Yablochkov Pavel Nikolaevich
Born: September 2 (14), 1847
Died: March 19 (31), 1894 (46 years old)
Biography
Pavel Nikolaevich Yablochkov (September 2, 1847, Serdobsky district, Saratov province - March 19, 1894, Saratov) - Russian electrical engineer, military engineer, inventor and entrepreneur. He is known for the development of the arc lamp (which went down in history under the name “Yablochkov candle”) and other inventions in the field of electrical engineering.
Childhood and adolescence
Pavel was born on September 2 (14), 1847 in Serdobsky district, in the family of an impoverished small nobleman who came from an old Russian family. The Yablochkov family was cultured and educated. The father of the future inventor, Nikolai Pavlovich, studied in the Naval Cadet Corps in his youth, but due to illness he was dismissed from service and awarded the civilian rank of XIV class (provincial secretary). Pavel's mother, Elizaveta Petrovna, managed the household of a large family. She was distinguished by her imperious character and, according to contemporaries, she held the entire family “in her hands.”
Since childhood, Pavel loved to design. He invented a goniometer device for land surveying, which the peasants of Petropavlovka, Bayki, Soglasov and other surrounding villages used during land redistribution; a device for measuring the distance traveled by a cart - a prototype of modern odometers.
In the summer of 1858, at the insistence of his wife, N.P. Yablochkov took his son to the Saratov boys' gymnasium, where, after successful exams, Pavel was immediately enrolled in the second grade. However, at the end of November 1862, Nikolai Pavlovich recalled his son from the 5th grade of the gymnasium and took him home to Petropavlovka. The difficult financial situation of the family played no small role in this. It was decided to enroll Pavel in the Nikolaev Engineering School. But Pavel did not have the necessary knowledge to enter there. Therefore, for several months he studied at a private preparatory boarding school, which was maintained by the military engineer Ts. A. Cui. Caesar Antonovich had a great influence on Yablochkov and aroused the future inventor's interest in science. Their acquaintance continued until the death of the scientist.
On September 30, 1863, having brilliantly passed the difficult entrance exam, Pavel Nikolaevich was enrolled in the Nikolaev School, in the junior conductor class. A strict daily routine and adherence to military discipline brought certain benefits: Pavel became physically stronger and received military training. In August 1866, Yablochkov graduated from college in the first category, receiving the rank of engineer-second lieutenant. He was appointed a junior officer in the 5th engineer battalion, stationed in the Kyiv fortress. His parents dreamed of seeing him as an officer, but Pavel Nikolaevich himself was not attracted to a military career, and was even burdened. After serving in the battalion for a little over a year, he, citing illness, much to the chagrin of his parents, resigned from military service, receiving the rank of lieutenant.
In January 1869, Yablochkov returned to military service. He was sent to the Technical Galvanic Institution in Kronstadt, at that time it was the only school in Russia that trained military specialists in the field of electrical engineering. There P. N. Yablochkov became acquainted with the latest achievements in the field of study and technical application of electric current, especially in mining, and thoroughly improved his theoretical and practical electrical training. Eight months later, after graduating from the Galvanic Institute, Pavel Nikolaevich was appointed head of the galvanizing team in the same 5th Engineer Battalion. However, as soon as his three-year service period had expired, he retired to the reserve on September 1, 1872, parting with the army forever. Shortly before leaving Kyiv, Pavel Yablochkov got married.
Beginning of inventive activity
Having retired to the reserve, P. N. Yablochkov got a job at the Moscow-Kursk Railway as head of the telegraph service. Already at the beginning of his service on the railway, P. N. Yablochkov made his first invention: he created a “black-writing telegraph apparatus.” Unfortunately, the details of this invention have not reached us.
Yablochkov was a member of the circle of electricians-inventors and electrical engineering enthusiasts at the Moscow Polytechnic Museum. Here he learned about A. N. Lodygin’s experiments in lighting streets and rooms with electric lamps, after which he decided to start improving the arc lamps that existed at that time. He began his inventive activity with an attempt to improve the Foucault regulator, the most common at that time. The regulator was very complex, operated with the help of three springs and required constant attention.
In the spring of 1874, Pavel Nikolaevich had the opportunity to practically use an electric arc for lighting. A government train was supposed to travel from Moscow to Crimea. For traffic safety purposes, the administration of the Moscow-Kursk road decided to illuminate the railway track for this train at night and turned to Yablochkov as an engineer interested in electric lighting. He willingly agreed. For the first time in the history of railway transport, a searchlight with an arc lamp - a Foucault regulator - was installed on a steam locomotive. Yablochkov, standing on the front platform of the locomotive, changed the coals and tightened the regulator; and when the locomotive was changed, Pavel Nikolaevich dragged his searchlight and wires from one locomotive to another and strengthened them. This continued all the way, and although the experiment was a success, he once again convinced Yablochkov that this method of electric lighting could not be widely used and the controller needed to be simplified.
After leaving telegraph service in 1874, Yablochkov opened a workshop of physical instruments in Moscow. According to the memoirs of one of his contemporaries:
“It was the center of bold and ingenious electrical engineering events, sparkling with novelty and 20 years ahead of the times. “Together with the experienced electrical engineer N.G. Glukhov, Yablochkov worked in the workshop to improve batteries and dynamos, and conducted experiments on illuminating a large area with a huge spotlight. In the workshop, Yablochkov managed to create an electromagnet of an original design. He used a winding made of copper tape, placing it on edge in relation to the core. This was his first invention, and here Pavel Nikolaevich carried out work on improving arc lamps.
Along with experiments to improve electromagnets and arc lamps, Yablochkov and Glukhov attached great importance to the electrolysis of solutions of table salt. An insignificant fact in itself played a big role in the further inventive fate of P. N. Yablochkov. In 1875, during one of the many electrolysis experiments, parallel coals immersed in an electrolytic bath accidentally touched each other. Immediately an electric arc flashed between them, illuminating the walls of the laboratory with bright light for a short moment. It was at these moments that Pavel Nikolaevich had the idea of a more advanced design of an arc lamp (without an interelectrode distance regulator) - the future “Yablochkov candle”.
World recognition
"Yablochkov's Candle"
In October 1875, having sent his wife and children to the Saratov province, to live with his parents, Yablochkov went abroad with the goal of showing his inventions and achievements of Russian electrical engineering in the United States at the World Exhibition in Philadelphia, and at the same time becoming familiar with the development of electrical engineering in other countries. However, the financial affairs of the workshop were completely upset, and in the fall of 1875, Pavel Nikolaevich, due to the prevailing circumstances, ended up in Paris. Here he became interested in the physical instrument workshops of Academician L. Breguet, whose devices Pavel Nikolaevich was familiar with from his work when he was the head of the telegraph in Moscow. Breguet received the Russian engineer very kindly and offered him a position in his company.
Paris became the city where Yablochkov quickly achieved outstanding success. The thought of creating an arc lamp without a regulator did not leave him. He failed to do this in Moscow, but recent experiments have shown that this path is quite realistic. By the beginning of the spring of 1876, Yablochkov completed the development of the design of an electric candle and on March 23 received a French patent for it No. 112024, containing a brief description of the candle in its original forms and an image of these forms. This day became a historical date, a turning point in the history of the development of electrical and lighting engineering, Yablochkov’s finest hour.
Yablochkov's candle turned out to be simpler, more convenient and cheaper to operate than A. N. Lodygin's coal lamp; it had neither mechanisms nor springs. It consisted of two rods separated by an insulating kaolin gasket. Each of the rods was clamped into a separate terminal of the candlestick. An arc discharge was ignited at the upper ends, and the arc flame shone brightly, gradually burning the coals and vaporizing the insulating material. Yablochkov had to work a lot on choosing a suitable insulating substance and on methods for obtaining suitable coals. Later, he tried to change the color of electric light by adding various metal salts to the evaporating partition between the coals.
