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ilp archive : journals
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public lighting no. 32 vol. 9
January-March 1944
- Editorial p9
- Road Accidents p9
- In a meeting E. C. Lennox drew attention to the serious problem of road accidents and their
relation to hours of darkness. The night/day ratio risk of accident is 20/1 at the present time. His
solution is adequate street lighting. In the post-war period, those in authority should regard it as a first
duty to ensure that adequate and efficient street lighting is provided.
- Statistics: Accident Data
- Recommissioning Street Lighting p9
- A census by the APLE determined that 33 1/3% of street lighting would be available on the first
night after an armistice with a further 40% made available within three weeks. In certain areas of great deal
of re-requipping will be necessary.
- Lighting: Statistics
- Shortage Of Material p9
- APLE have distributed an enquiry to determine what materials street lighting manufacturers will
be requiring after the war.
- Lighting: Materials
- A.P.L.E. Conference p9
- A conference will be organised and will be held in the Autumn.
- APLE: Conference
- USA Coastal Cities Emerge From Dimout p9
- In certain areas along the coast lines of America, cities subjected to "dimout" regulations will return
to "normal" in the near future. Termination of "dimout" has been followed by the prompt removal of shields from
the street lamps in the main streets. "Boy, it's good to have the lights again!"
- Lighting: ARP
- "Grimes" cartoon p10
- Reproduction of a "Grimes" cartook from The Daily Star.
- Lighting: Social Comment
- Can This Be Beaten? p10
- Sorry of a lamp column in North London being blown into someone's back garden where it landed upright.
- Lighting: ARP
- Congratulations p10
- Details of promotions for Mr. A. G. Higgens and Mr. W. N. C. Clinch, M.I.E.E.
- Lighting: Personnel
- Quotation p10
- "And when the lights go up in London - and I'd like to see them blazing like a beacon - let it be a sign
and a signal to the waiting world that the British people are still on the job and mean to stay on it." -
J. B. Priestley, BBC broadcast.
- Lighting: Social Comment
- Street Lighting Considerations For The Future by Edward C. Lennox, M.I.E.E. p11
- Night/day risk at the present time 1942/1943 is something in the region 9/1. The night/day ratio risk of
accident is over 20/1. 1,330 pedestrians were killed during hours of darkness against 904 in hours of daylight.
- Adequate street lighting forms the most important contribution to the safe use of streets and roadways during
dark hours and adequate street lighting can be provided at a cost very much less than the cost of the accidents
it is calculated to save.
- The desire for renewal of lighting on streets and roads is that many people and civil authorities will be
only too pleased to have the lamps lit again, rather than both much about efficiency, adequacy and the many
improvements in technique and design.
- What are the main functions of street lighting:
- To provide for the convenience and safety of all road users (drivers and pedestrians).
- To assist the police.
- To assist residents in the pursuit of their normal interests.
- To increase attractiveness of shopping areas and create pride in civic centres
- All of these functions are worthy of serious thought and have economic and well as moral value.
- Street Lighting Standards
- The appraisal of a street lighting installation is not a simple matter of measurement. It is not practical to
measure visibility, nor is it feasable to indicate the performance of a specified number, type and arrangement of
lighting units, owning to the diversity of the relevant street characteristics. The last specification, B.S. 307/1931,
attempted to provide a basis upon which installations could be designed and compared and tenders invited. It
attempted to specify and classify street lighting by measurements on the road surface - these were called "Test Points"
and some eight classes of installations were scheduled. The specification was well received but installations in
the higher categories were often not so good from the users' point of view as were some installations in the
lower class. The specification did not fulfil its main purpose and has been mainly abandoned.
- Efforts were made to define visibility:
- (a) By illuminating an object against a darker background.
- (b) So creating a bright background that any object could be seen in silhouette against that background.
- Slides
- We see objects on roadway by day as dark objects against a lighter background. This is followed in street
lighting. The majority of objects required to see on roadways also have a low reflection value - therefore the
amount of illumination under (a) would be greater than (b). Closer spacing, larger lighing soures and lower mounting
height would follow (a) - increasing discomfort glare and decreasing actual visibility. (b) necessitated the
casting light along the road surface instead of on to it.
- The MOT Report 1937 divided roadways into two groups:
- Group A: Traffic Routes: Roads where the standard of lighting provides an ample margin of safety for
all road users without the use of car headlights.
- Group B: All Other Roads: All other roads which should be lighted.
- Mounting And Overhang
- Carriageways up to 30', lantern mounted over kerb.
