. Bulletin. Science. Figure 5.—Scene from the last act of the ballet "Electra, or the Last ; From Illustrated London News, May 5. 1849. vol. 14, p. 293. be carried on at night. These preliminary results ' were very encouraging, but Staite's death brought an end to the project. A portion of Staite's success was due to his inven- tion of a practical automatic regulator that eliminated the necessity of moving the carbons by hand as they were consumed (fig. 6).* The amount of current flowing through the arc controlled the spacing of the carbons by balancing a mechanical force with
. Bulletin. Science. Figure 5.—Scene from the last act of the ballet "Electra, or the Last ; From Illustrated London News, May 5. 1849. vol. 14, p. 293. be carried on at night. These preliminary results ' were very encouraging, but Staite's death brought an end to the project. A portion of Staite's success was due to his inven- tion of a practical automatic regulator that eliminated the necessity of moving the carbons by hand as they were consumed (fig. 6).* The amount of current flowing through the arc controlled the spacing of the carbons by balancing a mechanical force with the attractive force of a solenoid. As the carbons burned, the arc became longer and the current became less due to the increased resistance. The decreased attractive force of the solenoid permitted the carbons to move closer together in .Staite's 1847 regulator ^Mechanics Magazine, 1849, vol. 50, pp. 538-539; 1850, vol. 52, p. 35; 1851, vol. 54, pp. 411-412; vol. 55, pp. 316- 317; 1852, vol. 57, p. 217. 8 British patents 11449 (November 12, 1846), 11783 (July 3 1847), 12212 (July 12, 1848), 12772 (September 20, 1849) 634 (March 14, 1853); Mechanics Magazine, 1848, vol. 48, pp 49-56; 1849, vol. 50, pp. 49-58, 73-80; 1850, vol. 52, pp 246-248; Illuslraled London .V«M, January 1849, vol. 14, p. 58 by controlling a clockwork and in his 1853 regulator by controlling the height of a float. This solenoid control came to be a basic feature in the design of all the later successful regulators. Other factors contributing to the success of Staite's lamp were the semi-enclosure of the arc in a chamber to reduce the consumption of the carbons (a feature that was not again used until the 1890's, but then with great success) and the use of the hard carbon from coke retorts rather than the much softer charcoal. Fou- cault's regulator was based on the same solenoid principle as that of Staite's, but it was set up hori- zontally so that, as the attractive force due to the solenoid became we
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