Nature Knows Best
Seeing and Being Seen According to Darwin
An Unscientific Study by Reynaerts KFJ
Occasional Visitors to Belgium can’t
help noticing the imposing Presence
of Traffic Lights, being unique in the
World both in Number and Colour …
Flemish National Emblem
What could be behind it ?
Could it be Flemish Nationalism gone
dangerously out of control ?
Or were they just out of Red Paint ?
Neither hypothesis applies …
All the Traffic Light Poles in Flanders
were repainted on the request of such
Bodies defending the interests of the
Blind and other vulnerable road users.
Scientifically and empirically it had
been established long since that the
colour red isn’t so clearly discernable
as was too readily assumed, in fact,
at Dusk and in Foggy conditions, it’s
amongst the worst visible colours.
Not to mention those suffering from
Daltonism who can’t see it at all.
The combination Black/Yellow can be
distinguished far better and in much
worse visibility than Red or Orange.
Millions of years of evolution already
prove this fact as is demonstrated in
the colour pattern of bees and wasps.
Does it make evolutionary sense to be
clearly discernable, even at twilight ?
In the case of stinging insects it can
be asset to be recognisable as such ..
All Predators know instinctively that
the combination Yellow/Black means
Danger and will stay well clear of any
insect thus adorned.
Black and Yellow Stripes can still be
clearly made out when all the other
colours acquired a Greyish Aspect and
are no longer distinguishable at Dusk.
In some countries such as Japan, it
was made a legal obligation to paint
all factory chimneys red & white as
soon as they reach a certain height..
A few typical Japanese Towers.
In Japan too, it was just assumed that
painting all towers red/white would
make them best visible by airplanes.
What’s generally assumed for decades
needn’t be necessarily the case as was
borne out by many bitter experiences.
Belgian policies on colour patterns
aren’t very consistent anyway, as not
every potentially problematic feature
follows the rational of traffic lights.
Red & White tower in Antwerp Port
You can find red & white features just
yards away from the black & yellow
traffic light poles, as if the ‘laws of
physics’ did not generally apply …
As soon as you go enter Belgium ..
.. all Logic goes out
Place St. Lambert, Liege
Just 50 miles from Antwerp, where
all the poles for traffic lights [and not
a single other feature on the public
road] are painted black & yellow, the
poles continue to be Red & White …
En Belgique, Rien n’est Logique
Traffic lights are amongst the most
visible features in an urban context
and, together with other circulation
signs or street furniture determine to
a very great degree the character of a
city scapes and street scenery ..
.. so it’s the more surprising not more
care is given to their esthetic aspects.
Ruined by one Sign
The more so in historic city centres
were often just a single unfortunately
chosen colour or badly positioned sign
can ruin the entire view without their
presence being justified on grounds of
safety or improved traffic fluidity …
Ghent
The whole view on a medieval scene
ruined by 2 bright Red Letter Boxes.
Red Lanterns ?
Ghent Belfry
The view on the Belfry ruined by the
orange backside of one traffic sign ..
.. the reverse side of signs surely have
no function and therefore can’t under
any circumstance contribute to safety
aspects of whatever description ?
Moreover, recent techniques made it
possible to drastically rethink the
whole design of traffic lights as to
make them less imposing on any kind
of surroundings in the urban context.
Rubens house
Perfectly restored only to be ruined
by anachronistic features later on ..
Everywhere in Belgium you’ll find this
paradoxal attitude towards historical
architectural heritage of which there
is a lot in a country with such a long
and eventful past, seeing countless
invasions by many a foreign Army.
Ypres, no comment required …
Art-Déco tunnel, except for the Bin ..
Medieval ? Yes, only the Mentality
Art-Nouveau façade, but for the Post
Monuments protected by Law ?
The Pride of the City..
The Crossroads of the 4 Seasons ..
.. even, the masterpiece of Brussels
Art-Nouveau architect Josef Bascourt,
made famous by the film, described
as the best movie of the 70s of which
it’s the Closing Shot with Titles didn’t
escape ‘embellishment’ by B-man ..
Stung by the omnipresent Bee ..
The Barbarians haven’t reached ..
.. Bottom Level yet, but ..
eventually ..
.. they will reach every Place …
John Gielgud called it his ‘favourite’
.. before the Plastic arrived here
When the movie was shot here in the
seventies, the neighbourhood was still
reasonably intact and filming from a
Low Angle sufficed to keep occasional
Anachronisms out of Frame but ..
.. that wouldn’t be enough today ..
B-Man has seen to that ..
.. if you can find it, that is ..
You’ll find no directions in the station
and taking the wrong Exit ends you up
in quite a different neighbourhood ..
.. more akinned to Orientalism than
Occidental Fin-de-Siècle Ecclecticism
with hints of Art-Nouveau ..
The conventional Traffic Lights with
light bulbs which have been in use
since they replaced mechanical signs
operated by hand a century ago, are
gradually being substituted for a new
type with Light Emitting Diodes.
LED Lights
These traffic lights reduce electricity
consumption but don’t dramatically
improve on the aesthetics being not
very much smaller or lighter than the
previous models.
.. their daytime visibility being just
as much affected by direct exposition
to bright sunlight as the former ones.
LED Traffic Lights in London
As can be seen in the picture above,
apart from the Lower Consumption ..
.. their visual aspect doesn’t differ
very much from the earlier models.
You could even mistake them for the
ones with filament light bulbs.
For what percentage of overall power
consumption traffic lights account ?
