The History of Invention of Conveyable Lighting Tower
Who invented the first portable lighting tower?
This depends principally on your definition of a lighting tower. A detailed definition might 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 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 suggests that machines not dissimilar to today’s lighting towers were being designed in the 1930s.
A patent from 1932 shows what might 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 chassis with four wheels at each corner ( permitting the machine to be towed ), a generator powered by an engine and one giant electrical lamp at each end of the vehicle. The machine is intended 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 lately in 1980 a US patent 4181929 was filed for a Portable illuminating tower that illustrates a much nearer resemblance to modern day lighting towers.
The US patent 4181929 describes a conveyable lighting tower composed from 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 simply transported. The design also includes jack legs that are now common place on all lighting towers to ensure stability in strong winds.
This is kind of a serious development in the history of the lighting tower as this patent largely forms the foundation of most modern 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 next 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 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 revolved enabling finer control of the area of illumination. By offering 2 masts the light tower also allows for illumination over just about all sides of the machine. This is unlike previous light towers which sometimes offer illumination on just one side of the machine.
Since 1980 substantial progress has been manufactured by lighting tower makers. Although the final design has varied tiny 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 framework design which permits just about any generator to be used to power the light heads.
The TCP Ecolite lighting tower has also damaged new ground by using extremely cost-effective lamps to reduce fuel consumption significantly, which is very timely seeing as global warming is starting to become 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 nip/tuck season 7 episode 9 or the real housewives of new york city season 3 episode 1 meantime.
Tags: lighting, lighting tower