Name Frederick Holmes | ||
 | ||
Frederick Hale Holmes (born 1812) was a Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Panopticon of Science and Art and pioneer of electric lighting. In 1853 he demonstrated the ability of electro-magnetic generators to provide continuous current to power arc light and in 1856 patented a magneto to power an arc light for lighthouses which he demonstrated to Michael Faraday at Blackwall in 1857. His experiments with alternating current arc lighting at North Foreland lighthouse in 1857-60 were the subject of a lecture by Michael Faraday at the Royal Institution.
One of Holmes' generators built in 1867 and used at Souter Lighthouse is displayed at the Science Museum, London.
Some web sources give his date of death as 1875 however he was recorded as still living at time of 1881 census in which his occupation was noted as "Patentee of Fog Signals". which is confirmed by his filing of a patent in 1881 (granted 1883 in US) for a "Siren for Signalling"