The History of Creation of Conveyable 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 current 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 could be the 1st machine of its kind filed in US patent 1934576 and is named as a movable floodlighting unit for airfields.
The patent describes a frame with 4 wheels at every corner ( permitting the machine to be towed ), a generator powered by an engine and one large electrical lamp at every 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 recently in 1980 a US patent 4181929 was filed for a Portable illuminating tower that illustrates a much nearer similarity to present 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 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 gusty winds.
This is quite a serious development in the history of the lighting tower as this patent principally forms the root of most current 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 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 frame 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 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 every side of the machine. This isn’t like previous light towers which generally offer illumination on just one side of the machine.
Since 1980 substantial progress has been manufactured by lighting tower manufacturers. Though the final design has varied tiny 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 chassis design which permits virtually any generator to be used to power the light heads.
The TCP Ecolite lighting tower in addition has damaged new ground by utilising intensely cost-effective lamps to reduce fuel consumption significantly, which is very timely seeing as global warming is starting to become a more and more plentiful concern.
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