William Sugg & Co

8000 Lamp

(This is an element of ‘Lighting – Street Lamps‘)

Sugg329 550 pix
The 8000 Lamp was an important stage in the development of scientific lighting. Not only was great care taken to achieve the perfect gas/air mixture so providing a bright and unwavering light source, but the ‘wings’ were shaped to produce the maximum performance on the road and also made to swivel round a vertical centre-line such that the light could be directed around a curve in a road. The ‘wings’, which were cast aluminium like the rest of the body, were fitted with curved one-piece mirrors, unlike the electric fixtures of a similar layout which had a mosaic pattern of glass mirrors making up the wings. A third wing was available to provide even greater coverage, designed particularly for tee junctions.

8000 Air movement arrgt 260  8000 lamp type D 260

On the left above is a cross-section of the 8000 Lamp showing the specially formed section designed to ‘rebuff’ the wind with little scallops and gaps between to allow the air through. This section can just be seen in the marketing picture on the right at the very top of the glass.

8000 Lamp 4 pg leaflet front 550

8000 Lamp 4 pg leaflet P2 550

The 8000 Lamp and its literature literature were designed by Crawford Sugg, the Technical Director during a period when he also took on the position of Sales Director following the untimely death of the previous incumbent. The ‘blueprint drawings’ of page 2 are a very effective means of describing all the models, supports, performance and light distribution and are clearly influenced by his technical position. He used a similar literature design for both the Rochester and London Lamps in a distinct attempt to ‘modernise’ Sugg literature by producing individual leaflets for each product with a heavily technical bias aimed at the lighting engineer.

 8000 Lamp 4 pg leaflet P.3 550

8000 Lamp 4 pg leaflet back 550

Page 3 and the back page of the 8000 leaflet point out the technical features ‘as the Lighting Engineer sees it’

 8000 'H' type open 550

The 8000 Lamp was also offered with “Type ‘H’ Bracket Mounting” which the literature below describes as “A big step forward towards the improvement now sought by progressive lighting authorities in the day-time appearance of their installations”, pointing out that “all the control equipment is housed inside a cast light alloy bracket spigoted to the top of the column.”
Ease of access for maintenance was clearly a big feature and even somewhere to hang the glass globe was provided. In the picture can be seen the Horstmann clockwork controller, the ‘Comet’ igniter and the ‘constant pressure governor set for 30/10ths w.g.outlet pressure.’
In addition the final paragraph of the description states; “The new ladder attachment providing a mechanical lock between the top of the ladder and the column is incorporated as a standard feature and avoids the need for unsightly ladder bars and is an invaluable safety feature.” “PATENT APPLIED FOR” appears immediately after this.

 8000 Lit with Type 'H' Brkt front 260  8000 Lit with Type 'H' Brkt back 260

INSTALLATIONS

8000 'D' Type (2) 260  8000 'D' Type 260
8000 Lamp ‘D’ Type

8000 'D' Type concrete column, Chigwell 550
Chigwell

8000 'D' Type 3 lt, Gosforth 550
Gosforth

8000 4 lt & Sign Illuminator 2 lt 260 8000 'H' Type Steel Column 260
‘D’ Type with 3 reflectors and sign illuminator and ‘H’ Type with 3 reflectors

8000 4 lt, Romsey 550
4 lt 8000 Lamp in Romsey

 8000 lamp with ARP fitting 550

A final close-up of the 8000 Lamp fitted with the ARP (Air Raid Precaution) adaptation for war time installations. This device, designed at the very beginning of WW2, prevents any sideways illumination whilst allowing a small circle of light downwards for pedestrians which was insufficient for any bomber to pick out as a target from the sky. Similar adaptations known as ‘starlights’ were made for all the older gas street lamps in which only a small proportion of the light was allowed out to provide guidance to the pedestrian and the rare motorist at night.

Copyright © Chris Sugg 2006-13

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Site Background & Header

The background to the site is a modern picture of Westminster, the ‘home’ of William Sugg for so many years. It was taken from the roof of The House of Lords during a visit by the Heritage Group of CIBSE in 2004 and centres on Westminster Abbey. The header carries a woodcut of ‘Vincent Works’, the Sugg factory, which might well have been visible from this vantage point. William used this on one of his letter heads. The first and oldest logo also shows the intimate connection with Westminster as it carries the Westminster portcullis with the inscription ‘en avant’ – ‘in advance’. The second logo replaced the earlier one around 1920 and was used right the way through the century until the ‘modern’ era when the ‘flame’ logo was applied to the new era of gas heating equipment with the new factory in Crawley.

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William Sugg & Co