MAY CONTAIN NUTS
HOME
 
JUMP TO PAGE   100  >  200  >  300  >  400  >  500  >  600
VINTAGRAPH • WPA • WWII • YOU MEAN A WOMAN CAN OPEN IT?

Pharmacy Row: 1905

Circa 1905. "St. John Street, Quebec." Rue Saint-Jean at Côte du Palais in Quebec City, home to the drugstores of P. Mathie and J.E. Livernois. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Photographic Company. View full size.

Circa 1905. "St. John Street, Quebec." Rue Saint-Jean at Côte du Palais in Quebec City, home to the drugstores of P. Mathie and J.E. Livernois. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Photographic Company. View full size.

 

On Shorpy:
Today’s Top 5

That huge tea pot

Likely a form of advertising. But for what?

Arc Lamps

There are two sets of carbons in this design, each with its own pair of feedwires. Only one set is in operation at a time. When the first set is burned out the second will come into operation.

These early arcs burned up their carbons in about 8 hours, so with the paired sets of rods 16 hours could be had, then the rods changed daily. Later designs with improved air flow didn't consume their carbon as quickly and could be run for about 150 hours.

Swivelling Arc Lamp

The streetlight is an arc lamp, which requires frequent replacement of the carbon electrodes and other adjustments.

To facilitate this, the lamp is on a swiveling horizontal arm with a counterweight. (The iron ball on the pole-end of the arm)

It appears that the lamp maintainer would climb the rungs on the pole to the level of the lamp, then swing the arm 180 degrees to bring the lamp within easy reach. It looks like the lamp swings counterclockwise when viewed from above, i.e. away from the photographer.

Remaining mystery is the four wires to the lamp assembly. This hints at some sort of automatically-adjusting arc mechanism. (Two wires are for the arc carbons, two for the can-like mechanism above the lamp itself.)

+112

Syndicate content  Shorpy.com is a vintage photography site featuring thousands of high-definition images. The site is named after Shorpy Higginbotham, a teenage coal miner who lived 100 years ago. Contact us | Privacy policy | Accessibility Statement | Site © 2024 Shorpy Inc.