Pavel Nikolayevich Yablochkov (also
transliterated
Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one script to another that involves swapping letters (thus '' trans-'' + '' liter-'') in predictable ways, such as Greek → , Cyrillic → , Greek → the digraph , Armenian → or ...
as Jablochkoff; russian: Павел Николаевич Яблочков) ( – ) was a Russian
electrical engineer, businessman and the
inventor
An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...
of the
Yablochkov candle
A Yablochkov candle (sometimes electric candle) is a type of electric carbon arc lamp, invented in 1876 by the Russian electrical engineer Pavel Yablochkov.
Design
A Yablochkov candle consists of a sandwich of two electrodes, which are long car ...
(a type of electric carbon
arc lamp) and the
transformer
A transformer is a passive component that transfers electrical energy from one electrical circuit to another circuit, or multiple circuits. A varying current in any coil of the transformer produces a varying magnetic flux in the transformer' ...
.
Biography
Yablochkov graduated in 1866 as a
military engineer
Military engineering is loosely defined as the art, science, and practice of designing and building military works and maintaining lines of military transport and military communications. Military engineers are also responsible for logistics ...
from Nikolayev Engineering Institute, now
Military engineering-technical university
The Saint Petersburg Military Engineering-Technical University (Nikolaevsky) (russian: Санкт-Петербургский Военный инженерно-технический университет, VITU), previously known as the Saint Pet ...
(Russian
Военный инженерно-технический университет), and in 1869 from Technical Galvanic School in
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
. After serving in the
army
An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...
, Yablochkov settled in
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
in 1873, where he was appointed Head of
Telegraph
Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...
Office at the Moscow-
Kursk
Kursk ( rus, Курск, p=ˈkursk) is a city and the administrative center of Kursk Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Kur, Tuskar, and Seym rivers. The area around Kursk was the site of a turning point in the Soviet–German stru ...
railroad. He opened up a workshop for his experiments in electrical engineering, which laid down the foundations for his future inventions in the field of electric
lighting
Lighting or illumination is the deliberate use of light to achieve practical or aesthetic effects. Lighting includes the use of both artificial light sources like lamps and light fixtures, as well as natural illumination by capturing daylig ...
, electric machines,
galvanic cell
A galvanic cell or voltaic cell, named after the scientists Luigi Galvani and Alessandro Volta, respectively, is an electrochemical cell in which an electric current is generated from spontaneous Oxidation-Reduction reactions. A common apparatus ...
s and
accumulators.
![Yablochkov candles illuminating Avenue de l'Opera ca1878](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a9/Yablochkov_candles_illuminating_Avenue_de_l%27Opera_ca1878.jpg)
Yablochkov’s major invention was the first model of an
arc lamp that eliminated the mechanical complexity of competing lights that required a regulator to manage the voltaic arc. He went to
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
the same year where he built an industrial sample of the "electric candle" (
French patent
A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...
№ 112024, 1876). It was in Paris that he developed his arc light idea into a complete system of electric lighting
powered by
Zénobe Gramme
Zénobe Théophile Gramme (4 April 1826 – 20 January 1901) was a Belgian electrical engineer. He was born at Jehay-Bodegnée on 4 April 1826, the sixth child of Mathieu-Joseph Gramme, and died at Bois-Colombes on 20 January 1901. He invented ...
direct current dynamos fitted with an inverter to supply single-phase
alternating current
Alternating current (AC) is an electric current which periodically reverses direction and changes its magnitude continuously with time in contrast to direct current (DC) which flows only in one direction. Alternating current is the form in whic ...
. The first public use of the Yablochkov system was in October 1877 at Halle Marengo of the
Magasins du Louvre which was lit by six
Yablochkov candle
A Yablochkov candle (sometimes electric candle) is a type of electric carbon arc lamp, invented in 1876 by the Russian electrical engineer Pavel Yablochkov.