On April 15, 1876, an exhibition of physical instruments opened in London. The French company Breguet also showed its products there. Breguet sent Yablochkov as his representative to the exhibition, who also participated in the exhibition on his own, exhibiting his candle at it. One spring day, the inventor held a public demonstration of his brainchild. On low metal pedestals, Yablochkov placed four of his candles, wrapped in asbestos and installed at a great distance from each other. The lamps were supplied through wires with current from a dynamo located in the next room. By turning the handle, the current was turned on, and immediately the vast room was flooded with a very bright, slightly bluish electric light. The large audience was delighted. So London became the site of the first public display of the new light source.
The success of Yablochkov's candle exceeded all expectations. The world press, especially French, English, German, was full of headlines: “You should see Yablochkov’s candle”; “The invention of the Russian retired military engineer Yablochkov - a new era in technology”; “Light comes to us from the North - from Russia”; “The Northern Light, the Russian Light, is a miracle of our time”; “Russia is the birthplace of electricity,” etc.
Companies for the commercial exploitation of Yablochkov candles were founded in many countries around the world. Pavel Nikolaevich himself, having ceded the right to use his inventions to the owners of the French “General Electricity Company with Yablochkov's patents”, as the head of its technical department, continued to work on further improvement of the lighting system, being content with a more than modest share of the company’s huge profits.
Yablochkov's candles appeared on sale and began to sell in huge quantities, for example, the Breguet enterprise produced over 8 thousand candles daily. Each candle cost about 20 kopecks and burned for 1½ hours; After this time, a new candle had to be inserted into the lantern. Subsequently, lanterns with automatic replacement of candles were invented.
In February 1877, the fashionable shops of the Louvre were illuminated with electric light. Then Yablochkov’s candles flared up in the square in front of the opera house. Finally, in May 1877, they illuminated for the first time one of the capital’s most beautiful thoroughfares - Avenue de l’Opera. Residents of the French capital, accustomed to dim gas lighting of streets and squares, flocked in crowds at the beginning of twilight to admire the garlands of white matte balls mounted on high metal poles. And when all the lanterns flashed at once with a bright and pleasant light, the audience was delighted. No less admirable was the lighting of the huge Parisian indoor hippodrome. His running track was illuminated by 20 arc lamps with reflectors, and the spectator areas were illuminated by 120 Yablochkov electric candles, arranged in two rows.
London followed the example of Paris. On June 17, 1877, Yablochkov's candles illuminated the West India Docks in London, and a little later - part of the Thames embankment, Waterloo Bridge, the Metropole Hotel, Hatfield Castle, and Westgate sea beaches. The success of Yablochkov's lighting system caused panic among the shareholders of powerful English gas companies. They used all means, including outright deception, slander and bribery, to discredit the new method of lighting. At their insistence, the English Parliament even established a special commission in 1879 to consider the admissibility of widespread use of electric lighting in the British Empire. After lengthy debate and listening to testimony, the opinions of the commission members were divided. There were among them supporters of electric lighting, and there were also many ardent opponents of it.
Almost simultaneously with England, Yablochkov’s candles flared up in the premises of the trading office of Julius Michaelis in Berlin. New electric lighting is conquering Belgium and Spain, Portugal and Sweden with exceptional speed. In Italy, they illuminated the ruins of the Colosseum, National Street and Colon Square in Rome, in Vienna - the Volskgarten, in Greece - the Bay of Falern, as well as squares and streets, seaports and shops, theaters and palaces in other countries.
The radiance of the “Russian light” crossed the borders of Europe. It broke out in San Francisco, and on December 26, 1878, Yablochkov's candles illuminated the Winemar stores in Philadelphia; streets and squares of Rio de Janeiro and Mexican cities. They appeared in Delhi, Calcutta, Madras and a number of other cities in India and Burma. Even the Shah of Persia and the King of Cambodia illuminated their palaces with “Russian light”.
In Russia, the first test of electric lighting using the Yablochkov system was carried out on October 11, 1878. On this day, the barracks of the Kronstadt training crew and the square near the house occupied by the commander of the Kronstadt seaport were illuminated. Two weeks later, on December 4, 1878, Yablochkov’s candles, 8 balls, illuminated the Bolshoi Theater in St. Petersburg for the first time. As the newspaper “Novoe Vremya” wrote in its issue of December 6, when
“...suddenly they turned on the electric light, a bright white light instantly spread across the hall, but not a cutting eye, but a soft light, in which the colors and colors of women’s faces and toilets retained their naturalness, as in daylight. The effect was amazing. “Not a single invention in the field of electrical engineering has received such rapid and widespread distribution as Yablochkov’s candles. This was a true triumph of the Russian engineer.
Other inventions
During his years in France, Pavel Nikolaevich worked not only on the invention and improvement of the electric candle, but also on solving other practical problems. In the first year and a half alone - from March 1876 to October 1877 - he gave humanity a number of other outstanding inventions and discoveries. P. N. Yablochkov designed the first alternating current generator, which, unlike direct current, ensured uniform burning of carbon rods in the absence of a regulator, was the first to use alternating current for industrial purposes, and created an alternating current transformer (November 30, 1876, date of receipt of the patent, considered to be the birth date of the first transformer), a flat-wound electromagnet and the first use of static capacitors in an alternating current circuit. Discoveries and inventions allowed Yablochkov to be the first in the world to create a system for “crushing” electric light, that is, powering a large number of candles from one current generator, based on the use of alternating current, transformers and capacitors.
In 1877, Russian naval officer A. N. Khotinsky received cruisers in America, built to order from Russia. He visited Edison’s laboratory and gave him A. N. Lodygin’s incandescent lamp and the “Yablochkov candle” with a light crushing circuit. Edison made some improvements and in November 1879 received a patent for them as his inventions. Yablochkov spoke out in print against the Americans, saying that Thomas Edison stole from the Russians not only their thoughts and ideas, but also their inventions. Professor V.N. Chikolev wrote then that Edison’s method is not new and its updates are insignificant.
In 1878, Yablochkov decided to return to Russia to tackle the problem of the spread of electric lighting. At home, he was enthusiastically greeted as an innovative inventor. Soon after the inventor’s arrival in St. Petersburg, the joint-stock company “Partnership for Electric Lighting and Manufacturing of Electrical Machines and Apparatuses P. N. Yablochkov the Inventor and Co” was established, among the shareholders of which were industrialists, financiers, and military personnel - fans of electric lighting with Yablochkov’s candles. Assistance to the inventor was provided by Admiral General Konstantin Nikolaevich, composer N. G. Rubinstein and other famous people. The company opened its electrical plant on the Obvodny Canal.
In the spring of 1879, the Yablochkov-Inventor and Co. partnership built a number of electric lighting installations. Most of the work on installing electric candles, developing technical plans and projects was carried out under the leadership of Pavel Nikolaevich. Yablochkov's candles, produced by the Paris and then St. Petersburg plant of the company, were lit in Moscow and the Moscow region, Oranienbaum, Kiev, Nizhny Novgorod, Helsingfors (Helsinki), Odessa, Kharkov, Nikolaev, Bryansk, Arkhangelsk, Poltava, Krasnovodsk, Saratov and other cities of Russia.
The invention of P. N. Yablochkov was met with the greatest interest in the naval institutions. By mid-1880, about 500 lanterns with Yablochkov candles were installed in Russia. Of these, more than half were installed on military ships and in factories of the military and naval departments. For example, 112 lanterns were installed at the Kronstadt Steamship Plant, 48 lanterns were installed on the royal yacht “Livadia”, and 60 lanterns were installed on other ships of the fleet, while installations for lighting streets, squares, stations and gardens each had no more than 10-15 lanterns.