Does they justify their expense ?
The downside of LED arrays in traffic
lights obviated itself already, as their
brightness cannot be altered at night,
they can blind drivers after dark.
LED Traffic Lights being removed …
If you see something ain’t working as
it should, you just try something else.
Brave are those who draw the right
conclusions ..
If traffic lights could be made so light
you wouldn’t need heavy poles at all,
wouldn’t that do away with the whole
debate over which colour they should
or should not be ?
If there are no obstacles on the public
road in the first place, you don’t need
to take measures to stop those with
impaired vision running in to them …
In the United States, this rational has
often prevailed with traffic lights in
many instances being suspended on
steel cables over the road.
This does away with the necessity for
poles on the sidewalks.
These cables have to be rather thick
and unsightly in view of the weight of
the conventional housing for lights.
Aesthetically, it isn’t much Better
Instead of having many lights on the
corners, one multi-directional fixture
hangs above the centre of a crossing.
Suspended Lights in the US
Central Aisle
You can put Omni-directional fixtures
on a central aisle like in Asia.
Let’s have a quick tour of the world
to see how different countries tackle
this problem common to them all.
It also shows how much the Belgian
model stands out like a sour thumb.
Bavaria
Denmark
Spain
France
Holland
Scotland
Mexico
Germany
England
Wherever you travel in neighbouring
countries, the poles are unchangingly
in neutral grey tones without making
their presence known in the cityscape
as emphatically as they do in the
little kingdom of Belgium.
Another conspicuous fact is the total
lack of uniformity, even within the EU
as the 1968 ‘Vienna Convention’ only
prescribes that traffic lights should
be circular leaving all the rest open.
It is not compulsory to have 3 lights.
Electronics enhanced the reliability of
flashing lights considerably since the
rules for traffic lights were codified.
There were only two ways to make a
light bulb flash before electronics,
the bi-metal bulb, found chiefly in
cheap Christmas tree lights consisting
of 2 fused metal strips which deform
by the heat and interrupt the current
briefly until they cool down again.
Wholly unsuitable for traffic lights as
the reaction time is much too long.
The second method uses an electric
motor to switch like in vintage cars.
The clicking noise you hear when the
direction lights come on was made by
an electro-mechanical switcher.
This works fine but has ‘moving parts’
and is therefore unreliable outdoors.
Electronically switched lights have no
moving parts, are highly dependable
and since made the 3rd light obsolete.
Everything in Belgium appears to be
inversely proportionate to its size.
Their sheer Number is Mind Boggling !
Simple road crossings of ridiculously
narrow streets results in a forest of
conspicuous poles in shouting colours.
About the reasons why this is so wild
speculations abound but that isn’t the
subject of this article.
Just the result of Safety Concerns ?
One situation you’ll never find in the
fair kingdom of Belgium is this ..
Traffic lights affixed to Lamp Post
This being something which is quite
impossible, yes even unimaginable in
a country like Belgium.
Ghent University, B-man was here ..
And what to say of the utilisation of
this [for once] beautifully preserved
Horta Department Store in Brussels ?
Priceless Combination isn’t it ?
Art-Nouveau and Belgian Comics …
Any which way ..
Baron Victor Horta wasn’t a B-man.
Victor Horta would still have been
A Person if hadn’t been a baron.
He surely would have preferred more
respect for his work to a silly title.
The demolished Horta masterpiece.
Volkshuis/Maison du Peuple, Brussels.
Another Historic View spoiled ..
An example of political correctness
gone overboard.
While discussing traffic lights, the
related issue of poster displays in bus
shelters and score boards in stadiums
can’t be avoided as they too are likely
to undergo parallel changes because
of the arrival of electronic paper.
A Familiar Sight since the eighties ..
A French entrepreneur had the idea
to offer free bus and tram shelters to
municipalities on condition he could
advertise on the sides with posters.
The formula was highly successful as
cities saw themselves rid of the cost
of building and maintaining shelters
and, since companies don’t want their
product advertised in a bad context,
these shelters are kept very clean.
The idea made its conceiver a fortune
from the huge advertising revenue.
These paper posters still have to be
renewed by staff regularly which task
will become superfluous when they’re
exchanged with an electronic display
capable to display a different image
by remote control every five minutes
without these visits being necessary.
E-paper
Publicity-sponsored Garbage Cans
Even bins can be obtained gratis from
the advertising boys if they can put
posters on both sides of them ..
The latest scheme of J.C. Decaux, as
that is his name in case you didn’t yet
gathered, consists of bi-cycle rent out
at different places in cities.
With advertising, of course.
See what I mean ?
The bicycles are attached to consoles
and can only be removed if you feed
it some money.
This is a Pilot Scheme in Brussels.
Hanging Bike
Perhaps if it would take you ‘over’
the treacherous traffic of the Belgian
capital, it would be more appealing.
Close-up of Brussels Money Eater
There was a time not so long ago even
Coke machines were banned in schools
because there was publicity on them.
Anything with religious, political or
mercantile symbols was proscribed.
Still Banned in 1970s Schools
Banned !
My own father wasn’t even allowed to
distribute free rulers with advertising
in educational establishments in the
1950s.
Eco-friendly Ruler
Medieval Practices on the Way Out ?
Later we’ll treat the Scoreboard in
greater detail.
The Oriental example above proves
that traffic lights cán be discreet and
that they don’t háve to ruin the view.
This not preventing them from being
out of step with the provisions of the
‘Vienna Convention’ just on account
of the square and not circular shape.
