Crescent wrench,
sawzall, sabre saw, skill saw, "what's in a name, Ms VanDyke ?", "everything Darling Everything"
Ok Ya got me on that one I ALWAYS thought that the lekolite was a Kleig-moniker, I've been wrong, I have sinned.
Yep, you did sin on that one. I don't like the concept that
Strand still retains the
logo "Lekolight" as printed on some late 1990's
Strand Ellipsoidals in storage - that's offensive as if
Strand did away with Century only in buying them out for the name as an end result. Didn't know of the second name in Klieg-Moniker please provide some history, but a "
Leko" aint a "Klieg Light." "Klieg Light" is often found as a term in civilian type books, TV or movies normally referring to something like a
Fresnel. Frome Tom
Clancy to West
Wing that's a term used that has another brand of probably very specific type of
fixture but without defination other than some form of movie light not really used by way of brand these days. Got some 2K Century "Lekolights" in storage at work, has Lekolight printed on the body - interesting that they have Major brand reflectors in them - Major being another brand of
Leko. Also have some 2K Kliegl ellipsoidals in storage at work - they were actally used about five years ago as opposed to my own Century Lekos that were used four years ago.
The story and developments of Major, Century,
Colortran,
Strand, Kliegl and many others are just not sufficiently detailed in theater history. Think I know something of how
Altman started (a train wreck as the story goes), where does L&E, Times Squre, much less even Chicago brand or Bantam get in there amongst others? This also goes for the history of Mole Richardson verses say Lowell, Arri,
Kino-Flo and others in brand. How many people know exactally how the Berkie
Colortran part of
Colortran fits in by way of one might see a Berkie... And I curse the
cyc's, but what is the even more recent history of Berkley by way of brand that bought them out before
Lee/
Colortran that than became NSI/
Colortran thus
Leviton/NSI/
Colortran? "Sixty Years of Lightwork or was it 60 years in the trenches?" while a great
book goes into it all some but is more about the light boards. Way too little about what is that legendary
fixture the Pratt or was it Pratt Whitney #23 much less the Ovalite that is still in use as a
fixture type I have never experimentated with. Who did what first and all about is for our industry completely lost to history as the older generations go away without passing on the knowledge. Keep trying to convince my own mentor in the theater and industry to write it all down, we should all if we know of such types that have been there forever, get them to write it down and perhaps publish it.
Had a meeting with one of my lamp suppliers today, he noted that he has been reading some on-line advice I have been giving over the years and thinks that even I should write a
book... yep it's in the plans but would take years for me to get any free time to do so at this
point. Just techniques for doing tech stuff and or something like a user's guide to lamps, but again, way too busy at work to help other than on-line to specific questions. I'm not old on the other
hand, much less I need more history of tech studies. How did the
Fresnel lens developed for light houses become the
Fresnel we all use today? What tech person developed such a
fixture? I remember having once read something, but no longer do and that's a shame. Heck, I don't even remember any longer if it was train wrecked Kliegl or some other brand of fixtures bought out and re-stamped that started the
Altman brand name.
Crescent Wrench or "
C-Wrench" these days more often. Wonder if Linesmens Pliers or Dikes (Diagional Side Cutting Pliers) have a start somewhere?
Edison Plug that's fairly easy in term but starts somewhere, as with
Edison screw
base - be it Euro or American - now how is it that both the Euro E-27 based Medium Screw can also and more properly be called
Edison screw
base as opposed to the American E-26 Medium Screw?
Used to be in the 1980's if you were asking for a cordless drill, you were asking for a "
Makita." (Than the 14.4v DeWalts came out and the market went wild from there in size and type. 14.4v is still the most useful size of drill for all intensive purposes in balancing weight with battery life and
power.) Them
Makita's 9.6v HD models without variable speed and with constantly slipping clutches were the king of the market back than. Had a military magazine pouch to store them. Finish up one battery, go to the next. It was a special technique to make that off/on trigger variable speed I still remember. Used to store it in the shop's freezer in between drills or uses so it would cool down. Finally melted it down one day with a 3.1/2" hole saw in going
thru a 4.1/2" timber. This after melting down many other types and same brand or different models of early 1990's cordless drills that were not quite so good as the trusty 9.6v
Makita HD. Now it's screw gun or cordless drill even if it's not. A cordless screw
driver is not a cordless drill just as a cordless drill is not a screw gun.
