The History of Creation of Cartable Lighting Tower
Who invented the first conveyable lighting tower?
This depends mostly on your definition of a lighting tower. An extensive definition might include something as straightforward as a candle or primitive torch placed on a tall mast to cast light over an enormous area, such a device has doubtless been in use since the Stone Age.
In more current history it’s un-clear as to when the modern lighting tower was invented. Researching patent applications indicates that machines not dissimilar to today’s lighting towers were being designed in the 1930s.
A patent from 1932 shows what could be the first machine of its kind filed in US patent 1934576 and is named as a Portable floodlighting unit for airports.
The patent describes a frame with four wheels at every corner ( allowing the machine to be towed ), a generator powered by an engine and one giant electrical lamp at every end of the vehicle. The machine is intended to be used to provide on-demand lighting of alternative landing sites at airports on occasions when the main landing areas are out of use due to harsh weather conditions.
More lately in 1980 a US patent 4181929 was filed for a Portable illuminating tower that illustrates a much more close similarity to present day lighting towers.
The US patent 4181929 describes a cartable lighting tower composed of a base frame ( which has an engine and generator ) and a vertical, extending, hydraulic mast with two electric lamps at the upper end. The unit does not permit towing but instead is light and compact enough to be easily transported. The design also includes jack legs that are now common place on all lighting towers to ensure stability in high winds.
This is kind of a serious development in the history of the lighting tower as this patent mostly forms the root of most current day lighting towers which contain similar elements like a base that stores the engine and generator together with an extending hydraulic mast that supports the luminaries.
The next patent was filed later on in the same year of 1980 but was for an answer to provide more intensive illumination. The US patent 4220981 describes a framework with four wheels to hold the generator and engine and 2 folding telescopic masts at opposite corners of the frame that each hold a cluster of electrical lamps. The design also permits for the masts to be rotated enabling finer control over the area of illumination. By offering two masts the light tower also allows for illumination over just about every side of the machine. This isn’t like previous light towers which generally offer illumination on only one side of the machine.
Since 1980 substantial progress has been manufactured by lighting tower makers. Although the overall design has sundry little from those seen in the 1980s many enhancements have been made to make lighting towers easier to use and more environmentally friendly.
The Hylite lighting tower from Taylor Construction Plant includes Adjustabeam technology which permits the user to adjust the direction of each lamp from the ground. The TCP Hylite also has a flexible chassis design which permits just about any generator to be used to power the light heads.
The TCP Ecolite lighting tower in addition has damaged new ground by exploiting highly cheap lamps to reduce fuel consumption seriously, which is especially timely seeing as global warming is starting to become a more and more plentiful concern.
There’s a lot of information on this topic online, so you can get more of it if you want, and you can watch parenthood season 1 episode 1 or amazing race season 16 episode 4 meantime.
Tags: lighting, lighting tower