Artificial Gas and Electrical Lighting Systems Are Developed That Change Living and Work Patterns | Research & Encyclopedia Articles

Artificial Gas and Electrical Lighting Systems Are Developed That Change Living and Work Patterns

Overview

With the use of gas and electricity, lighting systems in the nineteenth century provided more versatile illumination in both interior and exterior applications. These new lights extended the day at home, at work, and at play as people could perform more activities beyond the hours of light provided by the Sun. Artificial light supplanted natural light so that people increasingly relied on the technology of lighting in organizing their lives.

Background

At the beginning of the nineteenth century men like Humphry Davy (1778-1829), head of London's Royal Institution, demonstrated that an electrical current sent across a gap in a circuit created a bright white spark of light. Electrical technology was in its infancy at that time, and little practical application resulted from this new electrical phenomenon. Yet, at a time when most illumination consisted of the dim light from candles or oil lamps—which required high maintenance by replacing candles or trimming wicks and refilling lamps—the prospects of brighter, easier-to-use lighting systems using electricity or gas appealed to a broad constituency.

Two developments competed with electricity as sources of light in the nineteenth century: gas illumination and kerosene lamps.

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