Part 21

[Illustration: NIAGARA FALLS FLOODED WITH LIGHT]

After the close of the recent war artificial light played a prominent part throughout the country in the joyful festivals. A jeweled arch erected in New York in honor of the returning soldiers rivaled some of the spectacles of the Panama-Pacific Exposition. The arch hung like a gigantic curtain of jewels between two obelisks, which rose to a height of eighty feet and were surmounted by jeweled forms in the shape of sunbursts. Approximately thirty thousand jewels glittered in the beams of batteries of arc-projectors. Many of the signs and devices which played a part in the "Welcome Home" movement were of striking nature and of a character to indicate permanency. The equipment of a large building consisted of more than five thousand 10-watt lamps, the entire building being outlined with stars consisting of eleven lamps each. The "Brighten Up" campaign spread throughout the country. The lighting and installation of signs and special patriotic displays, the flooding of streets and shop-windows with light without stint, produced an inspiring and uplifting effect which did much to restore cheerfulness and optimism. A glowing example was set in Washington, where the flood-lighting of the Capitol, discontinued shortly after our entrance into the war, was resumed.

In Chicago a "Victory Way" was established, with street-lighting posts on both sides of the street equipped with red, white, and blue globes surmounted by a golden goddess of Victory. One hundred and seventy-five projectors were installed along the way on the roofs and in the windows of office buildings. A brilliant, scintillating "Altar of Victory" was erected at the center of the Way. It was composed of two enormous candelabra erected one on each side of a platform ninety feet high. These were studded with jewels and supported a curtain of jewels suspended from the altar. In the center of the curtain was a huge jeweled eagle bearing the Allied flags. This was illuminated by arc-projectors which delivered 200,000,000 beam candle-power. In addition to these there were many smaller projectors. In the top of each candelabra six large red-and-orange lamps were installed in reflectors. These illuminated live steam which issued from the top. Surmounting the whole was a huge luminous fan formed by beams from large arc search-lights. These are only a few of the many lighting effects which welcomed the returning soldiers, but they illustrate how much modern civilization depends upon artificial light for expressing its feelings and emotions. Throughout all these festivals light silently symbolized happiness, freedom, and advancement.

Projectors were used on a large scale in several cases before the advent of the concentrated filament lamp. W. D'A. Ryan, the leader in spectacular lighting, lighted the Niagara Falls in 1907 with batteries of arc-projectors aggregating 1,115,000,000-beam candle-power. In 1908 he used thirty arc-projectors to flood the Singer Tower in New York with light and projected light to the flag on top by means of a search-light thirty inches in diameter. Many flags waved throughout the war in the beams of search-lights, symbolizing a patriotism fully aroused. The search-light beam as it bores through the atmosphere at night is usually faintly bright, owing to the small amount of fog, dust, and smoke in the air. By providing more "substance" in the atmosphere, the beams are made to appear brighter. Following this reasoning, Ryan developed his scintillator consisting of a battery of search-light beams projected upward through clouds of steam which provided an artificial fog. This was first displayed at the Hudson-Fulton celebration with a battery of arc search-lights totaling 1,000,000,000-candle-power.

All these effects despite their magnitude were dwarfed by those at the Panama-Pacific Exposition, and inasmuch as this up to the present time represents the crowning achievement in spectacular lighting, some of the details worked out by Ryan may be of interest. In general, the lighting effects departed from the bizarre outline lighting in which glaring light-sources studded the structures. The radiant grandeur and beauty of flood-lighting from concealed light-sources was the key-note of the lighting. In this manner wonderful effects were obtained, which not only appealed to the eye and to the artistic sensibility but which were free from glare. By means of flood-lighting and relief-lighting from concealed light-sources the third dimension or depth was obtained and the architectural details and colorings were preserved. A great many