ways, ahead of the contemporary state of science, technology and industry. An explosion that occurred in his laboratory during experiments almost cost him his life. The continuous deterioration of his financial situation, progressive severe heart disease - all this undermined the strength of P. N. Yablochkov. He decided to go home again after a 13-year absence. In July 1893 he left for Russia, but immediately upon arrival he became very ill. On the estate he found the economy so neglected that he had no hope of improving material conditions. Pavel Nikolaevich with his wife and son settled in a hotel in Saratov. Sick, confined to a sofa with severe dropsy, deprived of almost any means of subsistence, he continued to conduct experiments.
On March 31, 1894, the heart of a talented Russian scientist and designer, one of the brilliant pioneers of electrical engineering, whose work and ideas make our homeland proud, stopped beating.
The main works of P. N. Yablochkov: On the new battery, called the auto-accumulator, "Comptes Rendues de l`Ac. des Sciences", Paris, 1885, t. 100; About electric lighting. Public lecture of the Russian Technical. society, read on April 4, 1879, St. Petersburg, 1879 (also included in the book: P. N. Yablochkov. On the fiftieth anniversary of his death, M.-L., 1944).
About P. N. Yablochkov: Persky K.D., Life and works of P.N. Yablochkov, “Proceedings of the 1st All-Russian Electrotechnical Congress in St. Petersburg in 1899-1900,” St. Petersburg, 1901, vol. 1; Zabarinsky P., Yablochkov, ed. "Young Guard", M., 1938; Chatelain M. A.,. Pavel Nikolaevich Yablochkov ( biographical sketch), "Electricity", 1926, No. 12; P. N. Yablochkov. To the fiftieth anniversary of his death, ed. prof. L. D. Belkinda; M.-L., 1944; Kaptsov N, A., Pavel Nikolaevich Yablochkov, M.-L., 1944,
Both Yablochkov and Lodygin were “temporary” emigrants. They did not intend to leave their homeland forever and, having achieved success in Europe and America, returned back. It’s just that Russia has always “stopped,” as it is fashionable to say today, innovative developments, and sometimes it was easier to go to France or the USA and “promote” your invention there, and then triumphantly return home as a famous and sought-after specialist. This can be called technical emigration - not because of poverty or dislike for relatives broken roads, namely, with the goal of pushing off from abroad, in order to interest both the homeland and the world.
The fates of these two talented people very similar. Both were born in the fall of 1847, served in the army in engineering positions and almost simultaneously retired in similar ranks (Yablochkov - lieutenant, Lodygin - second lieutenant). Both made important inventions in the field of lighting in the mid-1870s, developing them mainly abroad, in France and the USA. However, later their destinies diverged.
So, candles and lamps.
FILAMENT
First of all, it is worth noting that Alexander Nikolaevich Lodygin did not invent the incandescent lamp. Neither did Thomas Edison, to whom Lodygin eventually sold a number of his patents. Formally, the Scottish inventor James Bowman Lindsay should be considered the pioneer of using a hot spiral for lighting. In 1835, in the city of Dundee, he gave a public demonstration of illuminating the space around him using hot wire. He showed that such light allows one to read books without the use of conventional candles. However, Lindsey was a man of many hobbies and was no longer involved in lighting - it was just one of a series of his “tricks”.
And the first lamp with a glass bulb was patented in 1838 by the Belgian photographer Marcellin Jobard. It was he who introduced the series modern principles incandescent lamps - pumped out the air from the flask, creating a vacuum there, used a carbon filament, and so on. After Jobard, there were many more electrical engineers who contributed to the development of the incandescent lamp - Warren de la Rue, Frederick Mullins (de Moleyns), Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin, John Wellington Starr and others. Robert-Houdin, by the way, was generally an illusionist, not a scientist - he designed and patented the lamp as one of the elements of his technical tricks. So everything was ready for Lodygin’s appearance on the “lamp arena”.
Alexander Nikolaevich was born in the Tambov province into a noble but poor family, entered, like many noble offspring of that time, into the cadet corps (first in preparatory classes in Tambov, then in the main unit in Voronezh), served in the 71st Belevsky Regiment, He studied at the Moscow Junker Infantry School (now Alekseevskoe), and in 1870 he resigned because his soul was not in the army.