There is still room for improvement
though, using the latest displays …
E-paper
Fujitsu launched the 1st colour display
which isn’t lit from the back recently.
The wholly novel working principle of
this type of display offers almost zero
consumption and adds to this as clear
a daytime visibility as a painted sign,
even in the brightest sunlight.
It needn’t be shielded from the sun.
Because it’s almost weightless it can
be hung over road crossings on near
invisible wires or on thin, discreetly
tinted façade suspenders, especially
when made out of carbon fibre.
After dark, they would be lit from the
outside by a fluorescent light tube if
other street lighting were inadequate
offering even lower consumption than
Light Emitting Diode traffic lights.
A small solar panel could recharge an
accu to feed the tube thus creating a
new possibility for fully free standing
devices without connections to a grid.
Basic design for multi-directional,
paper-thin, suspended traffic lights.
This article only deals with principles,
not with the actual designs envisaged.
The author has some designs in mind
which he won’t put on display here,
this not being the proper setting.
They show it was indeed possible to
notify all those in the public space of
dangers ahead without the signalage
dominating the entire cross roads as
all too often seems to be a condition,
nowhere more so than in Belgium.
ePaper found many applications, not
all of them as useful or relevant.
Take this ‘design’ wristwatch drawing
on ePaper technology for its thin, and
much larger display than usual in LCD
based watches which aren’t flexible
nor can be wrapped around the wrist.
Seiko ePaper Wristwatch
Large display
For decades, the simple three or two
colour traffic lights are sometimes
enhanced by colour- neutral icons.
E-paper increases the possibilities in
this respect manifold.
Although the red & green symbolism
can be maintained, far more intricate
iconography becomes possible with
such displays.
These can be animated for clarity.
Outside the perception of road users,
traffic lights underwent significant
changes in many cities forever trying
to improve inner city fluidity.
There are 2 schools of thought which
are not really compatible, however :
The concepts of synchronisation and
of vehicle-specific remote control.
Long Street with Many Crossings
It is possible to link the traffic lights
on each crossing to a single computer
which ensures that cars going at an
indicated speed never meet a single
red light at any of the crossings.
These are synchronized traffic lights
or Green Wave as it’s called at times.
Of course, this is incompatible with
systems that allow traffic lights to be
affected by push buttons or RFID tags
as these disrupt such synchronisation.
The earliest experiments to optimize
the frequency of traffic lights go back
to the fifties and sixties, long before
sophisticated electronics broadened
the possibilities of control systems.
The number of vehicles coming out of
every direction wasn’t counted with
electromagnetic induction coils under
the tarmac as they are today but with
a rubber hose lying across the road.
When a vehicle went over the tube, a
counter was activated pneumatically.
The counters where read at intervals
by humans who would manually set
the timers controlling the frequency.
Coil
An induction loop like the one shown
above lies invisibly under the tarmac,
nothing indicating its presence ..
Induction
A simplified model of induction as it
occurs when massive metal bodies like
cars move over the coil and incite just
a slight variation in electric tension.
The earliest practical application of
magnetic induction goes back to 1937
when the patent was issued for the
metal detector, originally only used
by the Army to find land mines ..
Mine Detector
The principle behind a vehicle spotter
and a mine detector is identical if you
just reverse it.
You can have a coil under the surface
to spot metal above the surface, or,
have the coil just above the surface
to spot a metal body just underneath.
Some vehicle guiding systems also use
the exact same physical phenomenon
to keep a bus on an invisible track.
Theoretically, this kind of guidance
system was already feasible in 1937
but GM presented its 1st prototype
only on the 1950s Futurama Show.
Futurama
This City of the Future was launched
by General Motors in 1939 to promote
the motorcar as an indispensable tool
for modern urban existence.
They didn’t envisage any congestion
or pollution in their Utopic City …
We’ll return to this application later.
The induction loops are linked to the
computer which automatically adjusts
the frequency of the traffic lights in
each direction in function of the real
time, genuine density of traffic.
When all vehicles are fitted with RFID
tags, remote influencing of traffic
lights can even take into account the
vehicle types, not just their number.
Twowheelers can be given priority in
traffic, for instance, as their presence
would be known to the traffic lights
controller even before they arrive at
hazardous crossings and all this fully
automatically without any buttons
having to be pressed.
In most European countries, bicycles
used to be taxed just like cars and
motorcycles at some point and in one
way or another ..
.. so the notion of having compulsory
licence plates on all bicycles wouldn’t
be new in itself only the fact they had
a RFID chip embedded in them.
Plate
Belgium was amongst the earliest to
introduce a bicycle tax and the last to
abolish it, decades after the others.
The Antwerp Provincial Tax Plates for
bicycles from 1932 and 1969
Such plates were of a different shape
and colour every year and had to be
affixed at a specified place on every
bicycle, tricycle and even hand cart
on the public road so the police could
easily verify whether this Cycle Tax
had been duly paid when they drove
past in their Patrol Car.
Have a close look at this photo, only
one detail betrays this is NOT Ireland.
Indeed, the Tax Plate on the bike.
Even though it was abolished over 2
decades ago, you can still see them.
Always at lefthand, Front Side.
Bike with Plate affixed at Left Front
Not only the possession of a taxplate
was compulsory in Belgium, even the
exact location was legally imposed.
The brackets to affix plates were not
supplied by the Taxing Authority.
My own father was the first to make
them in Belgium, in fact, so I ought to
know about such matters.