However, electric lighting in Russia has not become as widespread as abroad. There were many reasons for this: the Russian-Turkish war, which diverted a lot of resources and attention, the technical backwardness of Russia, the inertia, and sometimes bias of the city authorities. It was not possible to create a strong company with the attraction of large capital; the lack of funds was felt all the time. The inexperience of the head of the enterprise himself in financial and commercial affairs also played an important role. Pavel Nikolaevich often went to Paris on business, and on the board, as V.N. Chikolev wrote in “Memoirs of an Old Electrician,” “unscrupulous administrators of the new partnership began to throw away money in tens and hundreds of thousands, fortunately it was easy!” In addition, by 1879, T. Edison in America had brought the incandescent lamp to practical perfection, which completely replaced arc lamps.
On April 14, 1879, P. N. Yablochkov was awarded a personalized medal of the Imperial Russian Technical Society (RTO). The award notice stated:
“Imperial Russian Technical Society May 8, 1879, No. 215. To full member of the Imperial Russian Technical Society Pavel Nikolaevich Yablochkov: Taking into account that you, with your works and persistent long-term research and experiments, were the first to achieve a satisfactory solution in practice to the issue of electric lighting, general meeting of Messrs. members of the Imperial Russian Technical Society at a meeting on April 14 of this year, according to the proposal of the Society’s Council, awarded you a medal with the inscription “Worthy Pavel Nikolaevich Yablochkov.” Considering it a pleasant duty to inform you, Dear Sir, about this resolution of the General Assembly, the Council of the Society has the honor to forward to you a medal made by order of it.
Chairman of the Imperial Russian Technical Society Pyotr Kochubey. Secretary Lvov. “On January 30, 1880, the first constituent meeting of the Electrical Engineering (VI) Department of the RTO was held in St. Petersburg, at which P. N. Yablochkov was elected deputy chairman (“candidate for chairman”). On the initiative of P. N. Yablochkov, V. N. Chikolev, D. A. Lachinov and A. N. Lodygin, one of the oldest Russian technical magazines, Electricity, was founded in 1880.
In the same 1880, Yablochkov moved to Paris, where he began preparing to participate in the first International Electrotechnical Exhibition. Soon, to organize an exhibition stand dedicated to his inventions, Yablochkov called some employees of his company to Paris. Among them was the Russian inventor, creator of electric arc welding Nikolai Nikolaevich Benardos, whom Yablochkov met back in 1876. To prepare Yablochkov’s exhibition, the electrical engineering experimental laboratory at the Electricity magazine was used.
The exhibition, which opened on August 1, 1881, showed that Yablochkov's candle and his lighting system began to lose their importance. Although Yablochkov's inventions were highly praised and were recognized by the International Jury out of competition, the exhibition itself was a triumph of the incandescent lamp, which could burn for 800-1000 hours without replacement. It could be lit, extinguished and relit many times. In addition, it was also more economical than a candle. All this had a strong influence on the further work of Pavel Nikolaevich, and from that time on he completely switched to creating a powerful and economical chemical current source. In a number of schemes for chemical current sources, Yablochkov was the first to propose wooden separators to separate the cathode and anode spaces. Subsequently, such separators found wide application in the designs of lead-acid batteries.
Work with chemical current sources turned out to be not only poorly studied, but also life-threatening. While conducting experiments with chlorine, Pavel Nikolaevich burned the mucous membrane of his lungs and since then began to choke, and his legs also began to swell.
Yablochkov took part in the work of the first International Congress of Electricians, held in 1881 in Paris. For his participation in the exhibition and congress, he was awarded the French Legion of Honor.
last years of life
All of P. N. Yablochkov’s activities in Paris took place in the intervals between trips to Russia. In December 1892, the scientist finally returned to his homeland. He brings all his foreign patents No. 112024, 115703 and 120684, paying a ransom of a million rubles for them - his entire fortune. However, Petersburg greeted him coldly, as if his name was known to few people. In St. Petersburg, P. N. Yablochkov became very ill. He felt fatigue and the consequences of the explosion of a sodium battery in 1884, where he almost died and subsequently suffered two strokes. Having waited for his second wife Maria Nikolaevna and son Plato to arrive from Paris, Yablochkov leaves with them for the Saratov province.
From Saratov, the Yablochkovs left for the Atkarsky district of the Saratov province, where, near the village of Koleno, the small estate of Dvoenki, inherited by Pavel Nikolaevich, was located. After staying there for a short time, the Yablochkovs headed to Serdobsky district to settle in their “father’s house” and then go to the Caucasus. However, the parental house in the village of Petropavlovka no longer existed; several years before the scientist arrived here, it burned down. I had to settle with my older sister Ekaterina and her husband M.K. Eshliman (Eshelman), whose estate was located in the village of Ivanovo-Kuliki (now Rtishchevsky district).
Pavel Nikolaevich intended to engage in scientific research, but very soon realized that here, in a remote village, it was impossible to engage in science. This forced the Yablochkovs to move to Saratov at the beginning of winter (apparently in November 1893). They settled in the mediocre “Central Rooms” of Ochkin, on the second floor. His room quickly turned into a study where the scientist, mostly at night, when no one distracted him, worked on drawings for electric lighting in Saratov. Yablochkov’s health deteriorated every day: his heart became weaker, his breathing became difficult. Heart disease led to dropsy, my legs were swollen and could hardly move.
On March 19 (31), 1894 at 6 o’clock in the morning P. N. Yablochkov died. On March 21, Pavel Nikolaevich’s ashes were transported to his native place for burial. On March 23, he was buried on the outskirts of the village of Sapozhok (now Rtishchevsky district), in the fence of the Archangel Michael Church in the family crypt.
Family
P. N. Yablochkov was married twice.
First wife - Nikitina Lyubov Ilyinichna (1849-1887).
Children from first marriage:
Natalia (1871-1886),
Boris(1872-1903) - engineer-inventor, was fond of aeronautics, worked on the development of new powerful explosives and ammunition;
Alexandra (1874-1888);
Andrey (1873-1921).
The second wife is Albova Maria Nikolaevna.
Son from second marriage:
Plato- engineer.
Masonic activity
Living in Paris, Yablochkov was initiated into membership of the Masonic lodge “Labor and Faithful Friends of Truth” No. 137 (French: Travail et Vrais Amis Fidèles), which was under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of France. Yablochkov became the venerable master of this lodge on June 25, 1887. Yablochkov founded the first Russian lodge in Paris - “Cosmos” No. 288, also under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of France, and became its first venerable master. This lodge included many Russians living in France. In 1888, such subsequently famous Russian figures as professors M. M. Kovalevsky, E. V. de Roberti and N. A. Kotlyarevsky were initiated there. P. N. Yablochkov wanted to turn the Cosmos lodge into an elite one, uniting in its ranks the best representatives of Russian emigration in the field of science, literature and art. However, after the death of Pavel Nikolaevich, the lodge he created stopped its work for some time. She managed to resume her work only in 1899.
