Popithir Sn'rtirc Montldji 



177 



The King of New York's 

 Lighting Spectacles 



FR.\MI';Dl)ythr masonry 

 portals of the Municipal 

 Biiikling the Woohvorth 

 tower by night represents 

 one of the greatest artistir 

 achievements in this age of 

 electrical wonders. For more 

 than a year now the thirty- 

 storied tower has burst out 

 into the night as a giant 

 shaft crowned with a scin- 

 tillating jewel. When that 

 part of the building below 

 the thirtieth floor is dark 

 the tower takes on the 

 appearance of a huge crystal 

 hung by invisible wires from 

 the skies. When the switches 

 are pressed into sockets il- 

 luminating the structure 

 more current is employed 

 than is necessary to light the 

 streets of a city of thirty- 

 thousand inhabitants. Si.x; 

 hundr.-d automobile lamps 

 arc contained in the elec- 

 trical installation. 



The lights are so arranged 

 that they flood e\'ery inch 

 of the structure. An in- 

 genious system of screening 

 prevents the rays from shoot- 

 ing directly downward or 

 upward, thus revealing the 

 source of light. Anyone 

 viewing the spectacle from 

 below is vexed to find when- 

 the light coiUL's from. 



Origin of Gas Jets Traced to 

 Woman's Thimble 



A WOMAN'S thimble is 

 said to ha\e been the 

 means of suggesting the first 

 gas burner. William Murdock, tiie 

 inventor, first burned the gas simply as 

 a Hame from the end of a pipe. One 

 day in an emergency he wished to stop 

 the illumination. Hurriedly looking 

 around for something, Murtlock seized 

 his wife's thimble and thrust it over the 

 light, which was inmiediately extinguish- 

 ed. There was a strong odor of gas, 

 however, and the experimenter appli'.xl a 



I'h.ito by I.ovii-k 



The Woolworth tower is the king of New York's sky- 

 line at night. Its crown is a great scintillating jewel 



light to the thimble, discovering that it 

 was full of holes, through which tin>' jets 

 of flame appeared. The importance of the 

 result was that the illumination from 

 those two or three tiny jets was 

 much brighter than had been given by 

 the great flare from the end of the pipe. 

 Acting on the principle which this 

 chance discovery- re\'ealed, heconstructed 

 what was known as the Cockspur burner. 