Amsterdam
In the Netherlands, bicycle country
par excellence, there was a public
outcry when this tax was imposed in
the 30s and the minister responsible
was associated with it for the rest of
his political career.
The imposition of compulsory plates
needn’t imply the return of bicycle
tax, one isn’t related to the other.
Bicycle Crossings like these would no
longer be fitted with push buttons as
twowheelers could be prioritized on
all crossings automatically.
RFID Probe
Radio Probes or Interrogators by the
roadside and well ahead of the actual
crossing recognized every bicycle by a
Micro Chip embedded in the Plate.
RFID tag
Because the Control Unit senses the
presence of a bicycle before it arrives
at the crossing, the lights are changed
pro-actively, having turned to green
by the time the cyclist gets to there.
The Cyclist doesn’t have to stop to
push the Button anymore.
In some cities, you may find buttons
at traffic lights of the type which are
synchronized in order to ameliorate
fluidity of traffic on roads coming
from and going to the city centre.
These buttons when pressed have no
effect whatsoever on the frequency
of the lights, they only activate some
device which indicates by non-visual
means to blind persons when it is safe
to cross the street and when not.
They are several ways to do this.
Good ones and bad ones.
Here are a few examples of both.
The following device found in the UK,
signals with a rotating knob when the
light turns to Green.
Blind persons in Britain have been
informed by public authorities of the
existence of such types of devices.
They know what to search for when
they arrive at a Street Crossing.
When the knob starts rotating, the
lights have turned to green and it’s
safe to cross the road.
If it doesn’t move, the lights are Red.
Yellow/Black Stripes, this must be …
.. another example of how NOT to go
about helping the Disabled or Aged.
At this busy crossroads somewhere in
Belgium, you’ll find push buttons at
the traffic lights which, when pressed
will activate a shrill shriek from four
megaphones as long as the lights are
turned green from 8 in the morning
until midnight, seven days a week.
As you can see, the railway station is
situated just across this busy street so
everybody needing to catch a train is
in a hurry to get across meaning that
everybody pushes the damned button
even when not having the slightest
effect on the lights.
A 6-year-old infant could work out for
itself that, if the lights would turn to
green each time someone pushes that
button, there would be a permanent
tailback in the other direction since
traffic on both streets is very dense.
To aggravate this already bad enough
situation, the button which activates
the hauler system is indistinguishable
from the ones used elsewhere in the
country which indeed influence traffic
lights as they are located in entirely
different traffic environments where
there’s a huge difference in traffic
density in the two traffic directions.
Having automatically switched lights
would unnecessarily disrupt fluidity
in the direction with dense traffic so
lights only change when prompted.
The very least they could have done is
to make sure that no confusion could
arise about the nature and purpose of
such blind buttons by giving them a
distinctive colour and an appearance
significantly different from the latter
so sighted persons don’t push them.
The result being that those living in
the immediate vicinity have to put up
with the constant shrieking noise day
& night for no reason at all except for
the bloody mindedness of those who
had the brilliant idea of putting it
there without proper notification.
Not a single initiative was taken to
alter this insane situation in spite of
20 years of complaints by residents.
The only persons who never push the
button are the blind because they are
not aware of its presence.
This road is so busy, no blind person
ever finds him- or herself alone here,
there is no necessity for any system at
that particular place except late at
night perhaps when it is turned off.
A Button which DOES influence Lights
When this megaphone system was
installed in the eighties, there were
already far more advanced techniques
which don’t inconvenience anybody.
In Belgium, until 2004, the visually
impaired even needed a licence to
carry a white cane on the public road.
You don’t require permission for any
other cane, walking stick or umbrella
not yet at least.
Breughel, the Blind leading the Blind
You can do more injury with a sturdy
umbrella than with any White Cane …
Advertisement for a Chip Card, 1980s
This type of chip card already existed
at the time the torturous megaphone
system was installed without properly
informing neither the Public nor the
Blind Persons it was intended for.
RFID chipcards offer more possibilities
with no potential or actual drawbacks
being 100 % Idiot-Proof and Risk Free.
RFID Chip
This chips could have been embedded
in all the cards carried by registered
blind persons as from the early 1980s.
Just having this card on your person
would have sufficed to activate such
systems automatically on approach.
The sound system couldn’t have been
activated by any unauthorized person
thus reducing the severe nuisance it
causes to the absolute minimum.
If such systems have to be acoustic at
all, sounds do exist which are far less
invasive and more informative.
Also, since the 80s, digital no moving
parts modules are available at low
cost which retain a few seconds of
speech on a microprocessor which can
be reproduced by speakers.
The technology allowing all features
in the public road to announce their
presence to blind persons by speech
as soon as these come in the vicinity
is several decades old and was already
fully operational in the early eighties.
Other alternatives for loud hailers did
exist and were possible as early as the
1960s when the 1st low-cost, portable
transistor radios arrived from Japan.
A system which found application in
drive-in cinema theatres could have
translated to any urban environment
assisting the elderly and disabled.
Once very popular OPEN-AIR Cinema
At first, the movie sound in this kind
of cinema was reproduced by means
of speakers next to the parked cars.
Later, when every car was fitted with
an FM car stereo system, the speakers
were replaced by Low Power VHF.
A low output transmitter broadcasts
the sound on the FM-band which can
therefore be heard on any car radio.
Some Movie Theatres still do it today
The same low power FM transmitters
could have given spoken messages to
the visually impaired using ordinary,
very cheap FM transistor radios as
soon as these became available.
