Description

Carbon arc lamp manufactured by the N.Y. Calcium Light Company with National Projector carbon arc rod #690, mounted on a stand from the L.E. Knott Apparatus Company.

Carbon arc lamps were the first widely used types of electric lights, and the first commercially successful electric light. Light was produced by an electric arc through the air between the two carbon rods.

This carbon arc lamp was used in the Simmons University physics department.