Memory
At the end of the 1930s, the Archangel Michael Church was destroyed, and the Yablochkov family crypt was also damaged. The grave of the inventor of the candle itself was lost. However, on the eve of the scientist’s 100th anniversary, the President of the USSR Academy of Sciences S.I. Vavilov decided to clarify the burial place of Pavel Nikolaevich. On his initiative, a commission was created. Its members traveled to more than 20 villages in the Rtishchevsky and Serdobsky districts, interviewed old-timers, and delved into archival documents. In the archives of the Saratov regional registry office they managed to find the registry register of the parish church of the village of Sapozhok. By decision of the USSR Academy of Sciences, a monument was erected at the grave of P. N. Yablochkov. Its opening took place on October 26, 1952. The author of the monument is unknown. The monument is a stone statue. On the front side there is a bas-relief depicting the inventor, and below there is a memorial plaque on which are engraved the words: “Here lie the ashes of Pavel Nikolayevich Yablochkov, an outstanding Russian inventor in the field of electrical engineering (1847-1894).” On the sides the sculptor sculpted an image of a Yablochkov candle, an Eclipse electric machine, and galvanic elements. The words of Pavel Nikolaevich are engraved on the monument: “Electric current will be supplied to houses like gas or water”;
On the facade of house No. 35 on the corner of M. Gorky and Yablochkov streets in Saratov, there is a memorial plaque that says: “In this house in 1893-1894. lived the outstanding Russian electrical engineer, inventor of the electric candle Pavel Nikolaevich Yablochkov"; On the facade of the former Ashliman house in the village of Ivano-Kuliki (Rtishchevsky district), there is a memorial plaque saying: “The Russian electrical engineer Pavel Nikolaevich Yablochkov often visited this house”;
In 1947, in connection with the 100th anniversary of the birth of P. N. Yablochkov, his name was given to the Saratov Electromechanical College (now the College of Radio Electronics). At the entrance to the college in the fall of 1969, a bust of the inventor, created by sculptor K. S. Suminov, was installed;
In 1992, a monument to P. N. Yablochkov was erected in Serdobsk;
Streets in Moscow (Yablochkova Street), St. Petersburg (Yablochkova Street), Astrakhan, Saratov, Penza, Rtishchevo, Serdobsk, Balashov, Perm, Vladimir, Ryazan and other cities of Russia bear the name of Yablochkov;
In 1947, the Yablochkov Prize was established for the best work in electrical engineering, which is awarded once every three years;
In 1951, the USSR issued a postage stamp dedicated to P. N. Yablochkov (CFA (ITC) #1633; Mikhel #1581);
In 1970, the Yablochkov crater on the far side of the Moon was named in honor of P. N. Yablochkov;
In 1987, the USSR Ministry of Communications issued an artistic marked envelope dedicated to the 140th anniversary of the birth of P. N. Yablochkov; In 1997, an artistic marked envelope with an original stamp was released in Russia, dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the inventor’s birth.
In June 2012, the Yablochkov technology park was opened in Penza. His main specialization: information technology, precision instrumentation, materials science.
Addresses in St. Petersburg
1878-1894 - Gasse house - Liteiny Prospekt, 36, apt. 4.
Pavel Nikolaevich Yablochkov- Russian electrical engineer, inventor and entrepreneur. He invented (patent 1876) an arc lamp without a regulator - an electric candle (“Yablochkov’s candle”), which laid the foundation for the first practically applicable electric lighting system. He worked on the creation of electrical machines and chemical current sources.
Childhood and primary education of Pavlik Yablochkov
Pavel Yablochkov was born on September 14 (September 2, old style) 1847, in the village of Zhadovka, Serdobsky district, Saratov province, in the family of an impoverished small-scale nobleman who came from an old Russian family. Since childhood, Pavlik loved to design, he came up with a goniometer device for land surveying, a device for measuring the path traveled by a cart. Parents, trying to give their son a good education, in 1859 enrolled him in the 2nd grade of the Saratov gymnasium. But at the end of 1862, Yablochkov left the gymnasium, studied for several months at the Preparatory Boarding School, and in the fall of 1863 entered the Nikolaev Engineering School in St. Petersburg, which had a good education system and produced educated military engineers.
Military service. Further studies
After graduating from college in 1866, Pavel Yablochkov was sent to serve as an officer in the Kiev garrison. In his first year of service, he was forced to resign due to illness. Returning to active service in 1868, he entered the Technical Galvanic Institution in Kronstadt, from which he graduated in 1869. At that time, it was the only school in Russia that trained military specialists in the field of electrical engineering.
Moscow period
In July 1871, having finally left military service, Yablochkov moved to Moscow and accepted the position of assistant to the head of the telegraph service of the Moscow-Kursk Railway. At the Moscow Polytechnic Museum, a circle of electricians-inventors and electrical engineering enthusiasts was created, sharing their experience in this new field at that time. Here, in particular, Yablochkov learned about the experiments of Alexander Nikolaevich Lodygin on lighting streets and rooms with electric lamps, after which he decided to improve the then existing arc lamps.
Physical Instruments Workshop
After leaving his telegraph service, P. Yablochkov opened a physical instrument workshop in Moscow in 1874. “It was the center of bold and witty electrical engineering events, sparkling with novelty and 20 years ahead of the times,” recalled one of his contemporaries. In 1875, when P.N. Yablochkov conducted experiments on the electrolysis of table salt using carbon electrodes; he came up with the idea of a more advanced design of an arc lamp (without an interelectrode distance regulator) - the future “Yablochkov candle”.
Work in France. Electric candle
At the end of 1875, the financial affairs of the workshop were completely upset and Yablochkov left for Paris, where he went to work in the workshops of academician L. Breguet, a famous French specialist in the field of telegraphy. Working on the problems of electric lighting, Yablochkov by the beginning of 1876 completed the development of the design of an electric candle and in March received a patent for it.
The candle of Pavel Nikolaevich Yablochkov consisted of two rods separated by an insulating gasket. Each of the rods was clamped into a separate terminal of the candlestick. An arc discharge was ignited at the upper ends, and the arc flame shone brightly, gradually burning the coals and vaporizing the insulating material.
Creation of an electric lighting system
The success of Yablochkov's candle exceeded all expectations. Reports of her appearance circulated around the world press. During 1876, Pavel Nikolaevich developed and implemented an electric lighting system using single-phase alternating current, which, unlike direct current, ensured uniform burning of carbon rods in the absence of a regulator. In addition, Yablochkov developed a method for “splitting” electric light (that is, powering a large number of candles from one current generator), proposing three solutions at once, including the first practical use of a transformer and a capacitor.
Yablochkov's lighting system ("Russian light"), demonstrated at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1878, was an exceptional success; in many countries of the world, including France, companies were founded to exploit it commercially. Having ceded the right to use his inventions to the owners of the French General Electricity Company with Yablochkov's patents, Pavel Nikolaevich, as the head of its technical department, continued to work on further improving the lighting system, being content with a more than modest share of the company's huge profits.
Return to Russia. commercial activity
In 1878, Pavel Yablochkov decided to return to Russia to tackle the problem of the spread of electric lighting. At home, he was enthusiastically greeted as an innovative inventor.
In 1879, Pavel Nikolaevich organized the Electric Lighting Partnership P. N. Yablochkov the Inventor and Co. and an electrical plant in St. Petersburg, which manufactured lighting installations on a number of military ships, the Okhtensky plant, etc. And although the commercial activity was successful, it did not bring the inventor full satisfaction. He clearly saw that in Russia there were too few opportunities for the implementation of new technical ideas, in particular, for the production of the electric machines he built. In addition, by 1879, electrical engineer, inventor, founder of large electrical enterprises and companies in America, Thomas Edison, brought the incandescent lamp to practical perfection, which completely replaced arc lamps.
Back in France
Having moved to Paris in 1880, Yablochkov began to prepare to participate in the first World Electrotechnical Exhibition, which was to be held in 1881 in Paris. At this exhibition, Yablochkov's inventions were highly appreciated and were recognized by the International Jury as out of competition, but the exhibition itself was a triumph of the incandescent lamp. From that time on, Yablochkov was mainly concerned with the generation of electrical energy - the creation of dynamos and galvanic cells.
The last period of the inventor's life
At the end of 1893, feeling sick, Pavel Yablochkov returned to Russia after 13 years of absence, but a few months later, on March 31 (March 19, Old Style), 1894, he died of a heart disease in Saratov. She was buried in the family crypt in the village of Sapozhok, Saratov region.
