Abstract
SINCE the last coronation, twenty-six years ago, great improvements have taken place in the art of decorative lighting. In 1911, metal filament and arc lamps were used. Since then the invention of gas-filled lamps and the development of electric-discharge lamps have greatly cheapened the cost and improved the flexibility of the illumination. The illuminations will show many new aspects of London, and practically all the principal provincial cities will have very effective displays. In London alone there will be nearly two hundred floodlighting installations, and in the provinces, statistics obtained from six hundred local authorities show that the mean additional load per town will be approximately 60 kilowatts. This does not take into account the numerous smaller schemes of strip-lighting and illuminated devices with which shops and business premises will be decorated. For the first time, the fountains in Trafalgar Square are being illuminated by means of eight submersible reflectors taking 500-watt gas-filled lamps. In addition to all four sides of ‘Big Ben’, the terrace of the Houses of Parliament is being floodlighted for the first time. Two novelties are, 30-ft. high electric ‘bonfires' with flame effects on the roof of the Shell Mex House, and colour changing equipment for illuminating 30-ft. high jets of water from fire floats stationed outside the new London Fire Brigade headquarters. A very large sodium flood-lighting installation used at Dunfermline Abbey and Edinburgh Castle give an outstanding and beautiful display of decorative lighting.
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Decorative Lighting for the Coronation. Nature 139, 832 (1937). https://doi.org/10.1038/139832a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/139832a0