Search Results - Lamppost
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A street light, lamppost, street lamp, light standard, or lamp standard is a raised source of light on the edge of a road, which is turned on or lit at a certain time every night. Modern lamps may also have light-sensitive photocells to turn them on at dusk, off at dawn, or activate automatically in dark weather. In older lighting this function would have been performed with the aid of a solar dial. It is not uncommon for street lights to be on posts which have wires strung between them, such as on telephone poles or utility poles. Before incandescent lamps, gas lighting was employed in cities. The earliest lamps required that a lamplighter tour the town at dusk, lighting each of the lamps, but later designs employed ignition devices that would automatically strike the flame when the gas supply was activated. The earliest of such street lamps were built in the Arab Empire,[1] especially in Córdoba, Spain.[2] The first electric street lighting employed arc lamps, initially the 'Electric candle', 'Jablotchkoff candle' or 'Yablochkov candle' developed by the Russian Pavel Yablochkov in 1875. This was a carbon arc lamp employing alternating current, which ensured that both electrodes were consumed at equal rates. Yablochkov candles were first used to light the Grands Magasins du Louvre, Paris where 80 were deployed. Soon after, experimental arrays of arc lamps were used to light Holborn Viaduct and the Thames Embankment in London - the first electric street lighting in Britain. More than 4,000 were in use by 1881, though by then an improved differential arc lamp had been developed by Friederich von Hefner-Alteneck of Siemens & Halske. The United States was swift in adopting arc lighting, and by 1890 over 130,000 were in operation in the US, commonly installed in exceptionally tall moonlight towers. The first street in the UK to be lit by electric light was Mosley Street, in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. The street was lit by Joseph Swan's incandescent lamp in February, 1879.[3] The first in the United States, and second overall, was the Public Square road system in Cleveland, Ohio, on April 29, 1879.[4] Wabash, Indiana holds the title of being the third electrically-lit city in the world, which took place on February 2, 1880. Four 3,000 candlepower Brush arc lamps suspended over the courthouse rendered the town square "as light as midday."[5] Kimberley, South Africa, was the first city in Africa to have electric street lights - first lit on 1 September 1882. In Latin America, San Jose, Costa Rica was the first city, the system was launched on August 9, 1884, with 25 lamps powered by an hydroelectric plant [6]. Timisoara, in present-day Romania, was the first city in mainland Europe to have electric public lighting on the 12 of November 1884. 731 lamps were used. In 1888 Tamworth, New South Wales, Australia became the first location in the Southern Hemisphere to have electric street lighting, giving the city the title of "First City of Light".[7]
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Showing 1 to 3 of 3 Articles matching 'Lamppost' in related articles. |
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1. Mosel Magic: Two-Wheeled Meandering Along Germany's Most Beautiful River
February 22, 2009
Remember that wonderful line in the 1971 movie “French Connection,” when tough-guy detective Popeye Doyle (Gene Hackman) spits out the words “I’d rather be a lamppost in New York than President of France!” I recall loving it and laughing with everyone else in the audience, even if most of us might have made a different choice. Three years later, when I was cycling Europe for the first time, I remembered the movie line when thinking that I’d rather be on a bike anywhere on the Continent than trying to stay alive riding across town in the U.S. Thankfully, things have gotten a lot be... (read more)
Author: Dan Austin
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2. Fraudster Jailed After Fake Accident Claims
June 12, 2008
Former police officer Jonathon Lewis, aged 49 has been jailed for nine months after he put in a false claim to Peterborough City Council.
Mr Lewis decided to sue the council for thousands of pounds claiming that he stumbled over some debris left in the street near a lamppost, causing him to slip and break his ankle.
In actual fact, Mr Lewis stumbled on a friends drive while walking home after a night out. He was walking down the drive on Dogsthorpe Road, Peterborough, on August 9, last year in the early hours of the morning.
His accident left him with a fractured ankle which ne... (read more)
Author: Carys Robshaw
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3. Pranks to Play on the Stag
February 22, 2007
Playing pranks on the groom: what springs to mind? If it’s wrapping a bare-bottomed stag to a lamppost in cling film, you could probably do with some fresh inspiration. Read on.
Simple stitch-up: You’ll need a penny, it will become the most powerful penny you’ll ever see. Every decision, every choice, will be decided by this dirty old penny. Another drink? Another club? Lap dance or get a round in? The penny decides, and there is a heavy forfeit if you disobey!
If the groom is having a Church wedding, write “HELP” on the soles of his shoes. When the bride and groom kneel at ... (read more)
Author: Frankie Janiyan
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