On September 14, 1847, Pyotr Yablochkov was born, who made many inventions, but went down in history solely as the creator of the “Yablochkov candle.”
The greatest reward for any inventor is if his name, which is named after one of his inventions, is forever included in the history of mankind. In Russia, many scientists and engineers have managed to earn such an award: just remember Dmitry Mendeleev and his table, Mikhail Kalashnikov and his machine gun, Georgy Kotelnikov and his backpack parachute... Among them is one of the pioneers of world electrical engineering, the most talented Russian engineer Pavel Nikolaevich Yablochkov . After all, the phrase “Yablochkov candle” has been known in the world for almost a century and a half!
But in the same greatest reward - the perpetuation of a name in an invention - lies the greatest curse for a scientist. Because all his other developments and discoveries, even if there were more than a dozen of them against the one and only world-famous one, remain in his shadow. And in this sense, the biography of Pavel Yablochkov is a classic example. He, who was the first to illuminate the streets of Paris with electric light, confirmed with his whole life the truth of the French proverb “If you want to remain unnoticed, stand under a lamp.” Because the first and only thing that comes to mind when the name Yablochkov is mentioned is his candle. Meanwhile, it was our fellow countryman who, for example, invented the world’s first electrical alternating current transformer. As his contemporaries said about him, Yablochkov opened two eras in electrical engineering: the era of the direct application of electric current to lighting and the era of the use of transformed current. And if we judge his actions by the Hamburg account, then we must admit: it was Yablochkov who brought electric light from the cramped laboratory space to the wide streets of the cities of the world.
From Saratov to St. Petersburg
By origin, the future genius of electrical engineering was the most well-born nobleman. The Yablochkov family, quite numerous and spreading over three provinces - Kaluga, Saratov and Tula, traces its history back to the second half of the 16th century from Moses Yablochkov and his son Daniil.
Most of the Yablochkovs, as befitted Russian nobles, were classic representatives of the service class, distinguishing themselves in military affairs and in public administration, receiving well-deserved awards in both money and lands. But over time, the family became poorer, and the father of the future inventor of the electric candle could no longer boast of a large estate. Nikolai Pavlovich Yablochkov, according to family tradition, chose the military path, entering the Naval Cadet Corps, but was forced to resign from service due to illness. Alas, poor health was one of the few components of the inheritance that the retired sailor passed on to his son...
However, the other part of the same inheritance was more than worthy. Despite their small wealth, the Yablochkov family, who lived on the Petropavlovka estate in the Serdobsky district of the Saratov province, was distinguished by its high culture and education. And the boy, born on September 14, 1847 to Nikolai and Elizaveta Yablochkov and baptized in honor of the confessor Paul of Nicea, probably had a brilliant career ahead of him.
Little Pavel did not disappoint these expectations. A smart and receptive boy, like a sponge, he absorbed the knowledge that his parents and older brothers and sisters shared with him. Pavlik showed particular interest in technology and the exact sciences - here, too, his father’s “inheritance” was felt: the Naval Cadet Corps was always famous for teaching these very disciplines.
In the summer of 1858, Pavel Yablochkov, less than 11 years old, was enrolled in the Saratov men's gymnasium. Like all other applicants, he was subjected to an entrance test - and based on the results, he was immediately enrolled in the second class, which was not a very common occurrence. The teachers appreciated the boy’s high level of preparation and subsequently more than once drew attention to the fact that Yablochkov Jr. did better than most of his classmates, showing particular success in the same exact and technical disciplines.
Is it any wonder that the father’s decision to take his son out of the gymnasium in November 1862, almost at the beginning of the school year, caused painful bewilderment among the teachers. But the reason was obvious and understandable: it became too difficult for the family to pay for the boy’s education. The solution that the Yablochkovs found was equally obvious: it was decided to send their son to a military school. The choice was also obvious: the Nikolaev Engineering School, which trained military engineers for the Russian army, best suited the inclinations of 15-year-old Pavel.
Officer's youth
It was impossible for a fifth-grader who had dropped out of school to enroll in college right away: he had to improve his knowledge in basic subjects and wait for the start of the next school year. Pavel Yablochkov spent these few months in an amazing place - a private cadet corps created by the famous military engineer and composer Caesar Cui. The “preparatory engineering boarding house” invented by Caesar Antonovich together with his brave wife Malvina Rafailovna Bamberg cost Yablochkov’s parents less than the Saratov gymnasium. And that’s to say: this boarding house, although it was intended to improve the financial situation of the young family, was not designed for significant income, but rather provided Cui, who taught at the Nikolaev Engineering School, with new students whom he already knew well.
Tsezar Antonovich quickly assessed the potential of the new pupil from the Saratov province. A talented engineer himself, Cui immediately noticed Pavel Yablochkov and realized how gifted the boy was in engineering. In addition, the new pupil did not hide from his teacher either his technical inclinations or the inventions already made - a new land-measuring device and a device for calculating the distance traveled by a cart. Alas, no precise information has been preserved about either invention. But there is no doubt that they were: after Yablochkov became famous for his experiments in the field of electricity, many contemporaries spoke about his first inventions, arguing that both devices were used with great success by peasants in the Saratov province.
Pavel Yablochkov during his years of work in Moscow. Image: istorialamp.ru
By the summer of 1863, Pavel Yablochkov had improved his knowledge to the required level, and on September 30 he passed the entrance exam to the Nikolaev Engineering School with honors and was enrolled in the junior conductor class. At that time, training at the school consisted of two stages: the school itself, which admitted teenagers from noble families and from which ensigns and second lieutenants were graduated, and the Nikolaev Engineering Academy, which had just merged with it, which provided a two-year higher military education.
Pavel Yablochkov never reached the academic bench, despite the fact that during all three years of study at the school he was among the first students and was distinguished by excellent knowledge and amazing diligence. In 1866, he passed the final exams in the first category, which gave him the right to immediately receive the second junior officer rank - second lieutenant engineer - and went to his duty station in Kyiv. There the young officer was enlisted in the fifth sapper battalion of the engineering team of the Kyiv fortress. But, unlike the school, military service itself clearly weighed heavily on Yablochkov, who sought to engage in scientific activities rather than in engineering support for the army. And just a year later, at the end of 1867, Pavel Nikolaevich, with good reason citing poor health (even the serious physical exertion endured by the students of the Nikolaev School did not help to improve it), resigned.
True, it did not last long. Yablochkov quickly realized that to obtain the knowledge he needed in the field of engineering, and especially in the field of electrical engineering, the army was still the best option, and in 1868 he returned to service. He was attracted by the Kronstadt Technical Galvanic Institution - the only electrical engineering school in Russia at that time. Pavel Nikolaevich seeks a secondment to Kronstadt and eight months later returns to the Kyiv fortress, but to the post of head of the galvanic team. This meant that from now on the young officer was responsible in the citadel for all work using electricity, primarily for minecraft and the telegraph, which was actively included in the army's technical arsenal.
With a spotlight on a locomotive
To the great regret of his father, who saw in his son a continuation of his failed military career, Pavel Nikolaevich did not stay long in the service. Three years later, in 1872, he resigned again, this time completely. But he will still have to deal with the military, and not with the army, but with the navy (here it is, his father’s inheritance!). After all, the first lanterns equipped with the “Yablochkov candle” will be lit in Russia in six years precisely in Kronstadt - at the walls of the house of the commander of the Kronstadt seaport and in the barracks of the Training Crew.
And then, in 1872, Yablochkov went to Moscow - where, as he knows, they are most actively engaged in research in the field of electrical engineering. The center of attraction for active young scientists conducting electrical experiments was then the Polytechnic Museum. In the local circle of electrician inventors, work is in full swing on devices that will make it possible to turn electricity into everyday energy accessible to everyone, helping to make life easier for mankind.
