sputtering arc

I left my car on a street with sputtering arc lights and walked into the grounds along a damp gravel path to the main entrance.

Then the radio-loop went white-hot and melted, with a sputtering arc as the circuit broke.

Before Marcel and his men could bring their weapons to bear, he snatched a blazing torch from its bracket, brought his arm back and threw the torch in a high sputtering arc.

We passed under the ancient sputtering arc lights and after a while there was a town, buildings, dead-looking stores, a service station with a light over a nightbell, and at last a drugstore that was still open.