- Carriageways up to 40', up to 5 feet overhang.
- Carriageways over 40', lantern over kerb with additional lantern over centre of carriageway
- Lanterns
- Light output to be 3000-8000 lumens per linear foot of highway.
- So far the draft specification has not matured, due in the first instance to the inherent difficulty of
reaching agreement on the correlating of all the essential factors with the extreme diversity of relevant
street characteristics and the impracticability of measuring visibility. One main factor is certain - the need
for creating a background brightness. Two major methods emerge to give effect to this:
- (1) The use of cut-off lanterns. Requires close spacing but gives a somewhat wider angle of view. Background
brightness is ususally of low order, but visibility is good for considerable distances so long as the observer is
not disturbed by bright light sources in his field. Even the brightness of oncoming motor car sidelight was sufficent in
pre-war days to disturb the visibility in such installations.
- (2) The use of non-cut-off lanterns. Allows for longer spacing, but larger light sources. Distribution of light
is controlled but a maximum is emitted between 75° and 85° from the vertical, resulting sometimes in disability
glare. This is overcome by the much brighter background brightness. The observer is not disturbed by the headlights
of such vehicles. The cut-off prevents a view of the distant light source and enhances the visibility by
obviating discomfort glare and enabling the background and road surface brightness to be fully appreciated.
- Which to adopt will depend on the roadway and the economics.
- Whenever a lighting unit is placed over a road surface a bright area is formed, its shape and brightness being
determined largely by the characteristics of the road surface, the light distribution, the mounting height and
distance. With a non-cut-off fitting, the bright area is a "T" shape with the tail towards the observer. The shape
of the area is changed with the distance of the observer from the light source - the further away the observer,
the brightness area becomes narrower and longer. Reducing the mounting height is similar to increasing
distance - the brightness area becomes narrower and shorter, the central areas brighter.
- With a different distribution the bright area assumes a different shape. For a cut-off lantern, no tail
is created. With cut-off fittings as the distance becomes greater the brightness becomes narrower. This results
in closer spacing, otherwise dark bands appear to alternate with bright bands.
- Another type of lighting is unidirectional lighting designed for use on dual carriageways. Lanterns are
mounted at 25' and are specially designed to give light in the direction of approaching traffic. This method is
very economical.
- New Methods
- One suggestion is to suspend lanterns at hitherto undreamed heights using ex-war barrage balloons. One is to
use the balloon as a reflecting medium to re-direct the illumination creating a moonlight effect. Another suggestion
is to use ex-war searchlights with the beams reflected off clouds. The impracticability of the scheme must be
apparent to all lighting engineers. Another suggestion was to use parachute flares dropped by aircraft. Kerb lighting
or low mounting units have also been suggested - but the general result would be most depressing ("all leg, no body"),
visually limited, and maintenance would be at a maximum due to dirt, splashes and vandalism.
- Firmly of the opinion that the immediate future holds no such revolutionary change in the principles of
obtaining good street lighting.
- Motor Car Headlamp
- Some control must be maintained over the motor car headlight in post-war traffic. They are definitely a
source of danger to the motorist, cyclist or pedestrian who is facing them. The best street lighting schemes
are of no avail against this menace.
- Switching (ON and OFF) Arrangements
- Careful consideration must be given in the future to the control of street lighting installations. Methods
at present are:
- (1) Hand Switching
- Expensive, wasteful of energy (if lamplighter ensures lamps are on before dark and off after dawn).
- (2) Time Switches
- Hand Wound - Expensive in maintenance and cost of winding.
- Electrically Wound With Solar Dial - No cost of winding. Maintenance becomes fairly large over 20 years.
- (3) Relays
- Expensive to insall in small numbers - becomes cheapest schemes for large areas. Maintenance small.
Control simultaneous from a central point. Schedule of lighting and extinguishing can be varied according to
light conditions.
- Poles
- Consideration should be given to the type of pole, not for the street scheme but the ultimate town scheme.
Surely some source of pride can be found in the user of a distinctive type of pole throughout a large area.
Poles have been available in steel, cast-iron and concrete. Steel may not be in such good supply for some time.
Concrete have provded most attractive in design, as many have received the approval of the Fine Arts Commission,
and they do not require painting. Positioning the poles to comply with the MOT Report is a major consideration.
- Ownership
- Ownership of the installation should always been vested in the local authority. Do local authorities hire
or even hire-purchase sewage systems or roadways? Why do some authorities continue to hire public lighting plant?
By doing so, they pay more in the long run more than if they met the capital cost out of public funds.
