The History of Invention of Cartable Lighting Tower
Who invented the first portable lighting tower?
This depends principally on your definition of a lighting tower. A detailed definition may include something as easy as a candle or primitive torch placed on a tall mast to cast light over a large area, such a device has doubtless been in use 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 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 4 wheels at each corner ( allowing the machine to be towed ), a generator powered by an engine and one massive electrical lamp at every end of the vehicle. The machine is designed 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 harsh weather conditions.
More lately in 1980 a US patent 4181929 was filed for a Portable illuminating tower that illustrates a much nearer similarity to current day lighting towers.
The US patent 4181929 describes a conveyable 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 upper 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 high winds.
This is kind of 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 such as a base that stores the engine and generator together 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 a solution to provide more intensive 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 chassis that each hold a cluster of electric lamps. The design also allows 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 unlike prior light towers which often offer illumination on only 1 side of the machine.
Since 1980 substantial progress has been made by lighting tower manufacturers. Although the overall design has varied small from those seen in the 1980s many improvements have been made to make lighting towers better 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 allows just about any generator to be used to power the light heads.
The TCP Ecolite lighting tower has additionally broken new ground by utilising highly economical lamps to reduce fuel consumption dramatically, which is particularly timely seeing as global warming is becoming a more and more prevalent concern.
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