Nowadays, Bluetooth would do such
things far better as this transmission
standard was specifically designed for
the wireless conveyance of data over
such short distances as are involved.
Regency TR
This type of very cheap 9 Volt battery
transistor radio arrived on occidental
markets in the early sixties, it could
have been used to receive Low Power
FM transmissions to alert the blind.
The same RFID Chips were embedded
for the 1st time in Car License Plates
in the late 1970s, by the way, thát far
back in time the technology reaches.
The idea of Remote Reading of Chips
comes out of the Los Alamos research
centre in the 50s were shortly before
the 1st Nuclear Bomb was developed.
King Baldwin at Los Alamos,1950s
Maybe the king of the Belgians wasn’t
paying attention to the right things ..
.. here caught on film during his visit
to the illustrious Nuclear Laboratory.
The Los Alamos engineers succeeded
to develop the 1st Electronic Circuit,
the presence of which could be sensed
from a few yards distance in the 50s.
In the US, some department stores
would fit expensive items with this
first generation of electronic tags to
combat theft already in the 1950s.
These circuits were too primitive to
store specific remotely readable data
but they already could be identified.
They were much more sophisticated,
however, than the methods used in
Europe for the same purpose such as
putting metal strips in items to be
spotted by metal detectors at exits.
These would only work if the items in
question wouldn’t be made of metal
or contain metal components leading
to many false alerts at the check-out.
Vintage Australian Traffic Light
This variety of highly original traffic
signal you’ll only find in musea today
but it does demonstrate somewhat
how those of tomorrow may look like.
These signs had two major advantages
as opposed to the ones with bulbs.
They’re clearly visible in all daylight
conditions and, the rotating arrow did
indicate visually when the signal was
about to change from green to red.
The paper-thin electronic paperbased
traffic signal can do the same thing
but without necessitating any moving
parts and hence extremely reliably.
In 1912, the 1st electric traffic control
system arrived on Parisian Boulevards
being also of the type without light
bulbs although they existed by then ..
Paris, 1912
These Kiosks were put at cross roads,
were operated electrically, but, used
a Semaphore System with White and
Red discs rather than light bulbs.
The Champs Elysées .. notorious for
Heavy Traffic it was in the 19th not as
it would become in the next century.
.. only in 1912 the first attempts to
regulate inner-city traffic were made.
Many things in Paris had been Electric
for decades which weren’t elsewhere.
Although Paris Windmills not seldom
ate more Power than Yielding it ..
The Paris City Fire Brigade already
had electric cars in 1903 for instance.
Accu-powered vehicle, 1903
We have noticed parallel evolutions
of displays in Sport Stadiums through
the 20th century as the problem of
visibility during the day and the need
for automisation often conflicted.
Twin Light Bulb
A Battery of three-bulb Lights
Horizontally placed with Icons
Horizontal without Icons
Horizontally placed fixtures would be
easier to improve upon aesthetically
if Aesthetics are to become a factor
in the future when designing them.
Thus far, their interaction with the
surrounding scenery never had a high
priority or any priority at all.
Another example of how extreme the
difference can be between one place
and another when it comes to the size
of roadside infrastructure while doing
exactly the same thing.
Just a single two light fixture and a
battery of three-bulb traffic lights.
The Amber light is superfluous with
todays electronics which are quite
capable to reliably make the Green
light flash before changing to Red.
Naturally, most cross roads aren’t of
any scenic beauty which needed some
consideration where the aesthetics of
traffic safety features is concerned.
They have to be extremely coloured
to stand out against the even louder
background to be noticed at all ..
You see what I mean ?
Spot the traffic lights amongst all this
Only the housing of New York traffic
lights is yellow for some reason, not
the poles or the suspenders, and ..
.. Taxicabs, of course, but the origins
of that have nothing to do with safety
or concern for the partially sighted ..
.. they go back centuries and dó have
something to do with ‘heraldry’ but
not that of the county of Flanders.
The emblem of the aristocratic family
which monopolized the Postal System
in Europe for centuries was Yellow,
and so were all their Mail Carriages.
This Thurn & Taxis family hence gave
its name to Taxicabs Worldwide, as
passengers travelled in their coaches
across the whole continent stopping
regularly at Relays to change horses.
Yellow Thurn & Taxis Stage Coach ..
.. in Belgium having to compete with
Rail Transport as early as the 1830s
King William-I
The Dutch king was a Water Man ..
.. the one brought over from Britain
‘railroaded’ British Fashions here ..
.. and British Industrialists
Looking at this platform in Mechlin,
you could never guess this is the most
historic railway station in continental
Europe by virtue of being the First ..
Stephenson’s locomotive the Elephant
arrived here in 1835 on the first rail
trajectory linking Brussels & Mechlin.
If you want another example of the
Barbaric attitude towards Heritage ..
.. in Belgium the removal of possibly
the only surviving postal Taxis relay
in Europe can count as one of them ..
16th century
This 16th century original ‘de Taxis’
Relay survived until the 1960s only to
be replaced by this ..
The Thurn & Taxis family went into
the brewing business and their yellow
shield now only adorns Beer Bottles ..
Thurn & Taxis Heraldics
Beer
1930s
Scoreboards before the 2nd World War
were straightforward enough being
just Painted Panels changed by hand.
As sporting events rarely took place
after dark in this era, only visibility
in daylight conditions mattered.
After the war, automisation of every
kind of announcement board arrived.
