NOVELTY SHADED ARC LIGHT

This is just an idea for novelty lighting which would suit some 
kind of steampunk themed event. I've never been to a steampunk 
themed event, and it's just a little unlikely that I'll be asked to 
build decorations for one (though sure as hell I'd say yes if they 
let me build things like this for it), so I figure it might as well 
get dumped here.

Not much to it really. Some might be aware that some of the first 
street lights powered by electricity didn't use light bulbs, but an 
arc struck between two carbon (or magnetite) rods and the 
corresponding flash of light - akin to that from an arc welder - 
was what lit the way of travellers on the most modern of streets in 
the 19th and maybe early 20th century. Requiring regular attention 
to replace the carbon rods and ensure a correctly spaced arc gap, 
they of course lost out to various equally facinating light bulb 
technologies developed thereafter. They did however survive on in 
theatres and cinemas as the most brilliant light source available 
to be used in spot lights, and for shining through flickering 
frames of film, eventually to be replaced by high-power gas 
discharge bulbs in use today.

More details on the history and practical construction of arc 
lights can be found here:
http://donklipstein.com/carbarc.html

My addition is pretty minor, just to construct one, preferably 
including an automatic advance system for the rod in order to 
maintain a correct gap, inside an ornate cast iron (or cast iron 
looking) street light in the recognisable style for Victorian era 
gas street lights. However for the glass, use heavily tinted 
welding glass so that the arc itself can be observed and only a dim 
light result.

    .~~~.
  ./     \.
 /_________\
||    I    ||
||    I    ||
||  * V *  ||
||   *#*   ||
||  * ^ *  ||
||    I    ||
||____I____||
 \_________/
    |   |
    |   |
    |   |


Alright that didn't turn out looking very ornate, but you get the 
idea. I think if you made a bunch of these and spaced them equally 
either side of a pathway it would be a really neat effect.

You can buy reproduction gas street light top bits (at least) from 
China - I checked. Of course it would all be way outside my budget 
for a hobby project just to make one of them, but one of these days 
I do want to try building an arc light in and old steel drum so as 
to make my own spotlight to shine around and confuse some of the 
local wildlife with.

- The Free Thinker, 2020.