Let There be Light Of all the new electrical devices that begin appearing in the 1880s, the ones most familiar today are the light bulb and the telephone. The magic is all related to the original discoveries of an Englishman who somehow discovers that electricity can also be created simply by passing a loop of wire between the poles of an ordinary magnet. Nothing could be more astonishing.

	Delivery System One early use for electricity is to power new city streetlights, replacing existing lights fueled by more expensive coal gas. Cities begin installing municipal power stations (top center) to generate electricity for the new lights, called arc lamps. The light is produced by an electric spark (or arc), which jumps between two rods of pure carbon. The electricity is produced by a row of generators, which are powered by a matching row of steam engines (bottom center), and transmitted to the lamps by underground cables.
	Handy Portable Power Once the generator is invented, it doesn't take long to discover that you can make an electric motor with a very similar design. But instead of applying power to spin the generator and produce electricity, you apply electricity to the motor, which spins its shaft. Note the similarity between the pictures at top and bottom right. The upper photo is a generator, the lower one a motor.  The first commercial electric motor (top center) is used to power urban trollies.