- Light Sources
- Light had been provided by heating to incandesence a wick, mantle or a metal filament. Such lamps have reached
a definite maximum in light output efficiency. The electric discharge lamp produces illumination to a value of
3 or 4 times the efficiency of the best known light source. Post-war traffic density is expected to be several times
that of pre-war in about 5 years post-war. So the roadways will have to be better lighted.
- Expenditure
- Expenditure on street lighting will have to be more generous in relation to the value of the lighting in
the prevention of road accidents. Adequate good lighting would show a return in saving of life and public
material and loss of working hours of not less than five times the cost of its provision and maintenance.
- Lighting Engineer
- Local authorities should be advised on street lighting problems by an engineer competent to deal with street
lighting. This engineer is necessary to them:
- (a) To formulate a scheme for the whole area in line with modern
requirements
- (b) To advise on the type of fitting needed to replace out-of-date fittings.
- (c) To obtain and compare tenders.
- (d) To ensure the correct installation of the new scheme.
- (e) To ensure regular and proper maintenance, make tests and maintain efficiency.
- (f) To keep in touch with developments.
- (g) Liaison with adjacent authorities.
- Administration
- The problem of whether money is raised parochially or should be a national charge is a matter for serious
consideration. It is obvious that the lighting of main traffic arteries is more a matter for the Ministry Of Transport
than the Ministry Of Health. No roadway should be considered finished until consideration has been given to the lighting
installation. Provision of street lighting is an optional matter, the decision to light the street depends on the
local authority.
- Discussion
- Mr. Anderson: The matter that impressed me was the fact of public safety and the suggestion that this is
a Ministerial concern. I agree that street lighting installations should be the property of the local authority - but
there is a great reluctance to spend money. Unless money is forthcoming, there is not much to do about it,
so it is essentially a matter for the Ministry Of Transport. There is a Road Fund for the maintenance of roads. If
we provide roads, we should also provide illumination for those roads.
- The Chairman: It is nearly five years since we saw any street lighting. Mr. Lennox has done
as an excellent service in taking all the aspects and reviewing them.
- Mr. James: Mr. Lennox gave us war-time night-day ratio for accidents. If he'd given pre-war
figures then these would've shown very clearly the necessity for very adequate street lighting. Mr. Lennox
stressed that lighting should always be in the direction of the traffic, but this gives the impression that
it might cause glare. I would give the authorities a miniumum height and not let them come down below it. (Lennox
stated 25' with 1½ to 5' tolerance - so 23'6" to 30'). Pavements and kerbs shuold be lit - the kerbs should be
painted white, or made white, with the studs that you get on roads. Public street lighting is an insurance - but not
for the townspeople or country people - it should be for every man, woman and child in the country. We should have
a Ministry of Public Lighting with very strong powers to deal with local authorities and to appoint lighting engineers.
The installations would be the property of the local authorities and maintenance should be borne by 18%-20% by
the Government. It is the safeguard for the public and therefore the Government should pay for it. Lighting
and public utility services are all going to be expensive after the war, and that expense should be borne by the
Government.
- Ald. Kegie (Gateshead): Good lighting is an insurance policy. I understand the necessity for good lighting
specially when you see what is happing in our hospitals.
- Mr. Lay: Has casualty figures for the USA. Street lighting in America has not been affected by the war
except as a dim-out on the Atlantic coast, where in the rest of the country they have had ordinary street lighting.
Since Pearl Harbour, night deaths in the USA have been more numerous than all the soldiers, sailors and marines
killed in Hawaii, Baataan, Corregidor, Coral Sea, the Solomons, Guadalcanal and Africa. Mr. James said
the problem with street lighting was cost - street lighting is entirely dependent on the available funds. Street lighting
by cut-off reflectors is fine provided that you can get sufficient light. Speed of vision is related to the amount
of light and in order to see a fast-moving object as well as a slow-moving object it is necessary to provide
considerably more illumination. On the pavement, objects are moving at about 3MPH, whilst on the road they are moving
about 30MPH. I think it is essential to the light the roadway as well as possible but not forget the pavement.
- Mr. Le Marechal: We need a new Code of Lighting agreeds and passed, so we have a target to aim at. If we
do miss then we are at least shooting in the right direction. When lighting a roadway, the whole of the road up to
the far side of the pavement should be considered. The man in the motor car is the man for whom the largest amount
of light must be provided.
- Mr. Gregory: If a man works in a factory, his chances of death are 1/9th his chances of death when
he comes out. (In 1938, there were 740 factory accidents which were fatail and 6,642 fatal accidents on the road).
