Willis Lamm's Traffic Signal Collection (And Street Lights Too) Clicking on a picture will bring up a larger view in a new window.   General Electric (GE) Form 45-L "Iron Head" 110-Volt Radial Wave Street Light

While most early street lights operated on high voltage series circuits where dozens of street lights could be controlled by a single switch, there were situations where a single light or a "multiple" of a few lights in a small area were remote from the series system. In those instances low voltage (110-120 volt) street lights were used. (Please note that back in those days "low voltage" referred to standard 110 / 240 volt line voltage, not 12 volts as is presently used in landscape lighting.) Although some manufacturers used the same luminaires as their high voltage series lamps, a large ceramic head was not required for low voltage applications. GE produced a galvanized cast iron head for its low voltage street lights that was noticeably smaller than the bulky ceramic lamps. These cast iron heads appeared prior to WW-II and eventually gave way to NEMA standard cast aluminum heads.

Components of the Luminaire

GE's cast iron head had no discernible markings however its design is distinctive. This design head was typically associated with reflectors that bore GE's logo, so we're certain that this is a GE head.

View of the head with holes for mounting the reflector. The reflector collar has matching holes. GE logo on the reflector.

Typical socket mount. Medium base sockets were used for lamps up to 200 watts. Larger lamps used mogul sockets. Testing the luminaire.

I like to use some of these restored street lights for area lighting around the ranch. Typically I save the incandescent luminares for momentary lighting, or I use CFLs in situations where the lights come on all night. In this case this luminaire lights an area behind the main horse barn that only needs to be lit when we're working back there at night. The light's elevation provides sufficient area lighting with a single luminaire. For this application I am using a 200 watt A25 clear bulb. Day burning to test the installation. The reflector casts a cool wavy shadow on the barn. GE produced versions of the Form 45-L that had entrances for series conductors, however due to the compact nature of this luminaire, these designs were limited to circuits that did not exceed 5,000 volts. 2019 update. We needed more illumination where the Form 45L was installed, so we replaced it with a Form 79. The Form 45L was repurposed to a location where fewer lumens were required as seen below.

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Wheeler "Sink Bowl" Street Light