In 1932, George Carwardine, an engineer who worked on car suspension, applied for a patent on a new lamp. Springs near its base balance the arm, so the lamp stays in whatever position it is put. He made the first lamps in his workshop in Bath. From 1934, Herbert Terry and Sons of Redditch made and sold it as the Anglepoise.
It is often said that the lamp copies the human arm. That claim has been disputed.