The History of Invention of Cartable Lighting Tower
Who invented the first conveyable lighting tower?
This depends largely on your definition of a lighting tower. A broad definition could include something as straightforward as a candle or primitive torch placed on a tall mast to cast light over a large area, such a device has probably been used since the Stone Age.
In more recent 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 might be the first machine of its kind filed in US patent 1934576 and is named as a Portable floodlighting unit for airfields.
The patent describes a framework with 4 wheels at every corner ( permitting the machine to be towed ), a generator powered by an engine and one giant electrical lamp at every end of the auto. The machine is meant 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 harsh weather conditions.
More recently in 1980 a US patent 4181929 was filed for a Portable illuminating tower that illustrates a much closer resemblance to modern day lighting towers.
The US patent 4181929 describes a cartable lighting tower consisting of a base frame ( which contains an engine and generator ) and a vertical, extending, hydraulic mast with two electrical lamps at the higher 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 guarantee stability in strong winds.
This is reasonably a serious development in the history of the lighting tower as this patent principally forms the basis of most present day lighting towers which contain similar elements like a base that stores the engine and generator along 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 extensive illumination. The US patent 4220981 describes a framework with 4 wheels to hold the generator and engine and two folding telescopic masts at opposite corners of the framework that each hold a cluster of electrical lamps. The design also allows 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 nearly every side of the machine. This isn’t like previous light towers which sometimes offer illumination on only 1 side of the machine.
Since 1980 substantial progress has been manufactured by lighting tower manufacturers. Though the overall design has varied small from those seen in the 1980s many improvements have been made to make lighting towers simpler to use and more environmentally friendly.
The Hylite lighting tower from Taylor Construction Plant includes Adjustabeam technology which allows the user to adjust the direction of each lamp from the ground. The TCP Hylite also has a flexible chassis design which permits virtually any generator to be used to power the light heads.
The TCP Ecolite lighting tower has additionally damaged new ground by exploiting highly economical lamps to reduce fuel consumption dramatically, which is very timely seeing as global warming is starting to become a more and more prevalent concern.
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Tags: lighting, lighting tower