At the school he prepared for an engineering specialty, and this did not help last role in his passion for electrical engineering. After 1870, Lodygin began working closely on improving the incandescent lamp, and at the same time attended St. Petersburg University as a volunteer. In 1872 he applied for an invention entitled “Method and Apparatus for Electric Lighting” and two years later received the privilege. He subsequently patented his invention in other countries.
What did Lodygin invent?
An incandescent light bulb with a carbon rod. You will say - after all, Zhobar used a similar system! Yes, definitely. But Lodygin, firstly, developed a much more advanced configuration, and secondly, he realized that vacuum is not an ideal environment and efficiency and service life can be increased by filling the flask inert gases, as is done in similar lamps today. This was precisely the breakthrough of global significance.
He founded the company “Russian Electric Lighting Partnership Lodygin and Co.”, was successful, worked on many inventions, including, by the way, diving equipment, but in 1884 he was forced to leave Russia due to political reasons. Yes, because of them people left at all times. The fact was that the death of Alexander II from Grinevitsky’s bomb led to mass raids and repressions among those sympathetic to the revolutionaries. Basically it was the creative and technical intelligentsia - that is, the society in which Lodygin moved. He left not to avoid accusations of any illegal actions, but rather to get away from harm.
Before that, he had already worked in Paris, and now he moved to the capital of France to live. True, the company he created abroad went bankrupt quite quickly (Lodygin was a very dubious businessman), and in 1888 he moved to the USA, where he got a job at Westinghouse Electric. George Westinghouse attracted leading engineers from all over the world to his developments, sometimes buying them from competitors.
In American patents, Lodygin secured leadership in the development of lamps with incandescent filaments made of molybdenum, platinum, iridium, tungsten, osmium and palladium (not counting numerous inventions in other areas, in particular a patent for new system electric resistance furnaces). Tungsten filaments are still used in light bulbs today - in fact, Lodygin gave the incandescent lamp its final form in the late 1890s. The triumph of Lodygin's lamps came in 1893, when the Westinghouse company won the tender for the electrification of the World's Fair in Chicago. Ironically, later, before leaving for his homeland, Lodygin sold the patents obtained in the USA not to Westinghouse, but to Thomas Edison’s General Electric.
In 1895, he moved again to Paris and there married Alma Schmidt, the daughter of a German emigrant, whom he had met in Pittsburgh. And 12 years later, Lodygin with his wife and two daughters returned to Russia - worldwide famous inventor and electrical engineer. He had no problems either with work (he taught at the Electrotechnical Institute, now St. Petersburg Electrotechnical University "LETI") or with promoting his ideas. He was engaged in social and political activities, worked on the electrification of railways, and in 1917, with the advent of the new government, he again left for the USA, where he was received very cordially.
Perhaps Lodygin is a real man of the world. Living and working in Russia, France and the USA, he achieved his goal everywhere, received patents everywhere and put his developments into practice. When he died in Brooklyn in 1923, even the newspapers of the RSFSR wrote about it.
It is Lodygin who can be called the inventor of the modern light bulb to a greater extent than any of his historical competitors. But the founder of street lighting was not he at all, but another great Russian electrical engineer - Pavel Yablochkov, who did not believe in the prospects of incandescent lamps. He went his own way.
CANDLE WITHOUT FIRE
As noted above, the life paths of the two inventors were at first similar. In fact, you can simply copy part of Lodygin’s biography into this subsection, replacing the names and titles educational institution̆. Pavel Nikolaevich Yablochkov was also born into the family of a small nobleman, studied at the Saratov men's gymnasium, then at the Nikolaevsky engineering school, from where he left with the rank of engineer-second lieutenant and went to serve in the 5th engineer battalion of the Kyiv fortress. He served, however, only briefly and less than a year later he retired due to health reasons. Another thing is that there was no meaningful work in the civilian field, and two years later, in 1869, Yablochkov returned to the army ranks and was seconded to the Technical Galvanic Institution in Kronstadt (now the Officer Electrical Engineering School) to improve his skills. It was there that he became seriously interested in electrical engineering - the institution trained military specialists for all electrical-related work in the army: telegraph, mine detonation systems, and so on.
