Sylvania Light & Man Brochure 1964

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presents

,LIGI{T andMANOOOA HISTORY CF HUMANACHIEVEMENT

There is nothing more abundant than light between sunrise and sunset. And there inothing on which more effort has been concentrated through the years than light to melt darkness from sunset to sunrise,

Yet the nature of light has baffed man since the beginning of time. Even today thereare two schools of thought concerning its composition. One group describes it as waves traveling through space. Another group describes lightasbundles of enetgy movingthroughspace.

But light behaves as described by one theory under one circumstance, behaving apredicted by the opposing theory under another.

The visible light portion of the spectrum includes the colors of red, orange, yellowgreen, blue, indigo and violet. (If you care ro memorize these in order, think of the namROY G" BIV, which will give you the first letter of each color, in order.) This visible spectrum disappears into the "black light" or ultraviolet area at one end of the radiant energy spectrum, and into infrared or heat rays) at the other. Our concern is that area between these points

Prehistoric utilization of light in the form of fire probably carne about as the resuof a natural calamity, such as a volcanic eruption, or a blaze started by lightning. It is alsprobable that fire was first used as a cooking means. Then it was used as a weapon to hold omarauding animals during the night.


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But when man moved into simple habitations,fire lengthened his day and became a true light source.Man accomplished tasks after dark, previously possibleonly in daylight, to increase his working period.

Soon wood with a high pitch content was usedfor torches. This permitted limited mobility aroundliving sites after dark. As time went on, peoples in dif-ferent parts of the world evolved varying types of light-ing suited to their needs or dictated by raw materialsavailable.HISTORT OF DEYETOPMEI{T

In Babylon thick fax wicks were used in bowlscapable of holding 50 pounds of animal fat. AncientRome developed the candle, the wax torch (later knownas the fambeau) and the horn lantetn.

Shetland fslanders, until comp aratively recenttimes, captured and dried the stormy petrel, a bird witha high percentage of grease in its body, for lighting.The technique called for threading a wick through fhepetrel's beak, fixing its feet in clay, and burning thedried bird as a lamp. The now-extinct Great Auk wasused as a light by the Danes, who inserted a wick in adead bird's belly and burned it in their homes.

lfhen America was settled, the colonists couldnot waste valuable shipping space for luxuries such ascandles, so were first satisfied by pine knots, torches,or their cooking 6res for light. Later they made theirown tallow or bayberry candles.

It was about 1640 when Massachusetts Bay Col-ony settlers began to seek whales in shallow waters justoff-shore. By L650, some of these settlers had migratedto Long fshnd, where in East Hampton and Southamp-ton, whaling expeditions of two and three weeks dura-tion were made up and down the coast.

lThaling became so important in East Hamptonthat the schoolmaster accepted part of his annual salaryin the form of whale oil. OAs time went on, whale oil became increasinglypopular for lighting. As a result, whales were intensivelyhunted from pole to pole. \7hale oil lampsbecame popu-lar. Oil prices rose. Only the wealthy could affordwhale oil candles and lamps.

But with the discovery of oil in Titusville, Pa.in 1859, by Colonel Edwin L. Drake, whaling as a sourcefor lighting oil was doomed.Petroleum was less expensive than whale oil. I

gave excellent light when refined to kerosene and burnedin lamps. fn turn, as gas became available, oil lamps became less popular. Gas was piped to the consumer. frequired no bulk storage in the home. A device calleda Wellsbach mantle placed on a gas outlet produced anincandescent effect. Streets, trains, theaters, churches,and restaurants were lighted by gas lamps.

Meanwhile, in Menlo Park, N. J., a man with anf;: n:: f ::,'g::::'[:: T:f ""T,1;:" "'"'"*

Sir Humphrcy Davy, an Englishman, developedthe arc light in 1809. England's Sir Wifiam RoberGrave tried for years to make an elecric lamp. Finallyanother Englishman, Frederick DeMoleyns patented anelectric lamp in 184i. His product, of platinum andcharcoal, didn't work well. The platinum melted andthe lamp went out.

In Russia, Aleksandr N. Lodygin developedgraphite lamp in 1874. But after testing 200 of theseshort-lived light sources on a St. Petersburg dockyardhe found them too expensive to be practical. Paul Jablochkoff, another Russian scientist, used Sir HumphreyDavy's ideas to produce huge carbon-arc lamps for theillumination of the Paris Exposition in 1879. But the"Jablochkoff candles" were expensive and irnpracticaltoo.

And in Menlo Park, Thomas A. Edison, the nlanwith the idea, was busily developing the first practicaincandescent lamp. After thousands of tests, he for.ra bamboo fiber which, after charcing, lasted for hours


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and produced a reasonably good light. Theelectric light was born on October 21, 1879. age of the

Then, in order to demonstrate to the public thatelectric lighting was practical, Edison developed the firstpower company to provide current for lights installedin New York City in 1882.

Electric incandescent light spread through thecountry. The demand for light encouraged the forma-tion of power companies and the availability of currentencouraged greater use of electric light.

