History of Street Lighting in The United States - Means of Electric Light Generation - Fluorescent Lamp

Fluorescent Lamp

The fluorescent lamp first became common in the late 1930s. These lamps are a form of discharge lamp where a small current causes a gas in the tube to glow. The typical glow is strong in ultraviolet but weak in visible light. However, the glass envelope is coated in a mixture of phosphors that are excited by the ultraviolet light and emit visible light. Fluorescent lamps are much more efficient than incandescent lamps, and for a short time became popular in street lighting both because of the efficiency and the novelty value. Fluorescent lamps for street lighting were first introduced to the public for commercial uses at the 1939 World's Fair.

The major problems with standard fluorescent lamps for street lighting is that they are large, and produce a diffused non-directional light. They are also rather fragile. Therefore the fixtures needed to be large, and could not be mounted more than 20–30 feet above the pavement if they were to produce an acceptable light level.

Fluorescent lamps quickly fell out of favor for main street lighting, but remained very popular for parking lot and outside building illumination for roadside establishments.