In 1872, 25-year-old Yablochkov finally retired and began working on his own project. He rightly considered incandescent lamps to be unpromising: indeed, at that time they were dim, energy-consuming and not very durable. Yablochkov was much more interested in the technology of arc lamps, which at the very beginning of the 19th century two scientists began to develop independently of each other - the Russian Vasily Petrov and the Englishman Humphry Davy. Both of them in the same year 1802 (although there are discrepancies regarding the date of Davy’s “presentation”) presented before the highest scientific organizations their countries - the Royal Institution and the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences - the effect of the glow of an arc passing between two electrodes. On that moment practical application This phenomenon did not exist, but already in the 1830s the first arc lamps with a carbon electrode began to appear. The most famous engineer who developed such systems was the Englishman William Edwards State, who received a number of patents for coal lamps in 1834 - 1836 and, most importantly, developed the most important component of such a device - the distance regulator between the electrodes. This was the main problem with the carbon lamp: as the electrodes burned out, the distance between them increased, and they had to be moved so that the arc did not go out. State's patents were used as the basis of many electrical engineers around the world, and his lamps illuminated a number of pavilions at the 1851 World's Fair.
Yablochkov set out to correct the main drawback of the arc lamp - the need for maintenance. A person had to be constantly present near each lamp, tightening the regulator. This negated the benefits and bright light, and relative cheapness of production.
In 1875, Yablochkov, having never found application for his skills in Russia, left for Paris, where he got a job as an engineer in the laboratory of the famous physicist Louis-François Breguet (his grandfather founded watch brand Breguet) and became friends with his son Antoine. There, in 1876, Yablochkov received the first patent for an arc lamp without a regulator. The essence of the invention was that the long electrodes were not located end to end, but side by side, in parallel. They were separated by a layer of kaolin - an inert material that does not allow an arc to occur along the entire length of the electrodes. The arc appeared only at their ends. As the visible part of the electrodes burned out, the kaolin melted and the light descended down the electrodes. This lamp burned for no more than two or three hours, but it was incredibly bright.
“Yablochkov’s candles,” as journalists called the new product, gained crazy success. After demonstrating the lamps at the London exhibition, several companies immediately bought the patent from Yablochkov and organized mass production. In 1877, the first “candles” lit up on the streets of Los Angeles (the Americans bought a batch immediately after public demonstrations in London, even before mass production). On May 30, 1878, the first “candles” were lit in Paris - near the Opera and on Place des Stars. Subsequently, Yablochkov's lamps illuminated the streets of London and a number of American cities.
How can this be, you ask, they only burned for two hours! Yes, but it was comparable to the "running" time of a regular candle, and yet arc lamps were incredibly bright and more reliable. And yes, a lot of lamplighters were required - but no more than to service the gas lamps that were widely used.
But incandescent lamps were approaching: in 1879, Briton Joseph Swan (his company would later merge with Edison’s company and become the largest lighting conglomerate in the world) installed the first incandescent street lamp in history near his house. In a matter of years, Edison lamps became equal in brightness to “Yablochkov candles”, while having a significantly lower cost and operating time of 1000 hours or more. The short era of arc lamps is over.
In general, this was logical: the crazy, incredible rise of the “Russian light,” as “Yablochkov’s candles” were called in the USA and Europe, could not last long. The decline became even more rapid - by the mid-1880s there was not a single factory left that would produce “candles”. However, Yablochkov worked on various electrical systems and tried to maintain his former glory, went to congresses of electrical engineers, gave lectures, including in Russia.
He finally returned in 1892, spending his savings on buying out his own patents from European copyright holders. In Europe, no one needed his ideas, but in his homeland he hoped to find support and interest. But it didn’t work out: by that time, due to many years of experiments with harmful substances, in particular with chlorine, Pavel Nikolaevich’s health began to rapidly deteriorate. His heart failed, his lungs failed, he suffered two strokes and died on March 19 (31), 1894 in Saratov, where he lived for the last year, developing a scheme for electric lighting of the city. He was 47 years old.
Perhaps if Yablochkov had lived to see the revolution, he would have repeated Lodygin’s fate and left a second time - now forever.
Arc lamps received today new life— xenon lighting in flashes, car headlights, and spotlights works on this principle. But much more important achievement Yablochkov is that he was the first to prove: electric lighting of public spaces and even entire cities is possible.