Spending all his free time on joint experiments with other electrical enthusiasts, Yablochkov earns a living for himself and his young wife by working as the head of the telegraph office of the Moscow-Kursk Railway. And it was here, so to speak, right at his workplace, that in 1874 he received an amazing offer: to put into practice his knowledge in the field of electrical engineering and electric lighting by equipping a lighting device... with a steam locomotive!
Pavel Nikolayevich received such an unexpected order because the authorities of the Moscow-Kursk Railway urgently needed to impress the family of Emperor Alexander II, who were traveling by train from Moscow to Crimea for a summer vacation in Livadia. Formally, the railway workers sought to ensure the safety of the royal family, for which they needed night lighting of the track.
Street lighting with “Yablochkov candles” during the Paris Exhibition of 1878. Image: wikimedia.org
A spotlight with a Foucault regulator - a prototype of the “Yablochkov candle”, and at that time one of the most common electric arc light sources - became the world's first lighting device installed on a steam locomotive. And, like any innovation, it required constant attention. For more than two days that the royal train was traveling to Crimea, Yablochkov spent almost 20 hours on the front platform of the locomotive, constantly monitoring the searchlight and turning the screws of the Foucault regulator. Moreover, the locomotive was far from alone: the train’s tractor was changed at least four times, and each time Yablochkov had to manually transfer lighting equipment, wires and batteries from one locomotive to another and reinstall them on the site.
Way to the West
The success of this enterprise gave Pavel Yablochkov the idea of opening his own business, so as not to carve out hours and minutes for experiments, but to make them the main business of his life. At the end of the same 1874, Yablochkov left his telegraph service and opened an electrical workshop and a store attached to it in Moscow.
But, alas, no matter how great the engineering talent of the heir of an old noble family was, his commercial abilities turned out to be just as small. Within literally one year, Pavel Yablochkov’s workshop and store fell into complete disrepair: the inventor spent much more money on his research and experiments than he managed to earn. And then Pavel Nikolaevich decided to take a desperate step: he decided to go overseas, to America, hoping to find there either a demand for his research, which was not there at home, or an investor who could turn his experiments into capital.
Yablochkov set off on a long journey in the fall of 1875, hoping to reach the end of the Philadelphia Exhibition. Pavel Nikolaevich really wanted to demonstrate on it the recently invented electromagnet with a flat winding - his first invention, which he brought to the point of obtaining a patent.
But the Russian inventor never made it to Philadelphia: financial difficulties stopped him long before the ocean shore, in Paris. Realizing that now he can only count on his own knowledge in electrical engineering and on someone who can evaluate and apply his inventions to the business, Yablochkov goes to academician Louis Breguet, a well-known telegraph specialist at that time and the owner of an electrical workshop. And the French academician immediately understands that luck has brought him a genius: he hires Pavel Nikolaevich without unnecessary formalities, expecting that the newcomer will quickly prove himself.
And these expectations were fully justified at the beginning of 1876. On March 23, Yablochkov received his first patent No. 112024 in France for an electric arc lamp - then no one had yet called it “Yablochkov’s candle.” Fame came a little later, when Breguet's workshop sent its representative, that is, Yablochkov, to an exhibition of physical instruments in London. It was there that the Russian inventor publicly demonstrated his invention for the first time on April 15, 1876 - and went down in history forever...
The bright light of the Yablochkov candle
From London, “Yablochkov’s candle” began its triumphal march around the world. Residents of Paris were the first to appreciate the benefits of the new light source, where lanterns with “Yablochkov candles” appeared in the winter and spring of 1877. Then came the turn of London, Berlin, Rome, Vienna, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Rio de Janeiro, Delhi, Calcutta, Madras... By 1878, the “Russian candle” reached the homeland of its creator: the first lanterns were installed in Kronstadt , and then they illuminate the Stone Theater in St. Petersburg.
The device of the electric “Yablochkov candle”. Image: by-time.ru
Initially, Pavel Yablochkov transferred all rights to his inventions to the Union for the Study of Electric Light (Yablochkov's system), in French - Le Syndicat d'études de la lumière électrique (système Jablochkoff). A little later, on its basis, the General Electric Company arose and became world famous - Société Générale d"électricité (procédés Jablochkoff). How great was the turnover of the company that produced and sold “Yablochkov candles” can be judged by this fact: every day it produced 8,000 such candles, and they all sold out without a trace.
But Yablochkov dreamed of returning to Russia to put his inventions at her service. In addition, the success he achieved in Europe encouraged him and, apparently, gave him hope that he could now be commercially successful in Russia. As a result, he bought it for a crazy sum at that time - a million francs! - the rights to his patents from a French company, Pavel Nikolaevich sets off on his way back to his homeland.
In 1879, the “P.N. Electric Lighting Partnership” appeared in St. Petersburg. Yablochkov the Inventor and Co., and soon Yablochkov would organize an electromechanical plant. But, alas, it was not possible to repeat the success of Société Générale d'électricité in Russia. As Yablochkov’s second wife wrote in her memoirs, “it was difficult to meet a less practical person like Yablochkov, and the choice of employees was unsuccessful... The money was spent, the thought about the structure of Russian society with capital from outside failed, and the matter in Russia died out.”
In addition, trading in “Yablochkov candles” was not Pavel Nikolaevich’s life goal at all: he was much more inspired by work on new electrical machines - alternating current generators and transformers, as well as further work on the distribution of electric current in circuits and on chemical sources of electric current. And it was precisely these scientific researches, unfortunately, that did not find understanding in the inventor’s homeland - despite the fact that his fellow scientists highly appreciated his work. Deciding that European entrepreneurs would be much more interested in new units, Yablochkov left his homeland again and returned to Paris in 1880. Less than a year later, in 1881, at the Paris World Exhibition, the “Yablochkov candle” will again bring glory to its creator - and then it will become clear that its economic life turned out to be as short as the operating time of each individual candle. Thomas Edison's incandescent lamps appeared on the world stage, and Yablochkov could only watch the triumph of the American, who built his business on minimal modifications to the inventions of his Russian colleague and his fellow countrymen.
Pavel Yablochkov returned to Russia only 12 years later, in 1893. By this time, his health was completely undermined, his commercial affairs were in disarray, and he no longer had enough strength for full-fledged scientific work. On March 31, 1894, the greatest inventor, one of the first world-famous Russian engineers, Pavel Nikolaevich Yablochkov, died - as witnesses of his last months of life say, without stopping his experiments. True, he had to conduct the last of them in a poor room in a Saratov hotel, from where the brilliant electrical engineer never left alive.
“...The world owes all this to our compatriot”
What scientific and technical legacy did Pavel Yablochkov leave behind? It should be noted that it has not been possible to appreciate it to this day: a considerable part of Pavel Nikolaevich’s scientific archive simply disappeared during his numerous moves. But even the information that has been preserved in patent archives and documents, and the memoirs of contemporaries, gives an idea that Yablochkov should be considered one of the founding fathers of modern electrical engineering.
Of course, the main and most famous invention of Yablochkov is the legendary “Yablochkov candle”. It is brilliantly simple: two carbon electrodes connected by a thin metal thread for ignition and separated along the entire length by a kaolin insulator, which evaporated as the electrodes burned out. Yablochkov quickly figured out adding various metal salts to kaolin, which made it possible to change the tone and saturation of the light from the lamps.
USSR postage stamp dedicated to P.N. Yablochkov, produced in 1951. Image: wikipedia.org
Secondly, this is an alternating current magnetoelectric machine without rotational motion (the predecessor of one of the famous inventions of engineer Nikola Tesla): Yablochkov received one of the French patents for it. He filed the same patent for a magneto-dynamo-electric machine, which did not have moving windings. Both the magnetizing winding and the winding in which the electromotive force was induced remained stationary, and a toothed iron disk rotated, changing the magnetic flux as it moved. Due to this, the inventor was able to get rid of sliding contacts and make a machine that was simple and reliable in design.
