Images Dated 2004 March

Bude light

A large Bude light in Trafalgar Square. Invented by Sir Goldsworthy Gurney and patented in 1839, the light worked by introducing oxygen gas into the middle of a standard oil lamp flame. The unburned carbon in the oil flame burned incredibly brightly and an intense, white light was produced from the weak, yellow flame of the oil lamp. A single Bude light was used to light Gurney's castle (in Bude, Cornwall) using a set of prisms and reflectors

© Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans

A Calculating machine

The control panel of the automatic sequence-controlled calculating machine at Manchester University; showing the monitor cathode-ray tube with Dr. T. Kilburn (left) and Professor F. C. Williams (right), inventor of the memory storage system. Williams became Professor Electrical Engineering at Manchester in 1946 is chiefly known for his development of the Williams tube, the first successful electrostatic random access memory for the digital computer. This enabled him, along with Kilburn, to operate the world's first stored-program computer in June 1948

© Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans

Staites patent electric light apparatus

Engraving of Edward Staite's patent electric light apparatus, exhibited at the Hanover Square Rooms, London in 1848. The light used a weight-driven mechanism, controlled by the heat of the arc of electricity expanding and contracting a copper strip. Although not a commercial success to begin with, W. Petrie's improvements to the original design led to Edison and Swan adopting the light in the 1870's

© Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans