Willis Lamm's Traffic Signal Collection (And Street Lights Too) Clicking on a picture will bring up a larger view in a new window.   General Electric (GE) Form 79VR Street Light

The Form 79VR refractor was a rather advanced design in pendant incandescent lighting for its time. In 1938 Thomas Rolph developed a 2-way refractor for Holophane that projected a rather intense beam of light along a traffic lane with minimal side splash based on the prismatic design of the refractor and not using internal reflector blades. At that time Holophane was an exclusive provider of glass refractors for GE. The light that was emitted was more focused and produced far less glare than typical gumball and teardrop refractors. Rolph was awarded a patent for that design in 1941. The reflector was sufficiently large so that high wattage lamps could be used. However this design came out around the same time as new mercury vapor designs were gaining popularity. We believe that the lower cost per watt of mercury vapor lighting and the advent of GE's Form 109, Westinghouse's OV-20 and Line Material's Ovalite mercury vapor lamps were a primary reason that more Form 79VR luminaires weren't found in service.

A Closer Look at the Refractor

Holophane trademark. Arrows pointing to direction of focus.

GE logo on refractor. In service in the collection.

GE Product line from the 1940s

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GE Form 79CR Street Light