The Yablochkov “cliptic machine” was also completely original in design, the name of which the inventor gave, as he himself wrote, according to the location of the “rotation axis at an angle relative to the axis of the magnetic field, which resembles the inclination of the ecliptic.” True, there was little practical meaning in such a sophisticated design, but Yablochkov’s modern electrical engineering largely came not from theory, but from practice, which required, among other things, such unusual constructions.
And research in the field of generating electricity through chemical reactions and creating galvanic cells, which Yablochkov became interested in in the last decade of his life, received an adequate assessment only half a century later. In the mid-twentieth century, experts assessed them as follows: “Everything created by Yablochkov in the field of galvanic cells is distinguished by an unusually rich variety of principles and design solutions, testifying to the exceptional intellectual data and outstanding talent of the inventor.”
The role of Pavel Nikolaevich Yablochkov in the world history of electrical engineering was best formulated by his colleague in the electrical engineering circle at the Polytechnic University, Vladimir Chikolev. Moreover, he formulated it while being a categorical opponent of many of Yablochkov’s ideas. However, this did not prevent Chikolev from appreciating Pavel Nikolaevich’s innovation. In 1880, he wrote about him this way: “I believe that Yablochkov’s main merit is not in the invention of his candle, but in the fact that under the banner of this candle, with unquenchable energy, persistence, and consistency, he raised electric lighting by the ears and put it in its proper place.” pedestal. If then electric lighting received credit in society, if its progress, supported by the trust and funds of the public, then went on in such giant strides, if the thoughts of workers, among whom the famous names of Siemens, Jamin, Edison and others appear, rushed to improve this lighting, then everyone The world owes this to our compatriot Yablochkov.”
In the spring of 1876, the world media was full of headlines: “Light comes to us from the North - from Russia”; “The Northern Light, the Russian Light is a miracle of our time”; “Russia is the birthplace of electricity.”
In different languages, journalists admired Russian engineer Pavel Yablochkov, whose invention, presented at an exhibition in London, changed the understanding of the possibilities of using electricity.
The inventor was only 29 years old at the time of his outstanding triumph.
Pavel Yablochkov during his years of work in Moscow. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
Born inventor
Pavel Yablochkov was born on September 14, 1847 in the Serdobsky district of the Saratov province, in the family of an impoverished small nobleman who came from an old Russian family.
Pavel's father studied in the Naval Cadet Corps in his youth, but due to illness he was dismissed from service and awarded the civilian rank of XIV class. The mother was a powerful woman who held in strong hands not only the household, but also all family members.
Pasha became interested in design as a child. One of his first inventions was an original land surveying device, which was then used by residents of all surrounding villages.
In 1858, Pavel entered the Saratov men's gymnasium, but his father took him away from the 5th grade. The family was strapped for money, and there was not enough money for Pavel’s education. Nevertheless, they managed to place the boy in a private preparatory boarding house, where young people were prepared to enter the Nikolaev Engineering School. It was maintained by the military engineer Caesar Antonovich Cui. This extraordinary person, who was equally successful in military engineering and writing music, aroused Yablochkov’s interest in science.
In 1863, Yablochkov brilliantly passed the entrance exam to the Nikolaev Engineering School. In August 1866, he graduated from college with the first category, receiving the rank of engineer-second lieutenant. He was appointed a junior officer in the 5th engineer battalion, stationed in the Kyiv fortress.
Attention, electricity!
The parents were happy because they believed that their son could make a great military career. However, Pavel himself was not attracted to this path, and a year later he resigned from service with the rank of lieutenant under the pretext of illness.
Yablochkov showed great interest in electrical engineering, but he did not have enough knowledge in this area, and to fill this gap, he returned to military service. Thanks to this, he had the opportunity to enter the Technical Galvanic Institution in Kronstadt, the only school in Russia that trained military electrical engineers.
After graduation, Yablochkov served the required three years and in 1872 he left the army again, now forever.
Yablochkov's new place of work was the Moscow-Kursk Railway, where he was appointed head of the telegraph service. He combined his work with inventive activity. Having learned about the experiments Alexandra Lodygina to illuminate streets and premises with electric lamps, Yablochkov decided to improve the then existing arc lamps.
How did the train spotlight come about?
In the spring of 1874, a government train was supposed to travel along the Moscow-Kursk road. The road management decided to illuminate the path for the train at night using electricity. However, officials did not really understand how to do this. Then they remembered the hobby of the head of the telegraph service and turned to him. Yablochkov agreed with great joy.
For the first time in the history of railway transport, a searchlight with an arc lamp - a Foucault regulator - was installed on a steam locomotive. The device was unreliable, but Yablochkov made every effort to make it work. Standing on the front platform of the locomotive, he changed the coals in the lamp and tightened the regulator. When changing locomotives, Yablochkov moved to a new one along with a searchlight.
The train successfully reached its destination, to the delight of Yablochkov’s management, but the engineer himself decided that this method of lighting was too complex and expensive and required improvement.
Yablochkov leaves his railroad service and opens a physical instrument workshop in Moscow, where numerous experiments with electricity are carried out.
"Yablochkov's Candle" Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
The Russian idea came to life in Paris
The main invention in his life was born during experiments with the electrolysis of table salt. In 1875, during one of the electrolysis experiments, parallel coals immersed in an electrolytic bath accidentally touched each other. Immediately an electric arc flashed between them, illuminating the walls of the laboratory with bright light for a short moment.
The engineer came up with the idea that it was possible to create an arc lamp without an interelectrode distance regulator, which would be much more reliable.
In the fall of 1875, Yablochkov intended to take his inventions to the World Exhibition in Philadelphia in order to demonstrate the successes of Russian engineers in the field of electricity. But the workshop was not doing well, there was not enough money, and Yablochkov could only get to Paris. There he met Academician Breguet, who owned a physical instrument workshop. Having assessed the knowledge and experience of the Russian engineer, Breguet offered him a job. Yablochkov accepted the invitation.
In the spring of 1876, he managed to complete the work of creating an arc lamp without a regulator. On March 23, 1876, Pavel Yablochkov received French patent No. 112024.
Yablochkov's lamp turned out to be simpler, more convenient and cheaper to operate than its predecessors. It consisted of two rods separated by an insulating kaolin gasket. Each of the rods was clamped into a separate terminal of the candlestick. An arc discharge was ignited at the upper ends, and the arc flame shone brightly, gradually burning the coals and vaporizing the insulating material.
Money for some, science for others
On April 15, 1876, an exhibition of physical instruments opened in London. Yablochkov represented the Breguet company and at the same time spoke on his own behalf. On one of the days of the exhibition, the engineer presented his lamp. The new light source created a real sensation. The name “Yablochkov candle” was firmly attached to the lamp. It turned out to be extremely convenient to use. Firms operating “Yablochkov candles” were rapidly opening all over the world.
But the incredible success did not make the Russian engineer a millionaire. He took the modest post of head of the technical department of the French "General Company of Electricity with Yablochkov's patents."
He received a small percentage of the profits received, but Yablochkov did not complain - he was quite happy with the fact that he had the opportunity to continue scientific research.
Meanwhile, “Yablochkov candles” appeared on sale and began to sell out in huge quantities. Each candle cost about 20 kopecks and burned for about an hour and a half; After this time, a new candle had to be inserted into the lantern. Subsequently, lanterns with automatic replacement of candles were invented.
“Yablochkov’s Candle” in the music hall in Paris. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
From Paris to Cambodia
In 1877, “Yablochkov’s candles” conquered Paris. First they illuminated the Louvre, then the opera house, and then one of the central streets. The light of the new product was so unusually bright that at first Parisians gathered to simply admire the invention of the Russian master. Soon, “Russian electricity” was already lighting up the hippodrome in Paris.