Most of us that got into the industry in the 1990's know the history of
ETC as a brand by way of having read articles in "Lighting Dimensions" or what was it "
stage craft" before it became "TCI?" Such things were published in the trade magazines than and are more or less forgotton by now - what there was a day before
ETC as a company existed - and what's on black and white TV means that those people also only dressed in black and white. While in college I remember going to the school's library in searching out articles from or about
McCandless, much less articles of the Mirror by Craig. The next generation no doubt is even short of the
ETC history, much less the story about Robert
Altman in corrdiation with Thorn (now GE/Thorn or now GE/Thorn/Nelson/
PRG) won the
widget of the year for the HX-600 lamp now the FLK lamp. Great article that went into depth about the development of a very specific and important lamp. Any similar articles about the R&D that went into the EHD lamp which replaced say the EGE which replaced the say DNS by way of
Leko Lamp development. Must have been at least some early 1970's article about the development by say someone from Kliegl that helped in theory GE develop the
halogen radial
Leko halgoen replacement/upgrade lamp. This much less another article about the new
Axial line of Lekos that were based around a medium
bi-pin (G-9.5) and EHD lamp to be more efficient than the radial Lekos. What company came out with the first
Axial Lekos and helped develop the EHD/EHG
line of lamp? What brand of lamp did they work with? Was there ever a Radial
Leko that had a smaller hole cut into it's
reflector as a upgrade in design to
house the new
halogen upgrade lamps?
Lots of history, how developed the BTL lamp and what brand of
Fresnel was the one that worked probably with GE in getting a now standard to the industry
halogen lamp inside our Fresnels?
Just some musing on my part that should raise questions and research projects for term papers.
For those of the Euro persuasion, we know that Bentham was there and did a lot even if by way of fixtures it's more or less a mention in his autobiography, how about the rest by way of Euro
fixture design? Got Reich and Vogul amongst other legendary brands, much less from his
book, lots of other companies and early engineering by way of lamps and fixtures. The Thorn name even still exists. Remember in the autobiography some about how that brand started out, not enough. It will be interesting to see what
PRG does with Nelson lamps - the exclusive Thorn distributer in the US given GE doesn't really have the contract with
PRG as it's Thorn marketer, but than again, perhaps
PRG could do something with Thorn as a brand in making it viable again. The Thorn CYX/HX2400 lamp for example.
HX-2400/CYX; GE/Thorn; CL, Quartz; 2.4Kw/115v; G 38; 3,200̊K; 400hours.
Other than the Osram HPR 575/115 lamp, you couldn't do a worse job of marketing such a unique lamp than Nelson has done with it. Urr, that 3,200̊K at 115v instead of 120v peeks my interest - we now have a 2K
Fresnel that has about the
color temperature of a S-4
Leko fixture. But than the questions Thorn/Ge that don't exist officially won't answer, and Nelson lamps has not, what's it's luminous output, is it really 2,400 Watts, assuming even if not published that it is a
LCL of 5", what type of
filament and size of
lamp globe does it have? More important than the rest is what it's Luminous output is. How can one sell a more powerful CYX lamp without advertising what it's perspective major advantage would be over that of the normal 2,000
Watt CYX lamp? Really poor marketing on Thorn/Nelson's part. Expect that this potentially very powerful locational
Fresnel lamp will go away without GE adopting it into their
line given a lack of sales. This lamp will eventually like the FEL/R (internal
reflector FEL lamp at about 15% to 20% more efficient than a standard FEL say follow spot or
Leko lamp, just go away such as Osram let slip away.) GE/Thorn now GE/Thorn with Nelson/
PRG will probably let this modern technology lamp development just slip away. Such is curious amongst other stuff for me.