Street lamp

“ But even as he is speaking, a form, tall and slight, starts out from the shadows a few paces ahead, and pauses for a flash of time under the uncertain light of the solitary street-lamp, which lamps in our aspiring villages are placed at undeterminable distances from each other, wherever one long straggling street happens to meet another, seeming to say to the night pedestrian, “you have safely traversed the impenetrable darkness thus far, behold I invite you to a continuation of the same.” ”

“ The electric light at its point of junction with the main street does not penetrate half-way to the stage entrance, and the blackness thereabout is diluted with the rays of the lonely, indifferent gas-lamp that projects above the old wooden door. Farther on, an old-fashioned street-lamp marks the place where the alley turns to wind about until it eventually reaches another main street. ”

“ Thirty years ago electric lighting was not in vogue, and the system of street lamps was far less complete than at present, although the gas burned in them may not have been any worse. The lamps were much fewer and farther between, and the light which they emitted had a feeble, sickly aspect, and did not reach any distance into the moist and murky atmosphere. And so the night was dismal enough, and the few people upon the street were visible only as they passed directly beneath the lamps, or in front of lighted windows; seeming at other times like moving shadows against a black ground. ”

“ An occasional oil lamp at the corner of a street, or in the portico of some wealthy burgher, threw a faint glimmer over the shining cobblestones, and the varied motley crowd who, in spite of the weather, ebbed and flowed along every highway. ”

“ We are all interested in the light and speak of it almost every day. Your father was saying this morning that our street lights are a disgrace to Milton. There is a citizens' war going on at present over the situation and every number of the News contains letters from angry taxpayers calling the city government to account for the wretched nature of the street lighting. If you should happen to discover an economical and satisfactory city lamp, the people of Milton would be ready now to compel the council to purchase and install it. ”

“ It has been found by experience that the ordinary type of open arc lamp with vertical carbons included in an opalescent globe cannot compete in point of cost with modern improvements in gas lighting as a means of street illumination. The violet colour of the light and the sharp shadows, and particularly the non-illuminated area just beneath the lamp, are grave disadvantages. ”

“ The quality of light produced by an incandescent lamp is a gentler glow than that produced by the arc lamp, and in color more nearly resembles the light of gas or the oil lamp. The incandescent light speedily became for the home, hotel, hall, and limited covered area what the arc light became for the street and railway station, and, if anything, the former outstripped the latter in the extent and value of the industry it gave rise to. ”

“ The lighting of the street-lamps, which started one by one into existence, and the conflict with the fading daylight of the uneasily beating flame, that was swept from side to side in the wind like a woman’s hair—these things made his surroundings seem still shadowier and less real. ”

“ The flame of a gas-light compared in point of brilliancy to that of a candle, is as the flame of a common oil lamp, compared to the flame of a lamp of Argand. The difference between a street, on the night of a general illumination, and any other night when the street is under the dull glimmering light of the ordinary oil lamps, is scarcely more remarkable, than the difference between a street lighted by gas, and one lighted by oil. ”

“ Street-lighting is not only a reinforcement for the police but it decreases accidents and has come to be looked upon as an advertising medium. In the downtown districts the high-intensity "white-way" lighting is festive. The ornamental street lamps have possibilities in making the streets attractive and in illuminating the buildings. However, it is to be hoped that in the present age the streets of cities and towns will be cleared of the ragged equipment of the telephone and lighting companies. ”

“ No light surpasses the arc light in brilliancy, excepting the magnesium light. There are few cities in this country and Europe that do not employ the arc lamp as a means of street, station, and large-area lighting, owing to its superiority as an illuminant and the wonderful policing effect it has upon the slum sections. ”

“ As we came into the streets, a servant led the way with a lantern, which is quite necessary through streets that are not only narrow and winding, but generally pitch dark: for gas and even ordinary street lamps are little known in Eastern cities. ”

“ Street-lamps there must be for the thoroughfares of the town, shop-lights also for the grocer and the apothecary j nay, handlights which are made to be carried from room to room and set down anywhere, and numerous they will ever be, each having its own function. ”

“ So, too, the street lamps. They were no more [20] than in the proportion of two to three as compared to their numbers half a mile lower down. Just here they were so placed that not a ray fell into the three or four thousand square feet which had probably never been built upon since Manhattan was inhabited. Even the wall of the house was windowless on this side, for the reason that within a few months some new building would probably block the outlook.
Once I had crept close to the wall, I knew I presented neither silhouette nor shade to any chance passer-by. ”

“ He liked however the open shutters; he opened everywhere those Mrs. Muldoon had closed, closing them as carefully afterwards, so that she shouldn’t notice: he liked—oh this he did like, and above all in the upper rooms!—the sense of the hard silver of the autumn stars through the window-panes, and scarcely less the flare of the street-lamps below, the white electric lustre which it would have taken curtains to keep out. This was human actual social; ”

“ The village streets are now lighted by kerosene lamps, but a movement is already on foot looking toward a better system of street lighting and it is probable that an electric light plant will be installed for that purpose within the near future. ”

“ The superiority of these lamps cannot be denied; but, besides their expense, they are attended with this disadvantage when they hang in the middle of the street, that they throw a shade over it, so that one cannot be known by those who pass. In cities also, where people walk principally in the middle of the streets, or where the streets are broad, they are not very convenient, and they occasion a stoppage when it is necessary to clean them. ”

