Bay of Plenty Times. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22nd., 1937 ILLUMINATIONS

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXV, Issue 12257, 22 February 1937, Page 2

Bay of Plenty Times. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22nd., 1937 ILLUMINATIONS

The illuminations during the Coronation period if they do nothing else trill serve to illustrate the great advance that has taken place in illuminations. It is a fair indication of the rapidity with which progress has been made in the science of illumination that in England itself there should be candles and oil lamps existing at the same time as the most modern system of lighting. While it was not until the end of the eighteenth century that the way was paved for gas lighting, Sir Humphrey Davy’s experiments in the early years of the nineteenth century should have shoAvn that gas was to have a rival, but the importance of his original work was not recognised or appreciated. The old carbon filaments for lamps were introduced by Swan in about 1880, and, at about the same time, that great inventor Edison had shown, in America, that a complete electric light installation was a practical, even if not a commercial, .proposition. Since th;e closingyears of the nineteenth century progress has been rapid. The lamps have been improved by changing the materials used for the filaments, (he bulbs have been belter exhausted and later filled with an inert gas, and their efficiency and the intensity of light, they give have literally advanced by leaps and bounds. These improvements have been possible only because very considerable sums of money have been made available for research into the fields of lighting and illumination. The activities of the British manufacturers of lamps arc co-ordin-ated by the Electric Lamp Manufacturers’ Association, and the members are spending at. the present time about £200,000 a year on research. It would be an exaggeration to say that perfection had been reached in the electric lamp. The world wants a bulb that will have twice its present life, give greater luminosity for the same candle,power, and yet cost no more than the bulbs of to-day. The discovery of such an electric lamp is not beyond the scope of science. In the meanwhile electric lighting is being put to many and new uses. The flood lighting of aerodromes is tending to remove one of the major difficulties of night-flying. Elaborate preparations are being made for illuminations in London in connection with the Coronation and the electric lighting scheme will be not the least among the London sights on the evening of May 12, and subsequent nights. Electricity in bulk is available in most countries, and it seems quite clear that electricity will continue to be of increasing value in the world’s economics.