On the
PAR 64 rock and
roll or theater can it was "Concert Lighting" - Moody 1998, says in his Preface that the
PAR 64
fixture came from the film industry. (Must be a history of film lighting
book out there somewhere than that answers the question of when such a
fixture came out for the film industry. Glowman in his own
book "Placing Shadows" might otherwise be a good person to contact.) Chip Monck is credited for having brought them to the industry - not sure how/where. "
Colortran, Inc., had been mounting the PAR-64 family of lamps in a
unit they called The Cine Queen." goes on about saturated
gel... in them not lasting with
gel... "Bill McManus had seen the lamps and went to Ronnie
Altman at
Altman Stage Lighting in New York. McManus gave
Altman a sketch and asked him to
build 500 with the company’’s
stock crinkled finish." - this sketch had the
gel frame holder on it & the longer snout. New cans first used on Jethro Tull’’s Passion
Play tour in late 1971. Another 500x were sold to Bob See at See-Factor -
Altman made more. Jethro Tull and it’’s implied that the Stones apparently were the first tours to use the new
gel frame clipped new cans. (No mention of what tour/s Monck was first using them on.) That’s the history amongst 37 books researched and a few websites I found so far on the
PAR can fixture.
Ok, so we have established the invention of the Rock and
Roll PAR can or at least the more theater
PAR 64 steel can perhaps over this above
Colortran Cine Queen
fixture that didn’t work so well with
gel. When did this Cine Queen
fixture come out? That’s the
PAR 64 as an individual
fixture all of this is based upon. Also by than was it 1Kw quartz/
halogen or 500w.
incandescent in use in either case? When did the 1Kw quartz lamp come out? This much less the Thorn HX-156 at 1.2Kw come out in now being discontunued but survive long enough to get an
ANSI code such as a GFA lamp?
Ok, beyond the
PAR can, I have this
book, "Architectural Lighting Graphics" - Flynn 1962 that lists the 75&150w
PAR 38, 200w
PAR 46, 300w
PAR 56 and 500w
PAR 64 lamps in use at that time, amongst a few R-Lamps. It documents the use of all lamps except the
PAR 64 as if an “Architectural Graphics Standards”
book for the use of all fixtures in architectural lighting fixtures except no mention I might have missed of a
PAR 64 application. Might have missed the original use of a
PAR 64 500w/120v lamp as presented for many beam spreads, but mostly these
PAR lamps have been in use long before their adoption to theater cans or rock cans for the architectural lighting industry.
"The Art of
Stage Lighting" - Bentham 1968, (of later use in
ACL lamps) "What appealed to these men was the strong beam of light itself rather than the malformed patch at the end of it, and it is interesting to find the Germans getting much the same
effect with low-voltage. (Nedervolt) spots after the war. There had been sporadic attempts to take advantage of the greater efficiency and smaller low-voltage filaments here and there in the thirties, but post-war this became a necessity in Germany."
Section about 8mm
projector lamps and
PAR lamps. "A wide range of beam distribution has been available for some years now in the United States and these are gradually appearing over here. Great efficiency is possible, for each lamp is virtually a complete optical
system and when low
voltage filaments or
tungsten-halogen sources are sealed in the light output is remarkable.
All this must be viewed with caution, however, as far as the theater is concerned, for these are fixed beams. In a narrow-beam spotlight type of sealed beam lamp the optical
system is designed for one purpose only. All the efficiency that can be extracted pours out on this one beam distribution;
(photo / fig. 43. Sealed-beam lamps: top left to right: 1-Kw
PAR 64 spot, 500-watt
PAR 56 spot, and medium flood; bottom: 150-watt
PAR 36 spot and flood) {note
image shown is a
PAR 38 not a
PAR 36 - either a typo or there might have been a
PAR 36 in use back than, just not these
bottle neck medium screw ones shown.}
and what chance do the multi-purpose, variable-beam, jack-of-all-trades
stage spotlights
stand by comparison? Variable beam control and distribution, and our behest, are essential. Therefore, beware! If hundreds of sealed beam lamps are deployed as general
stage lighting, the orthodox spotlighting is going to take a hard knock.
Stage lighting does not have to be bright, it has to appear bright and this is not the same thing at all. (Onto the section on Lamp Efficiency and
Color Temperature, and I totally agree with his statement - also given in High School I had a teacher that was hoping to replace all of our Century/
Strand Lekos with
PAR Cans so he wouldn’’t have to deal with maintaining them - this was in the mid-80's. Also further above mention in the Pagent lighting section of Germany’’s liking the narrow spot type lighting as opposed to
wash or wider beam spread.)
It would seem by the late 1960's that theaters were using architectural
PAR can’s and not the studio grade
PAR cans that Bellmen was fighting against the use of below.
"Lighting the
Stage: Art and Practice" - Bellman 1967
"There are available a number of makes of lamp holders for Type R lamps that cut down the back
spill and provide for the use of
color media. The holders usually are combined with a swivel
socket to facilitate directing the
unit. While most of these lamp holders (fixtures) are quite useful for store-window lighting and various types of decorative lighting, they are not rugged enough to stand the wear and tear of
stage use. The swivel sockets soon lose their ability to hold the lamps in position, and the rest of the apparatus becomes bent or dented beyond repair. Thus the holders are usually a poor investment; their cost, plus that of the lamp, is nearly equal to that of a small floodlight or spotlight which would be much more durable and useful. The Type R lamps are also made in a "spot" type that produces.....
Reflector lamps are often said to be the "poor man's spotlight."
