Ultra-Violet Lighting

Abstract

MR. R. H. FINCH of the Lighting Section of the British Thomson-Houston Co. Ltd., has written a paper published in the Electrical Review for August 25 on the use in generating stations in war-time of ultra-violet lighting. The whole station could be bathed in ultra-violet energy and light produced only where needed, as, for example, on the handles of switches, meter scales, push buttons, telephones, doors, keyholes, tables, stairs, fire-extinguishers, etc., by the application to them of a dab of fluorescent paint or dye. Small press buttons should be surrounded by circles. Fuse positions can be delineated by outlining them, or by spotting the carriers with paint on the floor. In front of every switchboard a line should be painted about 12 inches away. The shape of every obstruction near an open switchboard or in a control room should be delineated by floor lines or patches of paint. Fluorescent chalks are also available for writing emergency warnings. The waves given off by the black lamps used are of a definite wave-length and produce no sun-burning or other dangerous effects. They are used in connexion with invisible fluorescent laundry marking systems and have been in constant operation for several years without a single case of ill effects to operators. Ultra-violet lighting is recommended for the emergency lighting in generating stations and similar premises in the Home Office A.R.P. Department pamphlet entitled ‘War Time Lighting Restrictions for Industrial and Commercial Premises’.