The History of Invention of Portable Lighting Tower
Who invented the first conveyable lighting tower?
This depends principally on your definition of a lighting tower. An extensive definition may 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 up to date 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 first machine of its kind filed in US patent 1934576 and is named as a movable floodlighting unit for airfields.
The patent describes a framework with 4 wheels at each corner ( permitting 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 meant 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 recently 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 portable lighting tower composed from a base frame ( which contains 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 lightweight 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 quite a big development in the history of the lighting tower as this patent largely forms the basis of most current 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 an answer to provide more extensive illumination. The US patent 4220981 describes a framework with 4 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 revolved enabling finer control over the area of illumination. By offering two masts the light tower also allows for illumination over just about all sides of the machine. This is not like previous light towers which often offer illumination on only one side of the machine.
Since 1980 substantial progress has been made by lighting tower makers. Although the final design has sundry small from those seen in the 1980s many improvements have been made to make lighting towers better to use and more ecologically 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 allows just about any generator to be used to power the light heads.
The TCP Ecolite lighting tower in addition has damaged new ground by utilising intensely economical lamps to reduce fuel consumption significantly, which is particularly timely seeing as global warming is becoming a more and more common concern.
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