IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2021 - 92

the section of Broadway between
14th Street and 26th Street was lighted by 15 double-arc lamps (Figure 7),
powered by a five-dynamo plant, the
largest yet.
The installation was extended to
34th Street in January 1881, with 22
lamps in operation, without cost to
the city for five months. Then, the
city decided that " the light having
proved satisfactory, and an advanta-

geous offer being made by the Company for lighting certain streets and
public places, the officers designated
in the charter to make contracts for
lighting public streets made a contract
with this Company to furnish electric
lights for eleven months, commencing June 1, 1881, " at a cost estimated
to be slightly lower than that of the
displaced gas lamps. The contract
included Broadway and Fifth Avenue

figure 7. Brush streetlights on Broadway, in New York City, at the start of 1881.
(Source: É. Alglave and J. Boulard, La Lumière Électrique. Paris, France: Librairie
de Firmin-Didot et Cie, 1882, p. 95.)

between 14th Street and 34th Street,
14th Street between Fourth Avenue
and Fifth Avenue, 34th Street between
Fifth Avenue and Broadway, Union
Square, and Madison Square. There
were 55 Brush arc lamps illuminating
streets and other public areas in New
York City by the end of 1881.
A report by the Department of
Public Works, dated 31 December
1881, stated that " the electric lamps
now in use have been kept lighted
with great regularity and have shown
remarkable steadiness or freedom
from wavering or blinking. " The report also mentioned that there were
23,466 gas lamps in use in streets
and other public areas, without commenting about them. The success of
the New York system gave Brush arc
lighting a competitive advantage. In
the period of 1881-1885, Brush Electric annually doubled its production
of arc lamps until, in 1885, the company was producing 16 times as many
arc lights as it had in 1881. There
were arc lighting systems of 15 manufacturers in use in New York City in
1891, but there were more installed
Brush arc lamps than any other brand
(Figure 8). However, Brush Electric
had ceased to exist as an independent
corporation two years earlier.

Competition
2,627

2,581

3,000
2,282

2,500
2,000
1,500

940

1,000
500

c
ec
tri
El
h
Br
us

El Un
ec it
tri ed
c
Li Sta
gh te
tin s
g
Th
om
so
n-
H
o
El ust
ec on
tri
c

Sc

hu
yl

er
E

le
ct

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0

figure 8. The number of arc lamps of major manufacturers in New York City
in 1891.
92	

ieee power & energy magazine	

The Brush arc lighting system had very
little competition in the United States
when it was introduced commercially
in 1878. In 1881, there were roughly
5,000 Brush arc lights burning in the
United States, representing 75-80% of
the total. In London in 1881, the rival
arc lighting systems of Anglo-American Brush and Siemens Brothers (London) were put on a year's trial in the
streets of two separate districts. At the
end of the period, the Streets Committee decided to continue lighting the two
districts for another year. The Brush
company agreed to light its district for
£800. The Siemens offer to light its district for £3,600 was declined.
In 1885, there were approximately
96,000 arc lights in use in the United
States, with Brush lamps constituting
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