Image description
The image shows three types of public or street lighting poles, viewed from the profile.
The pillars are named after the support trunk that is buried in the ground and is high enough to allow illumination through the top bulb over a fairly large area.
So a lighting pole, whether it is simple, namely it involves a single mounting, a single bulb on one arm, such as the one on the left, or we are talking about poles with double arm and double mounting, such as the one in the center or with dislocated arms such as the one on the right, it consists of:
- the conical pillar or pole itself, planted underground, rendered by a vertical, thickened line, which narrows to the top.
- the arm connecting the light source at the outer end of the pole and projecting the light from the bulb down the street, inclined or horizontal in shape, rendered by a thick curved line at the top of the pole.
- the luminaire or the light, consisting of an economical light bulb called an LED, rendered by a horizontal and thickened rectangle at the end of each arm.
Next to the two-armed lighting pole in the middle, below, is a man standing, thus positioned to facilitate the comparison of the dimensions of the lighting pole to the height of an adult.
General information
Since ancient times there has been the question of lighting cities at night to increase the safety of people who came out of their homes at night. In addition to increasing safety and decorative function, lighting was also intended to mark various landmarks, helping to guide people’s spatial orientation.
With the passage of time, night lighting has experienced several phases of development. Until the discovery and exploitation of electrical current at large-scale, all lighting techniques were based on fire. At the beginning, candle lanterns and lamps with various oils were used, and later, with the discovery of natural gas resources and the development of their distribution networks, gas was used. The people who maintained the lamps and the lanterns were called lampposts They made sure that each lamp had the necessary resources to light properly.
The term public lighting did not appear until the 17th century in Amsterdam, when the famous painter Jan van der Heyden commits himself to the municipality representatives to make one thousand eight hundred lanterns and maintain them for a year. However, the municipality representatives decided that the city will bear all the costs of manufacturing and maintenance, and Jan van der Heyden is elected leader of the lampposts team. Thus, the first company with the object of activity in public lighting appears.
Along with the various lighting elements, appear also the pillars from which these elements are suspended, hung or placed appear. They are intended to provide visibility at night, but they also provide an important decorative contribution to the location where they are located. With the passage of time, the light poles that use the electric current as a source of energy appear. They can have various shapes and sizes, for example, short pillars, decorative lanterns, classical pillars or lighting globes. As lighting elements, classic bulbs with incandescent filament or LEDs are used.
The power supply of these poles can be made from the national electricity grid, but there are also poles that use solar energy. The latter have a solar panel that during the day converts solar energy into electricity, then the generated electricity is stored in a battery.
Street lighting is done with pillars, having strategic positioning, as follows:
- For the illumination of sidewalks, F-shaped pillars are used.
- For the roads, T-shaped, which illuminates both directions of travel.
- For the boulevard and the sidewalk, where there are trees, there are pillars that have two lighting fixtures, but at different heights.
Lighting poles must be provided with protection from water, dust and weather phenomena, in order to be able to provide light, even under special conditions.
If before the advent of electric lighting poles lampposts were needed, now public lighting is automated. There are light sensors that turn on and adjust the light intensity of the lighting poles as needed. As the sunset approaches, the public lightning will start and increase its intensity, depending on the fall of darkness. Also, at sunrise, the intensity of public lighting will decrease, depending on the intensity of sunlight.
Did you know that our country was twice the icebreaker in terms of the development of public lighting?
- In 1857, Bucharest was the world’s first city illuminated with lamp oil.
- Timisoara, in 1884, became the first city in Europe illuminated entirely electrically.
Bibliography
- http://history-of-lighting.org/xviii-iluminatul-public/
- http://www.bogdan-neagu.ieeia.tuiasi.ro/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/L24-iluminat-cai-rutiere.pdf
- https://casasidesign.ro/corpuri-de-iluminat-clasificare-si-caracteristici.html
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