Design
A Yablochkov candle consists of a sandwich of two electrodes, which are long car ...
s. By 1880, the system had grown in size to 120 lamps with 84 lit at a time powered by a 100-horsepower steam engine and had been operating every night for two and one half years.
[
The Paris Exposition of 1878 presented Yablochkov with the unique opportunity to make a spectacular demonstration for a world audience, and through the promotional efforts of Gramme was successful in having 64 of his arc lights installed along the half mile (0.8 km) length of ]Avenue de l'Opéra
The Avenue de l'Opéra was created from 1864 to 1879 as part of Haussmann's renovation of Paris. It is situated in the center of the city, running northwest from the Louvre to the Palais Garnier, the primary opera house of Paris (until the openin ...
, Place du Théâtre Français (today Place André-Malraux) and around the Place de l'Opéra
The Place de l'Opéra is a square in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, at the junction of the Boulevard des Italiens, Boulevard des Capucines, Avenue de l'Opéra, , , Rue de la Paix and . It was built at the same time as the Opéra Garnier (desig ...
. It was first lit in February 1878. Yablochkov candles required high voltage, and it was not long before experimenters reported that the arc lights could be powered on a 7-mile (11 km) circuit. Yablochkov candles were superior to Lontin-Serrin regulator arc lights that each required a separate Gramme generator. Beginning in 1880, the Paris Hippodrome's 20 Serrin lights powered by 20 generators were replaced by 68 additional Yablochkov candles, based on two years of positive experience with 60 candles powered by just three generators.[ The impact of the 1878 Paris demonstration was a depression in the value of gas company shares which did not recover until 1880. French, ]English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
, and American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
businessmen quickly set up companies licensing Yablochkov's patents.
As part of his arc lighting patents, Yablochkov described a method of employing Michael Faraday
Michael Faraday (; 22 September 1791 – 25 August 1867) was an English scientist who contributed to the study of electromagnetism and electrochemistry. His main discoveries include the principles underlying electromagnetic inducti ...
's discovery of induction
Induction, Inducible or Inductive may refer to:
Biology and medicine
* Labor induction (birth/pregnancy)
* Induction chemotherapy, in medicine
* Induced stem cells, stem cells derived from somatic, reproductive, pluripotent or other cell t ...
to create a continuous current of higher voltage, where primary windings were connected to a source of alternating current and secondary windings could be connected to several electric "candles". Although it was not recognized at the time, Yablochkov's idea of using transformer
A transformer is a passive component that transfers electrical energy from one electrical circuit to another circuit, or multiple circuits. A varying current in any coil of the transformer produces a varying magnetic flux in the transformer' ...
s to provide different voltages from the same AC line was the model that modern transmission and distribution Distribution may refer to:
Mathematics
*Distribution (mathematics), generalized functions used to formulate solutions of partial differential equations
* Probability distribution, the probability of a particular value or value range of a vari ...
systems would settle on. As the patent said such a system "allowed to provide separate supply to several lighting fixtures with different luminous intensities from a single source of electric power".
In 1879, Yablochkov established “Electric Lighting Company, P.N. Yablochkov the Inventor and Co” and an electrical plant in Petersburg that would later produce illuminators for military vessels and factories. There was considerable international competition to his arc lights. His lasted only one and a half hours whereas those of Charles F. Brush lasted twice as long.
From the mid-1880s, Yablochkov mostly occupied himself with problems of generating electric energy
In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of heat a ...
. He constructed the so-called “magnet dynamo electric machine”, which had most of the features of the modern inductor
An inductor, also called a coil, choke, or reactor, is a passive two-terminal electrical component that stores energy in a magnetic field when electric current flows through it. An inductor typically consists of an insulated wire wound into a c ...
