World's First Forgotten Electric Wonder - Chariot Race Of 1910

Here’s footage of the sign from 1911 or so. Look at the 4:40 mark. https://youtu.be/hZ1OgQL9_Cw

lohphat

I'm not sure about the state of incandescent bulbs at that precise time, but if you've never heard of it, check out the Phoebus cartel to learn the story of how light bulb manufacturers colluded to engineer bulbs that failed more quickly so everyone could make more money. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoebus_cartel

Circuitmike

I was thinking shortwave broadcast antenna, like a curtain array.

Circuitmike

Nope.

Fran Blanche

as they probably are to this day- not mentioning any names recently in the media.... circus!! hehehe!

Mike Hughes

That was really interesting, I had not heard of it before. One has to wonder what technology they did employ in its construction so early on into the commencement of the electrical era. Did they have neon tube technology? will we ever find out? Hopefully someone will be able to answer this, given the reach of the internet. Fantastic article Fran. Thank you for researching and bringing this to our attention.

Mike Hughes

Very impressive. Never heard about that before. Do you have any more on how they were storing the text that appeared on the sign and converting it into the pattern of bulbs?

They say that the lamps flashed 2500 times per minute! What kind of lamp at that time can run at that speed? https://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com/2011/04/24/the-chariot-race-sign-in-a-young-herald-square/

Who knows...

Fran Blanche

It's NYC - Palms were adequately greased.

Fran Blanche

Fascinating. 500,000 ft of wire is almost 90 miles! Truly a wonder that it was ever approved, built, and worked as well as it did for as long as it did.

Peter Knazko

I never would have imagined this possible back then. The maintenance of changing bad incandescent bulbs when they were a relatively new technology completely mystifies me. How could such an electro-mechanical wonder have worked fro two years? This just seems beyond the cutting edge that it could have worked so well back then. I hope a patron has a long-forgotten folder on how this sign worked. Thanks for putting in the time. Really awesome video with so few sources available.

Matt Wietlispach

A great video on a subject I knew nothing about! Thank you, Fran.

David Peaker

Hi Fran. I really enjoyed that. It would be great if some of your follower's or general audience had more info. What a great topic to start a 'Citizen's science history page' with their contributions. Were they using banks of relays or oil filled capacitors with selenium rectifiers? fantastic tech. thank you.

Very impressive effort, Fran, thanks for the history lesson.

Carol K Stouffer

Absolutely fascinating!

William Alsing

Oh man, the back of that display looks more like a radiotelescope :)

Delightful, and Thank You. I am suprised it stayed up at all. The designers of the building had no reason to build for the added load that the steel structure and the generators presented. What powered the generators? What sort of politicking was needed to get city approvals to permit construction? A wonder indeed.

Kendra Akin

Amazing. Thanks for this, Fran!

Jason Thorpe

Incredible and unimaginable for 1910. It's like a ship sail up there, so no wonder it didn't last. Ha! 600bhp generators above a hotel to help you get off to sleep

Terrific!