There is the question of paying for improving lighting to reduce these risks. Why does a road need lighting?
Mainly because of the motor-car. The real villain is the motor car and the person to pay should be the owner of the car -
that is the way money should be raised for street lighting.
- Mr. Underwood: If the pedestrian paid as much attention to his movements on and off the pavement as
the motorist does then there would be a lot less accidents.
- Mr. Ellerker: Everybody tonight seems to be wondering where the money is coming from. With the Workmen's
Compensation Act it was the insurance companies who forced the issue with the Government. Could we not approach
insurance companies and put this fact before them?
- The Chairman: I'm not sure we have got very far, because our analysis of the factors in street lighting
are still incomplete and we have so far failed to produce a street lighting specification. Street lighting has
progressed from "beacon" lighting - the comparatively low-power gas lamp - at very long intervals which marked
road turnings and road crossings. We have progressed from that to "utilitarian" lighting where you put in as
much lighting as you can afford. The criterion of the utility of public lighting to be the avoidance of motor
accidents is a very limited view - I think we should progress from that and consider the amenities of street lighting.
The pedestrian does you them to cross and visit his friends and enjoy their walk on teh pavement. There has been a
tendency to concentrate on traffic routes and forget the side streets.
- Mr. Lennox: Mr Anderson: Safety on roadways should be the first consideration of street lighting. As to whether the
lighting unit should be the property of the local authorities then if the local authority can maintain their
hospitals, schools or roadways then they can surely maintain adequtely their street lighting installations. On
administration, I agree that the Ministry Of Transport is the proper Ministry, but I do not consider that it should
control street lighting completely. Mr Middleton: It does not matter if cut-off or non-cut-off lighting is
adopted as long as the correct results are obtained. Cut-off lighting requires much closer spacing and very much
less road surface or background brightness. There is no reason why roads should not be property lit with the
non-cut-off form of lantern. The best existing installations are by this method. Mr. James: Night vs. day risks
were not available for peacetime traffic. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents has published separate
figures for night and day accidents since the war. The suggestion of studs or a white-finished footpath edge
are excellent and many of the war-time aids to movement may well be kept in post-war years. Ald. Keggie:
There is no question that one or other of the forms of discharge lamp lighthing should be able to provide
adequate lighting to meet post-war considerations. The planning of street lighting should be undertaken in the
early stages to prevent the patchwork type of lighting which results in the mix-up of the many forms and colours
available. Mr. Le Marechal: The Ministry of Transport Report on Street Lighting is by far the most satisfactory
advance ever made towards a Code of Lighting. If lighting authorities would adopt this data they would not be
spending their money unwisely. No post-war lighting should be erected except in accordance with that report.
- Lighting: Authority Organisation, Lighting: Funding, Lighting: Future, Lighting: Management, Lighting: Safety, Lighting: Specifications, Lighting: Theory, Statistics: Accident Data
- A Well-Known Public Lighting Engineer Retires p20
- Retirement of P. J. Robinson, City Electrical and Lighting Engineer of Liverpool.
- Lighting: Personnel
- Is There A Solution? p21
- In June 1939, an employee of the Tottenham Gas Company appeared before the Bench to answer the
charge of "riding a bicycle to the common danger." His 'offence' was "the dangerous practice of riding a bicycle with
an extending ladder 12' long over his shoulder which prevented him from having proper control." Fortunately the
Bench dismissed the summons without calling further evidence. To maintain street lighting efficiently means a
regular daily inspection of plant and equipment, and that entails climbing ladders, and ladders need to be
transported conveniently and quickly by the lamp inspector.
- The most popular form of transport for the men with their ladder and tools appears to be the bicycle. Considering
the million of miles travelled, and the comparative few accidents reported, this form of travel and transport must
be regarded as fairly satisfactory. But with increased traffic post-war, it is asking a lot for a man to use a
bicycle with a heavy ladder over his shoulder.
- Motor cycles and sidecars have been suggested, and have been tried in certain districts, with a certain
amount of success. The expense of equipping and maintaining a fleet of motor cycles would had a very heavy
financial burden on a lighting department without any material gain. In actual practice, the protruding ladder
on a sidecar still presents a serious danger.
- A neat form of cycle carrier is on the market from a Birmingham firm. The carrier allows a ladder, pail or
other gear to rest on the low platform alongside the cycle. Another satisfactory cycle attrachmetn is a trailer
drawn behind the cyclist. This has been used by the Tottenham Gas Company. The long ladder is the "snag"
and the solution is to use a collapsible tubular ladder or a folding ladder.