"In contrast to specific lighting application, there are several good boardlight units available that are designed for Type R lamps. They have the advantage of extremely high efficency. Moreover, their
reflector efficiency does not
drop with age because the reflectors are renewed with each relamping. Most of them are designed to take either Type R or the more rugged variety, Type
PAR lamp.
PAR lamps are constructed with a heavy
pyrex glass
envelope that is capable of taking the stresses that may occur when the hot lamp is doused by rain or a carelessly directed garden hose. The original purpose of these lamps was outdoor architectural lighting. However, their ruggedness makes them more adaptable to
stage purposes than the R types. Dangers from breakage are greatly reduced when these lamps are used. There are still drawbacks:
PAR lamps weigh more than R lamps, they still get very hot, and their cost is considerably more than R lamps. Light distribution characteristics of
PAR lamps are also different, but this is not necessarily a disadvantage because it offers the lighting technician a wider range of choices."
"Both the R and
PAR types are available in a wide range of wattages from 75 to as high as 1500 watts in certain cases. Proliferation of types has blurred the distinction between R and
PAR to the extent that R-type envelopes may now be obtained of
pyrex glass, making them "waterproof."
Pyrex does not materially increase their mechanical strength. To take advantage of the high efficiency of large
reflector lamps,
cyclorama striplights are available that are designed to use R56 or R64 lammps, 300 and 500 watts respectively. (Think he means
PAR)
"The stage-lighting artist will find that he must keep up on the latest developments in this series of lamps if he wishes to take advantage of their great efficiency. New types and additional improvements are constantly appearing. (See Appendix III for ordering data.)"
So did Monck see a show lit by
Colortran fixtures first, or read a
book or do theatrical shows in using architectural
fixture usages of such lamps first? All perhaps in a back of the mind in bothering him and McManus in re-designing the
fixture for
stage/rock usage. Kind of like that advent of the
ETC S-4
fixture, perhaps it wasn’t only the
360Q but they took a number of problems with brands or types into account in revolutionizing the industry.
Otherwise, at what
point did the industry say stop converting say Halo brand
track light fixtures into
stage light
C-Clamp fixtures for use on
stage as seemingly in use and fought against well before before the Rock and
Roll Can came to market? Theater’s could not afford Studio lighting such as a
Colortran PAR 64 and other
PAR fixture thus it could be assumed they didn’t use them. They could afford architectural fixtures though and it would seem they were in use.. This in a less than benevolent way that Bellman asserts without finding a solution for the why they are seemingly in use problem.
That’s the rock and
roll or at least Theater
PAR 64 Can in concept and a few versions of them in that period.
Still though back to the
PAR lamp and
ACL lamps themselves. Pattents issued for
PAR type reflectors within T-type tube lamps for
PAR lamps, and low
voltage lighting concepts withing various pattent research before and after the war. Seems like that was the hayday for such lamps and concepts.
Look at a #4552 lamp though. It’s not a
filament shied as per say a #4559 or #4515, it’s a hemispheric
shield instead that don’t
block the output from the
filament in other than one direction. Main question of this and a few similar lamps is what’s the purpose of this
shield that don’t persay
block light out of the
filament, instead it blocks light out of it for say 2/3 of the
spill light from the lamp.
Thinking such a hemispheric
shield if of more use in
blocking the light upwards to other planes above or in
blocking the light as might be seen by the pilot in looking out his window. That’s perhaps the purpose but I get no help from GE on this question. Not a
filament shield, what is that say 1/3 wrap of
shield doing inside the lamp on a #4552 and other lamps?
The
ACL lamp was not for landing, it was for use in airplanes.
On the other
hand the
PAR 38 lamp goes back to the late 38's and early 40's as mentioned in books.
PAR 56 lamp also in later 40's as a lamp type in use. This assuming for architectural fixtures but also for use as
cyc or strip lights. Such lamps are ancient for the most part in development except they were more so just a bank of them until at some
point in say the 60's or late 50's when for an architectural use they became adopted at some
point for theater use as say a
house light. And at that
point someone in being creative made their first architectural can for use on
stage I think.
Assuming since the early 60's or before, at very least on the
PAR 38, someone made an individual
fixture for it at some
point. Don’t know when the
PAR 64 lamp came out before 1962, or when it went
halogen say around 1968, but such lamps were in use already perhaps. Than the
PAR 56 lamp also much earliar.
All this, when did Mole Richardson come out in theory with the development of the
PAR FAY lamp as a concept? Lots of low
voltage PAR 36 lamps out there for many applications but the FAY usage is unique and perhaps important in a lamp type not supported by way of other normally low
voltage PAR 36 lamps. Was assuming the studio lighting industry say using their four light
PAR 36 fixtures first as say series wired low
voltage punch light fixtures before this lamp came out? This the invention of the
ACL fixture?
Anyway, this amongst other stuff is where I’m at in data. Bellmen for the most part in taking a stance against the use of architectural fixtures for use on
stage lighting also supports the concept of why Monck did what he and McManus did in inventing a new
fixture so as to solve the problems of the
Colortran they had seen in use. Perhaps it was the 1Kw Quartz version able to handle that wattage of lamp that the 500w
incandescent versions could not as seen before that in stolen from the theater/architectural industry for use with 500w lamp. Perhaps too dim and dark for what shows were seen but perhaps such players in the
PAR can were also aware of what was on the market already also.
ACL lamps for use on
stage - guys way back when no less reding a GE catalogue than I, found a lamp they wanted to use and made it happen. Still the main question on a
ACL, what about that hemispherical
shield as opposed to
filament shield? Why one verses the other the gyst of such a question.