From 1879 until 1938, the incandescent lampwas the single source of residential electric light. Then,with the popularization of the fuorescent tube by firmssuch as Sylvania Electric Products Inc., and the develop-ment of the first practical fl.uorescent fixture by Sylvania,another type of lighting became possible.

When the fl.uorescent lamp was introduced, pur-chasers were forced to have fixtures produced and wiredlocally since there were no fixtures commercially avail-able. Because some of these fixtures were inefficient,of fl.uorescent lamps lagged.

Sylvania then developed and produced a standardfixture, with ballasting, and for the first time made acomplete lighting package available to commercial andindustrial fuorescent lamp users. This assured the com-plete acceptance of the fluorescent lamp, and esablishedanother major business, the fl.uorescent fixture industry.

Today more light is produced by fuorescentlamps than by any other light source in the world, total-ing about 100 billion kilowatt hours annually.RECENT LIEHT'NE DEVELOPMEilTTS

One of the more exciting recent lighting industrydevelopments is the electroluminescent lamp. Madepractical by Sylvania, electroluminescence makes pos-sible panels of fl.uorescent-type light of any size, forvirtually any purpose. It has been used in automobiledashboards, in ceilings, walls and tabletops, and inhundreds of specialized applications such as electronicradio and TV sets' night lights and

Electroluminescqnce demands little energy. Alamp three inches in diameter consumes about five centsworth of electricity annually, if burned continually.

In future years firms now specializing almoswholly in the production of light sources will be manufactuting a wide variety of radiant energy products. Healamps for interior or exterior use, ultraviolet lights widelyused in bug control and destruction of air-borne bacteriafor crime detection and the detection of spoilage in various foods, are now produced by the lighting industry fonon-illuminating uses.

An important radiant energy application is theGro-Lux@ lamp, a plant-growth enhancing lamp, whichis often used in high school and collegiate science projects. It encourages swift, healthy plant developmenthrough the concentration of red and blue light wavesPlants maturing under proper conditions with Gro-Luxlamps have been found to have more extensive roosystems, sturdier stems and stalks and higher healthIevels.

The Gro-Lux lamp is expected to be an important future aid in food growth where population levelshave taken much arable land out of cultivation.

fn the future, the plant-growth lamp will be thradiant er.ergy source for crops grown hydroponically -in chemical solutions - in loft'type buildings in the heaof the nation's largest cities.

This concentrated method of farming will provide as much food, grown without regard to weatherclimate, soil conditions or insect plagues, as would farmcontaining thousands of acres wholly dependent uponnatural growth cycles.

This "tray agriculture" might be the answer tfamine in Asian countries. It might some day free thUnited Kingdom from its dependence upon imports ofresh foods. It could be the answer to the dust bowls othe future.

The laser, a high eraergy beam of light whichcar, caffy radio or television programs, or thousands otelephone conversations at one time, is another exampleof lighting industry capability.


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Under careful medical control, the laser isbelieved capable of applications such as fusing adetached retina to the human eye. It also is believedcapable of being a defensive weapon against missiles.

Although the lighting industry is more than75 years old, it is as modern as tomorrow. The in-candescent lamp, the product on which the industrywas founded, has been rejuvenated and as theiodine-quartzlamp is again a trail blazer in high in-tensity light sources.

Developments in the mercury vapor andpressure lamp fields are promising. More and morenon-illuminating radiant energy products are com-ing out of the lighting laboratories. Products suchas Gro-Lux lamps, lasers, and specialized ultta-violet and infrared units are now being exploredfor highly specialized commercial and industrialapplications.

\7ith this burgeoning of the radiant energyfield, more and more lighting engineers will be re'quired. As the lighting and radiant energy fieldsgrow in years to come, it is anticipated that lightingspecialists will be among the most widely-soughtprofessional men in the engineering field.

Light is measured in candlepower, lumens,footcandles and footlamberts. Definition of theseterms follow:

QUANTITY UNITfntensity of light CandlepowerAmount of light .. LumenLevel of illumination ... ... FootcandleBrightness of a surface ... . Footlambert

CANDLEPO\X/ER expresses the intensityof a beam of light from an international candle ina particular direction.

A LUMEN is the amount of light cast uponone square foot of the inner surface of a hollowsphere of one foot radius with such a candle in itscenter.

A FOOTCANDLE is the amount of illu-mination when one lumen falls on one square footof surface.

A FOOTLAMBERT is the brightness of asurface which emits or refects one lumen per squarefoot of its surface.

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An incandescent lamp gives light when itsfilament glows as current is passed through it. Be-cause all air is extracted from the lamp and replacedwith an inert gas, the filament can be operated athigher temperatures without oxidation than if heatedin the atmosphere. The gas pressure within thelamp envelope reduces the rate at which small bitsof metal evaporate from its tungsten filament.

