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. A detailed definition could include something as easy as a candle or primitive torch placed on a tall mast to cast light over an enormous area, such a device has doubtless 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 reveals 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 frame with 4 wheels at each corner ( allowing the machine to be towed ), a generator powered by an engine and one massive electrical lamp at each end of the car. 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 because of inclement 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 modern day lighting towers.
The US patent 4181929 describes a portable 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 higher end. The unit does not permit towing but instead is lightweight 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 reasonably a big development in the history of the lighting tower as this patent largely forms the foundation of most present day lighting towers which contain similar elements such as a base that stores the engine and generator along with an extending hydraulic mast that supports the luminaries.
The following patent was filed later on in the same year of 1980 but was for a solution to provide more extensive illumination. The US patent 4220981 describes a chassis with four wheels to hold the generator and engine and 2 folding telescopic masts at opposite corners of the framework that each hold a cluster of electric lamps. The design also permits for the masts to be revolved enabling finer control over the area of illumination. By offering two masts the light tower also allows for illumination over virtually all sides of the machine. This isn’t like previous light towers which often offer illumination on just one side of the machine.
Since 1980 considerable progress has been manufactured by lighting tower makers. Though the overall design has varied small from those seen in the 1980s many enhancements 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 frame design which permits almost any generator to be used to power the light heads.
The TCP Ecolite lighting tower in addition has broken new ground by exploiting intensely cost-effective lamps to reduce fuel consumption significantly, which is especially timely seeing as global warming is starting to become a more and more common concern.
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Tags: lighting, lighting tower