The ‘Singing Arc’, William Duddell, UK, 1899

Carbon arc 'Moonlight' lamp.
A Victorian era carbon-arc ‘Moonlight’ lamp.

Despite the invention of the incandescent electric light bulb ( Thomas Alva Edison and Joseph Swann, 1880) Carbon Arc Lamp were commonly used for street lighting and industrial applications – and remained so until the beginning of the twentieth century when developments in the lightbulb made the arc-lamp obsolete.

The Carbon Arc Lamp generated light by creating a bright spark between two carbon nodes. The problem with this method of lighting, apart from the dullness of the light and inefficient use of electricity was a constant humming, shrieking or hissing noise emitted by the electric arc.

The British physicist and electrical engineer William Duddell was appointed to solve the problem in London in 1899. During his experiments Duddell found that by varying the voltage supplied to the lamps he could create controllable audible frequencies from a resonant circuit caused by the rate of pulsation of exposed electrical arcs.

Duddell’s investigations revealed that the cause of the arc-lamp noise was the nonlinear nature of the arc that resulted in a negative resistance.  This phenomena had already previously been recorded in 1898 by Dr Hermann Theodor Simon (Frankfurt, Germany). 1Simon, H.T. (1989), “Akustische Erscheinungen am electrischen Flammenbogen,” Ann. Physik 300, # 2, pp 233–9. Dr. Simon had noticed that the electric arc could be made to “sing” by means of modulating the voltage to an electric arc supply. Dr. Simon showed that the electric arc made a effective loudspeaker which he demonstrated in public.  (Dr. Simon’s experiments also showed that the modulated arc produced not only sound but a modulated light beam by means of which the German Navy managed to make telephone calls between ships using a modulated arc searchlight and a photosensitive selenium cell.) 2 Wittje, R. (2013),  ‘The electrical imagination sound analogies, equivalent circuits, and the rise of electroacoustics, 1863-1939′,  Osiris, Vol 28 #1, pp 40-63

Duddell, who may have been aware of Simon’s work, tried to solve the noise by adding a LC resonant circuit across the arc and in doing so he created a tunable oscillator. By attaching a keyboard that varied the voltage input to the circuit Duddell created one of the first electronic musical instruments. Duddell’s invention the only ever electronic instrument to use an electrical arc to generate sound and the first electronic instrument that was audible without using the yet to be invented amplifier, loudspeaker or telephone system as an amplifier and speaker. 3 Duddell, W. (1900),  ‘Some Experiments on the Direct-Current Arc’, Nature, vol. 63, no. 1625 (December 20, 1900), pp. 182-183.. Duddell and Simon also experimented with spark gap amplification where a variable resistor or a microphone was used to alternate the sound produced by the arc suggesting the possibility, in these pre-vacuum tube days of amplifying voice telephony over long distances. 4 Wittje, R. (2013),  ‘The electrical imagination sound analogies, equivalent circuits, and the rise of electroacoustics, 1863-1939′,  Osiris, Vol 28 #1, p 52

A 2016 re-creation of Duddell and Simon’s ‘Speaking Arc’  and ‘Singing Arc’ by the Fondazione Scienza e Tecnica.

When Duddell exhibited his invention to the London institution of Electrical Engineers it was noticed that arc lamps on the same circuit in other buildings also played music from Duddell’s machine this led to speculation that music delivered over the lighting network could be created.

“All three arcs were found to be supplied with current from the street mains, and it was clear that this main current had been varied in such a way by Mr. Duddell’s keyboard as to reproduce in the two other laboratories the tunes which he supposed he was playing only to his audience in the lecture room…This obviously meant that by playing on one properly arranged keyboard tunes could be reproduced in a number of different arcs and at a distance from the musician.

5 V.J.Y, (1901), ‘Music in Electric Arcs.; An English Physicist, with Shunt Circuit and Keyboard, Made Them Play Tunes’. New York Times, April 28, 1901,P7

Experimental 'speaking arc' demonstrating Duddel's ideas produced by Max Kohl in 1911.
Experimental ‘speaking arc’ demonstrating Duddell’s ideas produced by Max Kohl in 1911.
6 Max Kohl A.G. : Physical Apparatus. Price List No. 50, Vols. II and III. Chemnitz, n.d. 1911, p. 1058.

Duddell didn’t capitalise on his discovery and didn’t even file a patent for his instrument. Duddell toured Britain with his invention in 1898 which unfortunately never became more than an amusing novelty; Duddell left the frequency within the audible range but later in 1902 Danish electrical engineers Valdemar Poulsen and Peder Pedersen realised that Duddell’s singing arc would function as a radio transmitter if the circuit was tuned to radio, rather than audio, frequencies.

The carbon arc lamp’s audio capabilities were also used by Thaddeus Cahill  to amplify the sound produced by his Telharmonium during his public demonstrations of the instrument some ten years later – a direct ancestor of today’s plasma-loudspeaker. In the 1930s Wolja Saraga experimented with spark-gap sound with his Saraga Generator.

MUSIC IN ELECTRIC ARCS.; An English Physicist, with Shunt Circuit and Keyboard, Made Them Play Tunes. New York Times, April 28, 1901,Page 7
MUSIC IN ELECTRIC ARCS.; An English Physicist, with Shunt Circuit and Keyboard, Made Them Play Tunes. New York Times, April 28, 1901,Page 7
William Du Bois Duddell
William Du Bois Duddell

Biographical Information: William du Bois Duddell.
UK, 1 July 1872 – 4 November 1917

William Duddell an electrical engineer in Victorian England was famous for developing a number of electronic instruments notably the “moving coil oscillograph” an early oscillator type device for the photographic monitoring of audio frequency waveforms. Other inventions of Duddell’s included the thermo-ammeter, thermo-galvanometer (an instrument for measuring minute currents and potential differences later used for measuring antenna currents and still used in modified form today)and a magnetic standard, which was used for the calibration of ballistic galvanometers.

Duddell Moving Coil Oscilliograph
Duddell’s Moving Coil Oscilliograph
Wave forms photographically recorded by Duddell's 'Oscillograph'
Wave forms photographically recorded by Duddell’s ‘Oscillograph’

Sources:

  • 1
    Simon, H.T. (1989), “Akustische Erscheinungen am electrischen Flammenbogen,” Ann. Physik 300, # 2, pp 233–9.
  • 2
    Wittje, R. (2013),  ‘The electrical imagination sound analogies, equivalent circuits, and the rise of electroacoustics, 1863-1939′,  Osiris, Vol 28 #1, pp 40-63
  • 3
    Duddell, W. (1900),  ‘Some Experiments on the Direct-Current Arc’, Nature, vol. 63, no. 1625 (December 20, 1900), pp. 182-183.
  • 4
    Wittje, R. (2013),  ‘The electrical imagination sound analogies, equivalent circuits, and the rise of electroacoustics, 1863-1939′,  Osiris, Vol 28 #1, p 52
  • 5
    V.J.Y, (1901), ‘Music in Electric Arcs.; An English Physicist, with Shunt Circuit and Keyboard, Made Them Play Tunes’. New York Times, April 28, 1901,P7
  • 6
    Max Kohl A.G. : Physical Apparatus. Price List No. 50, Vols. II and III. Chemnitz, n.d. 1911, p. 1058.

 

4 thoughts on “The ‘Singing Arc’, William Duddell, UK, 1899”

  1. No where does this article mention the singing arc prior to 1880 , clearly written 1899 . Nineteen years after.Remember Thomas Edison stole one of his employees ideas to Improve the light bulb with Tungsten and By mass production , He did not invent it,

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