Fluorescent street lighting

[bgadow]

In the late 80's or early 90's I bought a very large incandescent bulb at a local freight salvage store, just as a novelty. It appeared to be old stock from the 60's or 70's, a GE. It had unusual markings-I think it included an amp rating but no wattage; had a mogul base. I finally tried it in an old lamp with one of those bases. As the educated on here could guess, when I flipped the switch there was a flash of light, the filament burned out and the circuit breaker tripper. I later learned it was used in a special type of street lamp circuit-series string, I think. I still have the bulb and package because it's kind of neat to look at.

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by bgadow

In the late 80's or early 90's I bought a very large incandescent bulb at a local freight salvage store, just as a novelty. It appeared to be old stock from the 60's or 70's, a GE. It had unusual markings-I think it included an amp rating but no wattage; had a mogul base. I finally tried it in an old lamp with one of those bases. As the educated on here could guess, when I flipped the switch there was a flash of light, the filament burned out and the circuit breaker tripper. I later learned it was used in a special type of street lamp circuit-series string, I think. I still have the bulb and package because it's kind of neat to look at.

The system used a constant current set-up. An old Master's Electrician's handbook explained how the system worked. There was some kind of a reactor with a movable core and weight arrangement that moved in or out to maintain the current.
Each socket had a shunt that would arc through when the lamp went O/C.
There was well over 1000 volts open circuit.

[old_tv_nut]

This is the first time I have seen the word "electrolier" and a quick search shows it to be a widely used generic term, so good luck finding the company that used it as a trade name.

[Jon A.]

Originally Posted by bgadow

In the late 80's or early 90's I bought a very large incandescent bulb at a local freight salvage store, just as a novelty. It appeared to be old stock from the 60's or 70's, a GE. It had unusual markings-I think it included an amp rating but no wattage; had a mogul base. I finally tried it in an old lamp with one of those bases. As the educated on here could guess, when I flipped the switch there was a flash of light, the filament burned out and the circuit breaker tripper. I later learned it was used in a special type of street lamp circuit-series string, I think. I still have the bulb and package because it's kind of neat to look at.

Considering that they were used in circuits that run at such high voltages, and that it tripped the breaker, I doubt it's burned out. Have you seen a broken filament or checked it for continuity?

Originally Posted by old_tv_nut

This is the first time I have seen the word "electrolier" and a quick search shows it to be a widely used generic term, so good luck finding the company that used it as a trade name.

Hard to tell what such a reply is supposed to suggest but it didn't surprise me.

The label is fully intact and more than just printed letters, and I know where the company was based so it shouldn't be that hard. Besides, information for many things Canadian is very difficult to find on Google so I'll just have to check other sources.

[old_tv_nut]

Originally Posted by Jon A.

Hard to tell what such a reply is supposed to suggest but it didn't surprise me.

Just commiserating with you on how some info gets buried or doesn't exist on the otherwise "knows-all, tells-all" internet, and truly wishing you luck on finding it.

[old_tv_nut]

This is interesting - history of Los Angeles street lighting:
http://bsl.lacity.org/history.html

[old_tv_nut]

I also ran across something called induction lighting - a long-life electrode-less fluorescent lamp used for street lighting:
https://www.accessfixtures.com/induction_lighting/

It is based on inventions of Nikola Tesla long ago.

When I worked at the science museum in Chicago, one part of the electricity demonstration was lighting an ordinary fluorescent tube wirelessly by high frequency induction. We did some tricks (probably originated by Tesla, although I didn't know at the time), like "wiping" the light on and off the tube.

[MIPS]

Originally Posted by old_tv_nut

I also ran across something called induction lighting - a long-life electrode-less fluorescent lamp used for street lighting:
https://www.accessfixtures.com/induction_lighting/

It is based on inventions of Nikola Tesla long ago.

When I worked at the science museum in Chicago, one part of the electricity demonstration was lighting an ordinary fluorescent tube wirelessly by high frequency induction. We did some tricks (probably originated by Tesla, although I didn't know at the time), like "wiping" the light on and off the tube.

I have seen these appear around here over the last decade. Nearby strip mall replaced their sodium with them, there is two or three used at the university before the next annual budget went all-LED and a few of the MoT rest stops have them. Supposedly they operate on the same principle as fluorescent but with no electrodes they are overall better technology as they last longer, use less power and have a much larger striking range.

[old_tv_nut]

The 1964-65 New York World's Fair had lighting fixtures ("luminaires") that used a special flat panel fluorescent lamp:
http://www.lamptech.co.uk/Spec%20She...0Panel%20F.htm

Manufacture of these panels was discontinued after a few years partly because of poor lifetime due to problems in sealing them thoroughly during manufacture.

Here are some pictures of the luminaires:
https://www.worldsfairphotos.com/nywf64/luminaires.htm

[AdamAnt316]

I remember seeing fluorescent lighting at gas stations when I was growing up, but not so much as street lighting. At least one former gas station (now a body shop) still turns on their fluorescent lights at night. One current gas station lit theirs for a year or so, but didn't bother to turn it off during the day! It's been off ever since; not sure if the tubes/ballast failed, or if they just don't bother anymore.

Up until the early-mid '90s, my town used mercury vapor street lighting. We lived on a small private road, and still had an incandescent streetlight. Around the time the town converted their streetlights to sodium vapor, they took down our streetlight, and didn't replace it for a few years, upon which they replaced it with a sodium vapor one which is still there.

A few years ago, I found an American Electric street light head in a trash pile across the street from my house. It's equipped with a 100W GE mercury vapor bulb, and a ballast coil of some sort. I'm not sure how to wire it up; I tried connecting a 120V cheater cord to its terminals, but no dice. Guessing it needs 240 or 277V, but I have no real idea how I'd accommodate it in that regard. Here are some pictures of it:

[MIPS]

Originally Posted by AdamAnt316

I remember seeing fluorescent lighting at gas stations when I was growing up, but not so much as street lighting. At least one former gas station (now a body shop) still turns on their fluorescent lights at night. One current gas station lit theirs for a year or so, but didn't bother to turn it off during the day! It's been off ever since; not sure if the tubes/ballast failed, or if they just don't bother anymore.

There's a hotel/Tiki bar in East Vancouver called the Waldorf that refurbished the exterior about a decade ago so it was no longer a super seedy bar and hooker hang-out. Along with restoring the exterior to it's original style they replaced all the original fluorescent lighting along the roofline and it ran happily for years. About two years ago however the building changed owners and it rapidly fell into disrepair. They removed it all for good in the spring as they are slowly pushing the plot through city hall for redevelopment. Not sure though why you would want to pay Vancouver rates though for a condo that overlooks the docks and both a chicken rendering and processing plant.



Edited: I forgot I also did some digging and found photos of my town in the late 60's when the main drags were still fluorescent.


http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...Bucket/_58.jpg


http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...1939_small.jpg


http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...et/293_001.jpg


http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...et/954_001.jpg

The same street, but a few years later. Note the sodium heads.


http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...et/804_001.jpg

[Telecolor 3007]

The one from Santa Monica looks more like '80'-'90's.

[old_tv_nut]

Well, that explains how those fluorescents on State Street could work in Chicago winters.

[MadMan]

lol! Damn 1200w fluorescent light, that's insane! Look at those tubes though, very interesting.

[Electronic M]

Originally Posted by MadMan

lol! Damn 1200w fluorescent light, that's insane! Look at those tubes though, very interesting.

They stopped making those tubes recently. I know a local TV collector that has a hoard of those tubes and that was the explanation I was given.