The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1911-08-31
How Current Is Carried

uniform in size and color and hung
ferent colors of street lamps, varying
from the orange-yellow Of the old in
candescent lamps to the green light
OF the mercury arc lamp. The old
type Of open arc lamp gives a blue
light and the hest luminous arc lamp
gives white light.
Any number Of cities are still using
descent lamps, which were installed
ten and fifteen years ago. True
enough, they are as good as ever and
will last for years. but they never
were very efficient and beautiful, any
way, and since they were bought the
lamp situation has improved almost
beyond belief Today we can get
three times the light from mean
descent lamps for the same consump-
ton of current that we could few
years ago and a light that is white,
like sunlight, and not a sickly yellow.
Arc lamps have been improved during
the past year or SO until they rival
the very sun, giving ten times the
amount of candle-power of the old
arcs for the same cost of current. 1t
is a distinct economy for any city or
town to throw away such old lamps
and buy the new. The old horse cars
are just as good today as they ever
were, but no city would think of main
i tanning horse car line in these days
of advanced electricity. A horse car
system of street lighting Is just as
much out Of date.
No longer are the street lamps in
stalled by the hit or miss" method
A competent Illuminating engineer
| lays out the system and designates
where every lamp should go to give
! the best results. They are placed so
there are no dark spots and hung
| high enough to give an even distribu-
ton of light In this way the city
may be brilliantly lighted for the
same amount OF current formerly
| wasted in making some streets light
and accentuating the darkness of 9TH
ers. Aside from the necessary street
lamps nearly all the important cities
/
mental systems of street lighting in
the business district In some cases
the city does this work, in others the
business men bear the entire burden
/ and now and then they share the
cost. These ornamental lights are
usually incandescents, either support
ed on handsome iron poles. from three
or five lamps to the pole, or strung
in graceful arches high above the
streets.
Electric signs play no small part in
4 the illumination and Identification of
Il a city. 1t is here that the variously
colored lamps come into their own
and lend unrivaled harmony and beau
Il ty to the nightly illumination of a
city The design and unique features
4 of such electric signs are limited only
by the Imagination and they vary all
the way from tiny illuminated name
plate to great signs. depicting all
kinds of figures many feet in size
Red, green, yellow. white, orange, blue
and various tined and shaded lamps
s are used in Illuminated sign work
Aside from the immense advertising
value of these signs they play no
small part in Illuminating the city
streets.
Store window lighting is another
often neglected problem of making
the street attractive. Beyond a doubt
the window is good salesman, if
properly dressed and lighted, and this
i light flooding out into the street,
j makes the business section donbly at
tractive. Automatic switches turn off
these window lights at any desired
) time when the people begin to leave
, the streets.