In Railway Stations and at Air Ports ..
.. and at Sporting Events ..
1968
Clock displays also saw very similar
developments in a concurrent period.
To avoid misunderstanding.
When talking about displays, there is
no automatic relationship between
digital and electronic displays :
Electronic displays needn’t be digital
and, vice-versa, digital displays aren’t
always electronic.
1904
Here’s an example of a mechanical
digital display of over a century ago.
This technique consisting of a rotating
drum and cards with numbers which
change as the drum rotates goes back
to the era all clocks were mechanical.
Later, it became electro-mechanical
but still not electronic.
Electro-Mechanical
Before they were replaced by the LED
models which are still common today,
digital clocks had the old card system.
Some of them lit externally by a light
bulb to see the digits in the dark.
Electrically operated clocks before
the age of quartz oscillators exploited
the fact than grid electricity in some
countries had a frequency of 60 Hertz
which corresponded with the seconds
in every minute, using these pulses as
the reference for timekeeping.
This being far less accurate than even
the cheapest digital watch of today.
1930s Electric Motor, Digital Clock
Electric clocks were even less precise
in countries were grid electricity was
distributed at a 50 Hertz frequency.
Clock with Light Emitting Diodes
LEDs became ubiquitous in the 1970s
with even the 1st Wrist Watches and
Pocket Calculators being fitted with
them as LCD’s were invented later.
The batteries of those earliest digital
devices using LEDs were drained so
fast by their consumption, they were
of little or no practical utility.
If you watch old footage of sporting
events, you’ll notice the switch from
electro-mechanical displaying screens
to electronic ones in the early 70s.
At the 1972 Munich Games, they were
in evidence and certainly in Montreal.
Munich
Junghans digital electronic devices
appear on the scene in the early 70s.
Montreal
In the seventies, displays consisted of
many tiny lightbulbs which could be
switched on and off individually made
the computer in the shape of figures.
These figures were indistinguishable
in sunlight as for these scoreboards to
disappear soon being replaced with an
electro-mechanical display once more
albeit a more advanced one than the
earlier models with card drums.
Electro-Magnetic Matrix
1970s
Why it disappeared isn’t clear.
This next generation scoreboards of
the synoptic electro-mechanical kind
consisted of many metal discs with a
black and white side which could be
flipped over by tiny electro-magnets.
They were operated by computers
just like the light bulbs but, unlike
the latter, clearly visible in sunlight.
By flipping over the plates with the
white side turned outside, digits can
be formed which don’t differ from
the manually operated scoreboard.
For some reason, this type of display
was replaced by LED’s and LCD’s more
recently in spite of these being less
visible in bright sunlight.
Typical LED Scoreboard
LED’s can be seen marginally better
than the lightbulbs of the seventies
but give a worse result than the later
flip-over electro-mechanical ones.
LED Traffic Sign
This traffic sign demonstrates the
similarity of the technology used for
all such public displays.
LED matrix displays found application
in advertising capable to show logos
and basic iconography like this one …
A Coke sign made up of thousands of
Light Emitting Diodes.
Nowadays it’s easy enough to create
an image with many little light bulbs.
In order to do this without electronics
very complicated methods were used
in the 1930s as this example evokes ..
The piano roll technique was capable
to switch dozens of lightbulbs in the
matrix patterns needed to form basic
characters electro-mechanically ..
.. a paper piano roll perforated in the
usual fashion served as the switcher.
This method could display messages
on the wings of airplanes at night.
Letting the Lights Waltz in the Sky …
If it isn’t banned that is …
The causal link between some types
of advertising and road accidents has
been the subject of many studies and
they all come to the same findings..
.. they dó cause accidents.
They can be very Distractive ..
.. and when they move, the more so.
1930s Plane Advertising
WW2 Arc Light
Even left-over arc lights were tried
after the war for advertising purposes
as giant slide projectors.
Banned almost immediately.
Airship Billboard
This was tried earlier and banned too.
But they won’t stop trying it on …
In some countries, highways stretch
for hundreds of miles with nobody in
sight but for an occasional car ..
Bill Board on Texan Highway
The message as displayed on roadside
billboards may not be suitable for all.
That’s why the latest techniques can
adapt the billboard to the occupant
of the vehicle that happens to pass.
How do they do this ?
By probing the frequency of the car
radio, profiling you by retrieving data
from a databank in which the nature
of every radio station is stored and
changing the message on the billboard
before you get there.
It is possible to find out what station
a radio is tuned to up to a few yards.
A hidden probe by side of the road
can find it out as you drive by.
With technology so far, the messages
which could be displayed were limited
or the display devices were too costly
for outdoor use.
With electronic paper, this becomes a
completely different ballgame.
Two entirely different methods from
all these earlier ones became feasible
because of recent developments :
Paper-thin Epaper
Flexible electronic paper referred to
already and also and older technique.
LCD Shutter Glasses
Ever since the eighties, a type of glass
is available with Liquid Crystals inside
making it possible to influence their
transparency at the push of a button.
This glass could have been employed
to make use of a type of light bulb
which couldn’t be used previously as
it need time to warm up.
As traffic lights have to react rapidly,
whatever type of lightbulb is utilized
must give its full brightness instantly.
This preliminary excluded all types of
gas plasma or vacuum cathode tubes.