The success of Yablochkov candles in London forced local businessmen to try to get them banned. The discussion in the English Parliament lasted for several years, and Yablochkov’s candles continued to work successfully.
“Candles” conquered Germany, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, and in Rome they illuminated the ruins of the Colosseum. By the end of 1878, the best stores in Philadelphia, a city in which Yablochkov never made it to the World Exhibition, also illuminated his “candles.”
Even the Shah of Persia and the King of Cambodia illuminated their chambers with similar lamps.
In Russia, the first test of electric lighting using the Yablochkov system was carried out on October 11, 1878. On this day, the barracks of the Kronstadt training crew and the square near the house occupied by the commander of the Kronstadt seaport were illuminated. Two weeks later, on December 4, 1878, “Yablochkov’s candles” illuminated the Bolshoi (Kamenny) Theater in St. Petersburg for the first time.
Yablochkov returned all inventions to Russia
Yablochkov’s merits have also been recognized in the scientific world. On April 21, 1876, Yablochkov was elected a full member of the French Physical Society. On April 14, 1879, the scientist was awarded a personalized medal of the Imperial Russian Technical Society.
In 1881, the first International Electrotechnical Exhibition opened in Paris. At it, Yablochkov’s inventions were highly appreciated and were recognized by the International Jury as out of competition. However, the exhibition became evidence that the time of the “Yablochkov candle” was running out - an incandescent lamp was presented in Paris that could burn for 800-1000 hours without replacement.
Yablochkov was not at all embarrassed by this. He switched to creating a powerful and economical chemical current source. Experiments in this direction were very dangerous - experiments with chlorine resulted in a burn to the mucous membrane of the lungs for the scientist. Yablochkov began to have health problems.
For about ten years he continued to live and work, shuttling between Europe and Russia. Finally, in 1892, he and his family returned to their homeland for good. Wanting all inventions to become the property of Russia, he spent almost all of his fortune on buying out patents.
Monument at the grave of Pavel Yablochkov. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org / Andrei Sdobnikov
Pride of the Nation
But in St. Petersburg they managed to forget about the scientist. Yablochkov left for the Saratov province, where he intended to continue scientific research in the silence of the village. But then Pavel Nikolaevich quickly realized that there were simply no conditions in the village for such work. Then he went to Saratov, where, living in a hotel room, he began drawing up a plan for electric lighting of the city.
Health, undermined by dangerous experiments, continued to deteriorate. In addition to breathing problems, I was bothered by pain in my heart, my legs were swollen and completely gave out.
At about 6 o'clock in the morning on March 31, 1894, Pavel Nikolaevich Yablochkov passed away. The inventor passed away at the age of 46. He was buried on the outskirts of the village of Sapozhok in the fence of the Archangel Michael Church in the family crypt.
Unlike many figures of pre-revolutionary Russia, the name of Pavel Yablochkov was revered in Soviet times. Streets were named after him in various cities across the country, including Moscow and Leningrad. In 1947, the Yablochkov Prize was established for the best work in electrical engineering, which is awarded once every three years. And in 1970, a crater on the far side of the Moon was named in honor of Pavel Nikolaevich Yablochkov.
Date of birth: September 14, 1874
Date of Death: March 31, 1894
Place of birth: Saratov province of the Russian Empire
Yablochkov Pavel Nikolaevich- eminent Russian electrical engineer. Also Pavel Yablochkov known as the inventor of the electric candle.
Pavel was born into an intelligent but ruined noble family. The paternal family was quite ancient, and the men, as a rule, were well educated.
My father, Nikolai Pavlovich, was no exception; he was an official in the province. Mother, Elizaveta Petrovna, ran the house and had a despotic character.
Like many boys, Pavel made all sorts of mechanisms as a child. But soon he took up more practical and serious developments, for example, he invented the prototype of an apparatus for measuring agricultural land.
The mother decided that the boy also needed an education and facilitated Pavel’s enrollment in the gymnasium, where, because of his lively mind, he was accepted into the second grade.
Four years later, the family was so poor that they could no longer finance the boy’s education. An engineering school seemed like a solution, but Pavel did not even complete his studies at the gymnasium and had a lack of necessary knowledge.
An opportunity was found for private preparation for admission under the guidance of C. Cui, and soon Pavel became a student at the Nikolaev School. The conditions were quite harsh, the students did a lot of sports and science.
After graduation, Pavel was assigned to the Kyiv fortress. Military service did not particularly interest Pavel and, to the chagrin of his parents, he resigned a year later.
True, after a few years he returned to service and went to Kronstadt. It was there that the future technician found himself - the school specialized in electrical engineering, and Pavel learned all the latest developments in this field. He studied both theory and practice, and soon became a boss. Soon the young scientist got married, and a year later he left military service completely.
While in reserve, Pavel did not give up his studies in electrical engineering, but, while working on the railway, he created a prototype of the telegraph. At the same time, he participated in meetings of young specialists interested in electricity.
At one of these meetings, he became interested in the problem of lighting both indoor and outdoor spaces with electric lamps, and became interested in improving arc lamps.
The first practical use of an electric arc took place during the movement of the Moscow-Crimea train. There was a government delegation on the train, and special security measures were required. Pavel had to practically manually control the spotlight with an arc, it took a lot of effort and time, so he decided to significantly simplify the device.
After leaving government service, Pavel set up a workshop where he worked on a searchlight and other projects, such as power sources. Many experiments carried out in the workshop eventually led to the idea of a new device.
True, financial affairs were going from bad to worse, and Pavel was unable to go to the USA, where he wanted to participate in a specialized exhibition. Instead, he only managed to get as far as Paris. But it was there, after meeting Breguet, that I managed to gain a foothold for a while and create what I wanted.
In 1876, a patent was received in Paris for a new device - an electric candle.
The first public demonstration of the work took place in London and impressed the public.
As a result, many companies appeared that began to commercialize the engineer’s invention. Pavel received little from the super-profits of the parent company, but he spent this money on further improvement of the device.
Candles, invented by an engineer, illuminated both private and public places in Paris. Soon the capitals of England and Germany also joined the use of light sources. Soon all of Europe began to be illuminated, and soon the invention reached the United States.
Around the same time, candles reached Russia. Paul's invention spread very quickly, improving people's lives. In addition, the scientist made several other inventions, for which he became a member of the French Physical Society.
After returning to Russia, Pavel became the founder of a joint-stock company, which began lighting St. Petersburg, and then other cities. Unfortunately, it was not possible to achieve such success as in Europe.
Soon the incandescent lamp appeared, which began to displace the previous lighting systems.
Pavel began to continue experiments to improve the performance of batteries. Unfortunately, the experiments were accompanied by contact with caustic chemicals.
This led to a deterioration in the scientist’s health, and then to two strokes. The scientist and his family settled in the provinces, but realizing that it was impossible to engage in science, he moved to Saratov. There he soon died of chronic heart failure.
Achievements of Pavel Yablochkov:
Created the arc lamp, which helped in the development of lighting in cities around the world
Became a member of the French Physical Society
Created an alternating current generator
Dates from the biography of Pavel Yablochkov:
1847 born
1858 began studying at the Saratov gymnasium
1863 entered the Nikolaev School
1869 return to military service
1874 First practical use of the electric arc
1876 French patent received
1878 introduction of the invention in Russia
1879 created his own joint-stock company, received the RTO medal
1880 moved to Paris
died 1894
Interesting facts about Pavel Yablochkov:
Yablochkov's invention was used more in Europe than in his homeland
Was a member of the Masonic lodge
Created the Russian lodge "Cosmos"
The scientist’s grave was lost, but on the initiative of S. Vavilov it was found and furnished