“ As to these lights of London lamps, their beauty, which is so great, seems to depend almost entirely upon the sky. See them as they glow in the long unequal curves that follow the subtly misleading directions of the streets of London, and in all their brilliancy they make but a common show—pretty enough, but not beautiful. But let any lamp or line of lamps come into visible relation with the sky—any sky, whether a mysterious night-sky softly embrowned, or a night-sky swept pure by a west wind, or the most ordinary grey of any average evening—and the lamp has indescribable beauties. ”

“ The supplying of light to the street or parish lamps alone, of any district of street lamps only, can never be undertaken with economy in this [22] capital, nor indeed in any other; for the money sunk in furnishing the mains or pipes only, must always greatly exceed what any revenue from the lighting of the streets alone can compensate. ”

“ The street lamps were lighted from one road to another and it seemed to him that a watchful darkness, like some demon, was keeping its eyes wide open to guard every movement of its victim. ”

“ It is a wintry evening, and everything is swathed in an unusually thick fog, in which the gas lamps in the streets show dimmer and dimmer as they recede in the distance. As the curtain goes up, a lamplighter is seen descending his ladder from a lamp-post, where he has just lit the lamp at the corner of the house. ”

“ There are millions of these lights now in use in this country. They are used not only for lighting the rooms of hotels and private houses, but also for lighting steamships, railway trains, and street cars, and for nearly all indoor illumination. This light is not as cheap as kerosene or gaslight, but it is so convenient and so simple, requiring no daily care, that it is rapidly coming into use in all towns and cities. ”

“ This carbon electric light is so much disliked because, no doubt, it was generally seen under the glass and iron of a railway station. Seen with the sky it cannot but be seen to be most beautiful. The golden lights—electric lamps or gas lamps—have the beauty of fire, but the white lamp has the beauty of light. ”

“ From an artistic point of view, one of the worst methods of lighting a room is by pendant lamps, collected in single centres in large numbers. The lights ought to be distributed in different portions of the room, and so shaded that the light is received only by reflection from surrounding objects. Ornamental effects are frequently produced by means of candle lamps in which a small incandescent lamp, imitating the flame of a candle, is placed upon a white porcelain tube as a holder, and these small units are distributed and arranged in electroliers and brackets. ”

“ The lamps themselves are attached to some variety of ornamental fitting, or in many cases suspended by a simple pendant, consisting of an insulated double flexible wire attached at its upper end to a ceiling rose, and carrying at the lower end a shade and socket in which the lamp is placed. Lamps thus hung head downwards are disadvantageously used because their end-on candle-power is not generally more than 60% of their maximum candle-power. In interior lighting one of the great objects to be attained is uniformity of illumination with avoidance of harsh shadows. ”

“ Find out the general period of the room and the color scheme so the lamp will be in keeping with the surroundings and provide the proper accent. Impress the customer with the necessity of a lamp for every grouping, and with the importance of good lighting.
Oil lamps for farm use have been styled to resemble electric lamps and have enameled bases, diffused reflectors and attractive shades. All lamps regardless of the source of light have been materially improved and there is no need for any person to have poor lighting in the home today. ”

“ The lamps in the street die out. The sickly winter dawn comes over the great city. The hush and calm still linger; only now and then a dark phantom form issues from a silent gateway, and hurries along the pavement, as though fearful of the growing light. ”

“ We are standing today on the threshold of an entirely new era in lighting. New illuminants are being developed and new methods are being devised for applying light to meet the needs of modern living. Only a little over a third of a century has passed since the first incandescent lamp was invented by Thomas A. Edison, and the electrical industry has since made tremendous progress. ”

“ Luckily, no injury was done, as the whole lot were upset into the snow, to the great enjoyment of all spectators.
Gradually the time to retire approaches. The lamps begin to go out, and the hills, divested of their beauty, appear like the ruins of a magnificent city of olden times. Here and there you see a single lamp peeping out from the branches of the trees, wistfully looking round in search of its brothers, as if it wanted to assure itself of the absence of any other enlightening object. ”

“ Why do we light the lamps? So the light will shine on the roadway and we will be able to see where we are going and thus avoid mishap and injury? Yes, but how about the lamp at the rear? Oh, we light that one so other people will not run into us. ”

“ These lamps, filled with seal oil, are kept burning day and night till the festival is over. They are believed to light the shades on their return to [pg 052] their old home and back again to the land of the dead. If any one fails to put up a lamp in the clubhouse and to keep it burning, the shade whom he or she desires to honour could not find its way to the place and so would miss the feast. ”

“ It must be remembered that electric lighting is comparatively a new science, and not yet fully understood. There is very little doubt that, by practice, it will before long approach more nearly to perfection, and sooner or later entirely supersede gas, the arc form of lamp being employed for the illumination of streets and large areas, while the incandescent pattern meets domestic requirements.—Good Words. ”

“ It is impossible to give any hard and fast rules as to what number must be employed in the illumination of any room, as a great deal depends upon the nature of the reflecting surfaces, such as the walls, ceilings, &c. As a rough guide, it may be stated that for every 100 sq. ft. of floor surface one 16 candle-power lamp placed about 8 ft. above the floor will give a dull illumination, two will give a good illumination and four will give a brilliant illumination. We generally judge of the nature of the illumination in a room by our ability to read comfortably in any position. ”

“ Now that the electric light has been made available for domestic purposes, and the very simple lamp (consisting of an exhausted glass globe, two platinum wires, and a piece of charred paper) can be obtained, people will no doubt soon largely adopt electric lighting in their houses. The light has found a success at the theatre, in the streets, and in the train; there is no reason why it should not be adopted generally, being more economical and more healthy than gas.
Fig. ”