The development of lanterns continued through the 1930s and accelerated when it was determined that the lamp’s brightness and its long length made it less susceptible to glare. Lanterns with bare bulbs suspended over an overhead reflector (the so-called "seagull" lanterns) quickly followed. Glass manufacturers were initially slow as the first plate refractors for low pressure sodium lamps didn’t appear until the end of the decade.

The advantages and disadvantages of low pressure sodium were readily debated, especially when an alternative (the medium and high pressure mercury discharge lamp) was also available. The monochromatic light was considered especially useful for arterial and traffic routes, the lamp’s shape cast a wide beam across the road surface, the light was also considered more penetrating in foggy conditions and it was the most efficient light source being manufactured. However, the light was also considered inappropriate for high streets, promenades, civic areas and residential streets and so some lighting engineers restricted its use to traffic routes only. Therefore low pressure sodium became known as "the drivers’ lamp."

The arrival of plate glass refractors resulted in large lanterns made of metal frames enclosing heavy glass sheets. These bulky lanterns continued to be made into the 1950s until being usurped by lanterns with plastic bowls and machined or moulded plastic refractor plates. The lanterns were still large; the size dictated by the bulky control gear, but their design and construction was becoming simpler.

The 1950s and 1960s saw huge improvements in the construction and efficacy of low pressure sodium. Early two-piece designs (dubbed SO) were replaced by the one-piece, more efficient integral design (called the SOI). The development of linear sodium (SLI) broke the one hundred lumens per watt barrier, lead to a radical rewriting of the British Standards of street lighting and prompted the development of new families of streamlined lanterns. But it wasn’t until the arrival of a new heat-reflecting technology (called SOX) that a cheap family of extremely efficient bulbs became available.

The energy crisis of the 1970s saw a rethink in street lighting and lamp efficiency became dominant when fuel was both in short supply and expensive. This saw the large scale removal of colour corrected high pressure mercury, fluorescent and ancient tungsten lamps by low pressure sodium replacements. The old arguments that the smoky-orange lamps were inappropriate for residential areas no longer applied. By the end of the 1980s, low pressure sodium was the dominant street lighting lamp used in the UK.

The use of low pressure sodium came under scrutiny again. High pressure sodium, finally developed as a viable technology in the 1960s, was coming of age and offered a compromise of slightly less efficacy with better colour rendering. Questions were being asked about the physiology of the eye and visual adaptation under low lighting levels; previously the wavelength of low pressure sodium had been deemed the most suitable, but research now suggested that the eye responded better to white light. Concerns were raised about light pollution and the low pressure sodium lamp was seen to be the chief culprit (although it was more to do with older non-cutoff and semi-cutoff optical designs rather than the lamp itself).

By the turn of the century, the age of low pressure sodium was seen as coming to an end. Research in white light technologies, especially metal halide and a renewed interest in compact fluorescent coupled with the advantages of using white light at low lighting levels, saw the end of the low pressure sodium lamp’s dominance. Its use was discouraged in the specifications, lantern manufacturers started to wind down their production and bulb manufacturers followed suit.

By the end of the first decade of the 2000s, low pressure sodium was in stark decline, and less and less of the UK’s streets were being lit by its characteristic orange glow.

Name: ELECO GR535
Date: Late 1970s - Late 1980s
Dimensions: Length: 460mm, Width: 170mm, Height: 142mm
Light Distibution: Semi Cut-Off (BS 4533:1976)
Lamp: 35W SOX

DAVIS catalogue

ELECO was one of the most prolific manufacturers of low pressure sodium lanterns producing two separate families of lanterns each called Golden Ray. The first was a selection of typical deep-bowl "boxy" lanterns, which originally appeared in the 1950s, the lengthy dimensions were required to hold the cumbersome leak transformers and gear of the period. By the 1960s, a new family of Golden Ray lanterns appeared, with sleek angular aluminium canopies and equally slim elegant bowls. For many years, the GR501 was ELECO's specified gearless lantern for Group 'B' roads, and it accepted both 35W and 55W bulbs. It wasn’t until the 1970s that smaller lanterns were designed just for the 35W SOX bulb: the first were the gear-in-head GR525 lanterns and these were followed by the gearless GR535. Interestingly the GR525 and GR535 didn’t share the same design as the rest of the family. The canopies and bowls were wider, giving the lantern more breadth. (This trait continued with the gear-in-head GR550 series and the modified GR100). But, even with its larger width, the GR535 was still a tiny lantern when compared with its contemporaries; in fact, it could be the smallest 35W SOX lantern ever made. When ELECO Holdings transferred the manufacturing of their street lighting to subsidiary DAVIS, the GR535 remained in the catalogue. But the lantern was finally discontinued when the remnants of the original ELECO range was absorbed into Whitecroft lighting in the 1990s.

The interior of the canopy is unpainted aluminium. This secondary optical system reflects any flux emitted above the horizontal back toward the ground.

The exterior of the bowl is smooth to facilitate easy cleaning.

This was the first picture I took of the lantern when it was added to the collection. As can be seen, it didn't require any restoration work.