When it comes to consumption, there
isn’t the slightest difference between
3 lightbulbs burning alternatively, or,
a single one burning constantly …
Instead of switching the Red, Amber
and Green lightbulbs On and Off, the
tubes inside traffic lights using them
would remain switched on day & night
only, the three LCD windows for red
amber and green would only allow the
light to pass through one of them at
the time, this without moving parts.
Power consumption would drop just as
much than with the LED type traffic
lights favoured today if not more.
Of course, the same kind of very low
consumption tube would illuminate
the displays using Epaper externally.
Centrally mounted, a single 8 Watt
tube can light up the display in all 4
directions very brightly.
Only burning after dark while other
types permanently consume current.
Both 100 % no moving part concepts.
The advertising business will most
likely be quickest to capitalize on the
obvious benefits of electronic paper.
Just imagine to increase of revenue if
the posters on shelters change every
¼ of an hour rather than every week
or month and include moving images.
And all this without any personnel to
put up the posters regularly.
All the posters being altered from one
central point by the push of a button.
There have been attempts already to
increase the return per square inch of
such roadside billboards by changing
the displayed image mechanically.
Several methods exist to do this.
An Example of a Flip-over Billboard
One system consists of narrow strips,
printed on both sides with a different
poster and which flip over regularly.
This method limits itself to 2 images
and contains moving parts vulnerable
to weather conditions when outside.
Other systems use roll up posters, or
multi-sided revolving elements.
Rotating Drum
Scroll Sign
Neon
Neon has been known for a long time
and unjustly is being associated with
ostentatious advertising on facades ..
The gases used in neon tubes aren’t
as toxic as mercury vapour though.
Neon is a lot better than TL-tubes or
lightbulbs using identical technology.
Assortment of mercury vapour tubes
As long ago as 1887, someone already
had the idea to roll up these tubes ..
.. to make them more compact.
The electronic lightbulb was indeed
invented over a century ago by one of
the forgotten pioneers of cinema.
The Rolled Up Electric Geisler Tube
Why did he do this ?
He didn’t project the images on a
screen but used large glass slides.
Rolling up a tube into a spiral was the
only way to get the whole surface of
those slides evenly lit.
Most lanterns used limelight in 1887,
this pioneer introduced electric light,
without filament, with acid batteries
and a High Voltage transformer.
Bulb Close-Up
Fully automatic Electrotachyscope
For this slot machine version, it was
even more important to have a light
source which illuminated the slides
evenly at a short distance without
emitting a lot of heat because it had
to fit in flat housing placed against a
wall while not taking up lots of space.
Although Muybridge is a much better
known figure nowadays than Anschütz
this Imperial Photographer was quite
famous in his day, not in the least for
the many improvements he made to
the photo camera.
Wilhelm-I
Light Bulbs using the same Technology
The reason why Neon didn’t make any
inroads into domestic lighting lies in
the higher initial cost of the tubes
and the very High Voltages involved.
High Voltage Icon on the Transfo
Cathode Ray Tubes
These thin tubes function without any
gas, very much like television screens
and computer monitors of the by now
outdated variety.
The Right Bulb for the Right Place ..
Vacuum Filament Light Bulbs
Even the ordinary filament lightbulbs
can still have their use in applications
where the other types are unsuitable.
There’s no one lighting system which
is equally efficient everywhere and in
each operational circumstance.
Desk Light with Integrated Transfo
This type of desk light costs more at
the point of purchase but less after a
few years of utilization.
You only have to change its tiny tube,
not the ballast and electronic starter
each time a tube needs replacement.
Most billboards are externally lit by
long, narrow, mercury vapour tubes.
This type of tube lighting uses toxic
mercury vapour as its plasma inducing
medium and therefore isn’t all that
beneficial for the environment as is
often made out.
Mercury is used because the metalloid
gas conducts electricity best needing
the lowest voltages to function.
There are better types of tubes which
don’t contain gas at all [cathode ray]
or a non-toxic gas [natrium]
This High-Pressure bulb, the standard
in street lanterns eversince the 1950s.
A single one of these bulbs, commonly
used in street lanterns, can create a
very bright RED, AMBER and GREEN if
it is shielded by 3 LCD glass windows.
The bulb burns continuously, only the
light is shielded alternatively in front
of the RED, AMBER and GREEN window
the aspect it gives the beholder being
no different from the brightest
traffic lights presently in use, the 3M
lights.
Such lights, recognizable by their very
distinctive angular shape, are
brighter but need 180 Watts to
achieve this.
They’re no longer in production as the
competition of the low consumption
LED based lights pushed them out.
3M Lights, somewhere in the US
Opinions can differ widely about what
constitutes sufficient public lighting
as obviated daily by looking around.
The number of street lanterns varies
enormously depending where you are.
a
b
Example b shows a stretch of road
with twice the number of lanterns as
is considered adequate in example a.
Light Emitting Diodes feature likewise
in the most recent type of street light
introduced by Philips, manufacturer
of a whole range of outdoor design
lighting devices using LED arrays with
only a fraction of the consumption of
any existing of streetlighting.
They even look nice when they’re not
burning which is rare with lamp hosts.
LED-based Public Lighting
Stylish Look
Building Floodlight with LED Array
With LED lighting, you always speak
of an array of bulbs as the individual
bulbs are too weak by themselves to
be a significant light source.
Single, White Light Emitting Diode
As you can see, it wouldn’t be much
good by itself.
Even to replace a standard light bulb,
you’ll need quite a number of them …
Light Bulb replacing LED Array
Many tiny LED’s are bundled around a
core to form a device capable to be
put in all lamps with standard fitting
while consuming a fraction of current
and lasting many times longer.