- Lighting: Equipment, Lighting: Legal
- Flower Baskets On Lamp Columns p22
- Sir Charles Bressey, at A.P.L.E. luncheon at the Savoy, expressed hope that
in post-war days, that baskets of growing flowers would be accommodated on street-lamp columns. This
idea was developed in Leamington Spa. The idea was introduced to the town by Mr. R. S. Salt,
when Chairman of the Chamber of Trade some twenty years ago, and the custom has been maintained.
- Lighting: Columns, Lighting: Installations
- The Future Of Fluorescent Lighting p22
- Speaking at a meeting of the Association of Supervising Electrical Engineers at the E.L.M.A. Lighting
Service Bureau on the 8th January, Mr. W. J. Jones, M.Sc., M.I.E.E., outlined the possibilities of
lighting by fluorescent lamps. At present practically all fluorescent lighting is devoted to industrial applications.
Fluorescent lighting will sweep the board because of its overall economy, shape and low brightness. Other advantages
such as reduced heating will elnd itslef to incorporation in built-in lighting schemes. In due course after the
war, there will be fluorescent tubes in different sizes and different colours (other than the 5' 80W tubes).
- Investigation and research has shown that trough-shaped industrial reflectors have an efficiency and distribution
very similar to standard dispersive industrial reflectors for GLS lamps and it becomes possible to apply
the appropiate Coefficient of Utilisation and spacing ratio, and to make use of the well-known Lumen method of
design.
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- Lighting: Future, Lighting: Lamps
- Obituary p23
- Obituaries of Alfred R. Barford (Sales Manager of Lighting Trades Ltd.) and
H. Lingard, M.B.E., M.I.E.E (Manager of the E.L.M.A. Lighting Service Bureau)
- Lighting: Personnel
- The "Sieray" Control Unit p23
- This is a self-contained unit comprising all components necessary to control a 80W
Sieray Fluorescent Tubular Lamp (MCF/U) and rectify the power factor. It consists
of (a) a Sieray Choke Coil (Y36), (b) a Terminal Block with a Plug-In Sieray
Thermal Switch and Suppressor Condenser and (c) an 8uF Sieray Condenser (Y89/1) for
Power Factor Rectification. The whole unit has a steel cover in battleship grey. The unit is suitable for wall
mounting or for fixing to the top of a Trough reflector. Installation is simple being
necessary only to connect the leads from the lampholders and mains to the appropriate lettered
terminals on the terminal block.
- Lighting: Lamp Auxiliaries
- Well-Known Gas Enginners in New Year's Honours List p24
- Includes Colonel H. C. Smith C.B.E. (Tottenham and District Gas Company),
Mr. Samuel Tagg C.B.E. (Preston), and Dr. J. G. King, A.R.T.C., F.I.C., O.B.E (Director of the
Gas Research Board). Mr. Henry W. Lodge has taken over duties as Superintendent of Public Lighting to the
Halifax Corporation.
- Lighting: Personnel
- Well Done! p24
- Clitheroe's street lighting is to be increased by 75% post-war.
- Lighting: Installations
- Wanted p24
- A Newbridge Clock Controller (15 day) is wanted by a member for his lighting department.
- Lighting: Control
- Charity Of John Butler / Causeway Charity p24
- Yearly income of the Charity shall be applied by the Trustees in or towards defraying the cost of lighting
roads dedicated for the user of the public or of the highways in the ancient Parish of Swineshead.
- Lighting: Funding
- New Members p24
- List of new members of the A.P.L.E.
- Lighting: Personnel
- Adverts:
The General Electric Co., Ltd
The Association Of Metal Sprayers,
British, Foreign And Colonial Automatic Light Controlling Co., Ltd.,
Siemens Electric Lamps And Supplies Ltd.,
Metropolitan Vickers Electrical Co. Ltd,
Engineering And Lighting Equipment Co. Ltd.,
Automatic Telephone And Electrical Co., Ltd.,
British Commercial Gas Association,
W Parkinson And Co.,
Philips Lamps Ltd.,
The British Thomson-Houston Co. Ltd.,
William Sugg And Co., Ltd.,
C. H. Kempton and Co., Ltd.,
A.P.L.E.,
Walter Slingsby and Co., Ltd.,
The Horstmann Gear Co., Ltd.,
British Electrical Development Association, Inc,
Foster And Pullen Ltd.,
Sangamo Weston Ltd. and
Poles Ltd.
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