. Yablochkov did extensive research on transformation
Transformation may refer to:
Science and mathematics
In biology and medicine
* Metamorphosis, the biological process of changing physical form after birth or hatching
* Malignant transformation, the process of cells becoming cancerous
* Trans ...
of fuel energy into electric energy, suggested a galvanic cell with alkaline
In chemistry, an alkali (; from ar, القلوي, al-qaly, lit=ashes of the saltwort) is a base (chemistry), basic, ionic compound, ionic salt (chemistry), salt of an alkali metal or an alkaline earth metal. An alkali can also be defined as ...
electrolyte
An electrolyte is a medium containing ions that is electrically conducting through the movement of those ions, but not conducting electrons. This includes most soluble salts, acids, and bases dissolved in a polar solvent, such as water. Upon dis ...
, and created a regenerative cell (the so-called autoaccumulator).
Yablochkov participated in Electrical engineering exhibitions in Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
(1880 and 1882), Paris (1881 and 1889), and First International Congress of Electrician
An electrician is a tradesperson specializing in electrical wiring of buildings, transmission lines, stationary machines, and related equipment. Electricians may be employed in the installation of new electrical components or the maintenance ...
s (1881). For participation in the exhibition and congress, he was awarded the French Order of the Legion of Honor.
Personal life
Yablochkov was an active Freemason
Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...
.[
] He was initiated in 1876 into the Supreme Council of France of the Scottish Rite
The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry (the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction in the United States often omits the ''and'', while the English Constitution in the United Kingdom omits the ''Scottish''), commonly known as simply the Sco ...
. After being "Worshipful Master" of three lodges in Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, he created a new lodge under the Supreme Council known as "Cosmos" in 25 June 1887. Through this he hoped to attract young and wealthy Russian emigrants in Paris. One member of his lodge was Maksim Kovalevsky
Maksim Maksimovich Kovalevsky (Russian: Максим Максимович Ковалевский; 8 September 1851 – 5 April 1916) was a Russian jurist and the main authority on sociology in the Russian Empire. He was vice-president (1895) and p ...
, who would later help bring Freemasonry back to Russia and prepare the groundwork for the foundation of the Grand Orient of Russia's Peoples.
Legacy
In 1947, the USSR
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
introduced the Yablochkov Award for the best work in the field of electrical engineering.
The crater Yablochkov on the Moon
The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...
is named after him.
See also
*Thomas Edison
Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventio ...
*Yablochkov candle
A Yablochkov candle (sometimes electric candle) is a type of electric carbon arc lamp, invented in 1876 by the Russian electrical engineer Pavel Yablochkov.
Design
A Yablochkov candle consists of a sandwich of two electrodes, which are long car ...
*
*
References
Further reading
*A biographical research of the life of Pavel Nikolayevich Yablockkov by Prof. Lev Davidovich Belkind
Lev Davidovich Belkind (russian: Лев Давидович Белькинд, Профессор, Доктор Технических наук; (27 August 1896, Myrhorod – November 16, 1969) was a Soviet scientist, engineer and historian; author ...
Gallery
Image:Pamjatnik Jablochkov.jpeg, Monument on P. N. Yablochkov's tomb (village Sapozhok, Rtishchevsky area)
Image:Yablochkov candles illuminating Music hall on la Place du Chateau d'eau ca 1880.jpg, Yablochkov arc lamps illuminating Music hall on la Place du Chateau d'eau in Paris circa 1880.
Image:Saratov. The house in which lived Yablochkov.JPG, The house in Saratov
Saratov (, ; rus, Сара́тов, a=Ru-Saratov.ogg, p=sɐˈratəf) is the largest city and administrative center of Saratov Oblast, Russia, and a major port on the Volga River upstream (north) of Volgograd. Saratov had a population of 901,36 ...
where Yablochkov lived at the end of his life.
Image:Hippodrome shined with Yablochkov candles.jpg, The Paris Hippodrome circa 1881 was lit with 128 Yablochkov candles, with approximately one Gramme generator required per 20 lights.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yablochkov, Pavel
1847 births
1894 deaths
Military Engineering-Technical University alumni
Russian inventors
Russian electrical engineers
Russian Freemasons
French Freemasons