Recent content by rieka

As a back to basics thing I'm going to summarize the wire gauge chart that was given to me when I worked at ElectroControls in 1972 building light boards. We had UL inspectors come in from time to time so these were set in stone... 22 AWG - 1 amp 20 AWG - 3 amp 18 AWG - 5 amp 16 AWG - 10 amp 14...

Yes, there were Twist Locks in the 1950's (patent issued to Hubbell in 1935). When I was a student in Physics in the 60's we would take a monthly trip to the state surplus warehouse in Nashville that had old stuff from the federal government including the Air Force and Oak Ridge National Lab...

Way back in 1994 I wrote a Letter to the Editor of TD&T suggesting that the future of lighting control & design lay in using open source protocols - tcp/ip, Ethernet cables instead of AMX/DMX, video projectors powerful enough to replace ellipsoidal spots & moving head projectors and so on...

I'm sure the lack of a load rating for the Channel Mount has its origins in tougher safety ratings now required by OSHA. Looking at the cross sectional design of the extrusion it is obvious that a heavy load can deform the integral sidewall. Since the opposite sidewall with the receptacles is...

Look at http://anstendig.com/Dancers/harkness5.htm to see how the Harkness Ballet was lit in the late 1960's. Tony Tucci (https://www.linkedin.com/in/tony-tucci-b0a7bb15) was their set electrician in the early 70's and he spent several months setting up side lights in bullrings in Spain every...

If you've ever hung lights while standing on top of a 20' A ladder with the pipe at eye level the difference would be clear.A fixture with a pipe clamp can be immediately supported by the pipe as soon as you lift it up. This makes it a breeze to tighten the clamp. Otherwise you must fumble to...

A disco ball is a good example of the need for safety chain. Torque from turning the motor on and off lots of times can cause lots of stress on the mounting hardware. Ceiling fan fixtures suffer from a similar problem if the speed is high enough to rock the entire fan, but I've never seen one...

Way back when the community theater I worked at in college was still in a converted indoor swimming pool, the main lighting for the stage was a single batten with an "X-ray" borderlight on the bottom and a pipe above for PC spots (the old Kliegl 4" square boxes"). Occasionally we might want to...

Looks like a knockoff of a Kliegl front end with a PAR64 rear - similar to the Ariel Davis parlighter - perhaps an attempt to bypass a design patent?