The History of Invention of Cartable Lighting Tower
Who invented the 1st conveyable lighting tower?
This depends principally on your definition of a lighting tower. An extensive definition could include something as simple as a candle or primitive torch placed on a tall mast to cast light over an enormous area, such a device has likely been used 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 1st machine of its kind filed in US patent 1934576 and is named as a transportable floodlighting unit for airports.
The patent describes a framework with four wheels at each corner ( permitting the machine to be towed ), a generator powered by an engine and one large electrical lamp at each end of the vehicle. The machine is designed to be used to provide on-demand lighting of alternative landing sites at airfields on occasions when the main landing areas are out of use due to inclement weather conditions.
More recently in 1980 a US patent 4181929 was filed for a Portable illuminating tower that illustrates a much more close resemblance to current day lighting towers.
The US patent 4181929 describes a conveyable lighting tower composed of a base frame ( which has an engine and generator ) and a vertical, extending, hydraulic mast with 2 electric lamps at the higher end. The unit doesn’t 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 gusty winds.
This is reasonably a significant development in the history of the lighting tower as this patent mostly forms the foundation of most modern day lighting towers which contain similar elements such as a base that stores the engine and generator with an extending hydraulic mast that supports the luminaries.
The subsequent patent was filed later on in the same year of 1980 but was for an answer to provide more in depth illumination. The US patent 4220981 describes a chassis with four wheels to hold the generator and engine and two folding telescopic masts at opposite corners of the frame that each hold a cluster of electric lamps. The design also allows for the masts to be revolved enabling finer control of the area of illumination. By offering 2 masts the light tower also allows for illumination over just about every side of the machine. This is not like prior light towers which often offer illumination on just one side of the machine.
Since 1980 considerable progress has been made by lighting tower manufacturers. Though the overall design has sundry small from those seen in the 1980s many improvements have been made to make lighting towers better 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 frame design which permits just about any generator to be used to power the light heads.
The TCP Ecolite lighting tower has additionally damaged new ground by using intensely cheap lamps to reduce fuel consumption seriously, which is especially timely seeing as global warming is becoming a more and more prevalent 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 modern family season 1 episode 16 or the first 48 season 10 episode 7 meantime.
Tags: lighting, lighting tower