INERT GAS

TUNGSTENFILAM EIIT

FILAMENTLEADSSUPPORTWIRE

Modern technology has developed incan-descent lamps providing high lighting levels overrelatively long periods of time. Manufacturers canproduce longer-lasting lamps, but light outputwould be lower. ff more Lght is desired, it can beprovided, but at the expense of lamp life. Modernincandescent lamp producers strike an economicbalance between light intensity and lamp life.


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HOW A FLUORESCEIT,T LAMPOPERATES

The fuorescent lamp is a long narrow orcircular glass cylinder, coated on the interior withany of several rypes of phosphor. Air in the tubeis replaced with mercury vapor and argon, an inertgas. At each end of the lamp is an electrode, madeof an oxide.coated tungsten filament. I7hen heatedby zn electric current, the filament releases a cloudof electrons around each electrode.

A high voltage electrical surge then estab-lishes an electron arc between the electrodes witheach alternation of the current. The electrons col-lide with mercury vapor and argon gas atoms fillingthe tube to produce invisible ultraviolet rays.

The rays excite the fuorescent phosphorcoating the inside of the tube to become visiblelight.

Unlike incandescent lamps, fuorescentlamps cannot control their cuffent consumption.lJnless the current is controlled, the lamp burnsitself out immediately. To avoid this, "ballasts,"devices which limit current to the proper operatingvalue, are wired into fuorescent circuitry.

Small fuorescent lamps require choke bal-Iasts to limit current input to prevent burnout.Latge lamps require both a choke coil and a trans-former. The transformer steps up the voltage andthe coil limits the currenr.

HOW AN ETECTROLUMINESCEilTLAMP OPERATES

A Panelescent@ electroluminescent lamp isactually a two-plate condenser, one plate of whichis transparent and coated with a fuorescent phos-phor. \When an alternating current is applied tothe condenser, the phosphor is excited and emitsvisible light.

FLUORESCENT POWDER GROUIID COAT EASE METAL

OTHER POPULAN, LIEHT SOURCESTHE MERCURY LAMP

Like the fl.uorescent lamp, the mercury lampis classified as an "electric discharge" device. Inlamps of this type, the electric current passesthrough a gas or vapor under pressure instead ofthrough a tungsten coil, as it does in the incandes-cent lamp.

OPERATI}IG ELECTRODES

lfhen an alternating current is applied tothe mercury lamp, it ionizes the gas. This starts theions and electrons in the "arc dischatge" in motion

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ARC DISCHARGESTREAM

TRANSPARENT CO}IDUCTIIIG

INSIDE OF GLASS TUBE COATEDWITH FLUORESCEI{T PO1TDER

SPACE II{SIDE TUBE FILLO WITHARGOII GAs AND MERCURY VAPOR


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at tremendous speeds between the operating electrodesat opposite ends of the tube. The impact of the speed-ing electrons and ions on the surrounding gas and vaporatoms bdefly changes their atomic structure. Light isproduced from the er.ergy yielded by the affected atomsas they revert to their normal structure. (As is true withf.uorescent lamps, mercury lamps require ballas* fortheir operation.) Mercury lamps are widely used instreet lighting, industrial areas, loading platforms andother applications where high-intensity illumination isrequired. Phosphors are used in some mercury lampsto "correct" the light color since there are no red lightwaves in the mercury energy spectrum.

THE IODINE.QUARTZ LAMPThe introduction of iodine molecules into an in-

candescent-type lamp during its manufacture has resultedin a lamp which provides intense illumination. In a con-ventional incandescent lamp, tungsten "boiled" oS thecoil settles on the bulb's inner wall and reduces its effi-ciency. In the iodine-quartz lamp, the iodine interceptsthe tungsten molecules before they reach the lamp wall.These elements combine chemically and return to thefilament. There the high heat releases the iodine torepeat the process. This avoids loss of tungsten fromthe filament and its deposit on the lamp walls, insuringhigh brightness rhroughout lamp life.

Another feature of the iodine-quartz lamp is ithigh-brightness filament which, due to recenr advancein coil engineering, is packed into a shorter linear distance than was previously possible.

The iodine-qtrartz lamp is used in Sylvania'ff :l'ffi f*?,:ffi: i:l I ;l',',i" :ii i:rx j:motion-picture making. It also is used, in slightly diffeent form, for high intensity outdoor flood and spotlighting, such as in the widely-known Sun Flood.

The lamp wall is made of tough qvaftz glass twithstand the high heat of the lamps. fts excellent the*;::::":;::-T-;: fi:;:J" "l;:i T:::"::::put the incandescent principle into the forefront omodern lighting.

HIGH SITICA GTASS(quARTz) ErvEroPE CERAMIC BASE

FITAMENT TU}IGSTEtI FILAMENTAilD SUPPORTII{ERT GAS AI{D IODIIIE ATMOSPHERE

ffi&Tffifu%BfuttttAs WSYIVANIA ETECTRIC PRODUCIS INC. O LIGHTING PRODUCTS DIVISION60 Boston Street r Solem, MossochusettscoDE 53t2 4500 (l2.63

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Sylvania Light & Man Brochure 1964