None of these comes even close to the
possibilities offered by substrate film
colour displays with inbuilt memory ..
Colour ePaper
The technology behind this type of
substrate film display mimics that of
electro-mechanical flip-over panels as
used for scoreboards decades ago.
They do exactly the same thing, only
on a sub-millimetric level.
Instead of small circular plates being
flipped over by magnets with a black
and white side, tiny particles inside
the plastic with 2 differently coloured
sides are flipped over by magnetism.
Because everything is very tiny and
embedded in plastic, it can be called
a no moving part device if though it’s
working principle doesn’t differ from
the earlier moving part displays.
Whether such moving displays will be
tolerated by authorities on roadside
bill boards isn’t a foregone conclusion
as moving displays have been banned
before for causing accidents, being
too much of a distraction to drivers.
Explicit pictures on public bill boards
have caused controversy on more than
one occasion ..
.. what’s in front of bill boards can be
more distracting nowadays ..
?
There’s a 3rd methodology completely
different from anything tried so far …
LED Light
As you can see, the LED Traffic Lights
all consist of many little diodes which
together make up a Green/Red light.
Glass Fibre Luminous Dots
The very same effect can be obtained
with glass fibre in a concept which
was centrally conceived with a single
very bright bulb providing all the
light for all the ends in each of the
fixtures on a crossing, irrespective of
the number and no matter what
hanging method.
The advantage being that the single
light bulb would be easily accessible
and could be exchanged without any
special highreachers on groundlevel.
Central Lighting Systems have been
around for some time as a concept in
other applications such as buildings
and motor vehicles.
Its purpose can be of a practical or
fueleconomical nature and for reasons
of safety because as the fire hazards
decreases without electrical wiring.
So far as can be established, the use
of optical fibres in traffic lights has
not been tried by any of the makers
of such equipment to date.
Not just laser light travels efficiently
through glass fibre, any kind of light
can be transported through fibres.
Fibre End
Several fibre ends could make up a
matrix sign similar in appearance to
the LED traffic signs but, without any
electrical components inside.
Only one bright lightbulb of whatever
kind illuminates all the points making
up the matrix from one central point,
typically the control unit nearby.
Where Central Lighting illuminates a
building, the heat extracted from the
light before sending it through the
fibres can even be recuperated in a
boiler giving it even higher efficiency.
An Array of LED’s
Another major asset of LED lighting is
total freedom of radio-interference.
They’re more expensive than mercury
vapor light bulbs but last even longer
and don’t interfere with equipment
like radio and television sets.
Electronic Lightbulb
All the Electronic Components of the
compact, curled up TL-tube sit in the
base and must be disposed of with the
tube when the Mercury is spent ..
In order for these light bulbs to be
compliant with regulations in the EU,
the US and most civilized countries,
amongst the components in each bulb
must be a Noise Suppressor dimishing
Radio-Interference at some distance.
You can’t see this on the outside of
the bulb, except by the little icon.
The icon doesn’t guarantee anything.
If you buy such bulbs, you better take
a portable transistorradio with you to
the shop and try it out there and then
as only that method is guaranteed.
If nothing can be heard on any of the
frequency bands at 1+ metre, a bulb
is sure to be fitted with a suppressor.
Alternatively, you buy a desk light
which has a suppressor built in the
foot of the lamp permanently.
Only the tubes have to be replaced
often and they don’t need checking.
TL Lamp with Permanent Suppressor
In the long run, they’re cheaper than
a so-called architect lamp with simple
fitting taking only bulbs, ordinary or
energy saving electronic ones which
are more expensive to replace than
just the TL-tube.
Glass Fibre Design Light
Nice but useless.
No benefit ensues from locating the
bulb in the foot of a lamp in order to
transport the light through glass fibre
to the reflector on top.
It’s just a design gimmick.
It nonetheless illustrates the principle
of central lighting in buildings.
The light travels through similar fibre
cables which replace the copper wires
behind walls and cealing, reaching the
bulbless reflectors at various points.
The set-up offers safety, economy and
convenience on more than one level.
The heat emitted by the bulb, since it
is concentrated in one place, can be
fully recuperated in the form of hot
water, for instance.
Light reaching the reflectors in rooms
being ice-cold, doesn’t constitute any
fire hazards and isn’t capable to raise
temperatures inside lit rooms thereby
economizing on air conditioning costs.
Lightbulbs need never be replaced in
difficultly accessible places, reducing
accidents with ladders and/or electric
Shocks as well as cutting Labour Cost.
Lamp shades go back a very, very long
time as this 15th century mural shows.
Lamp Shades in Poor Taste have been
defining the Bourgeois Household for
Donkey’s years.
Originally, they reduced the glare of
a flickering candle when reading or
writing which tired the eyes.
St. Jerome
Made of untransparent Wood, they
casted the Candle Light downwards
but not sidewards.
Even in the age of electric lightbulbs
they didn’t disappear.
All Bulbs consisted of clear glass, the
matted version diffusing the filament
glow only coming much later.
All types of filament light bulb still
available today, matted or not ..
The reason why both types being still
on the market lies in the fact matted
ones are a trifle more expensive with
matting not always being necessary.
The glass is matted by spraying it on
the inside with a white coating or by
just sanding it with compressed air.
The greatest advantage of electric
bulbs consisted not so much in their
higher Light Yield which was actually
lower than gas light in the beginning
but their Adaptability to every kind
of situation needing lighting.
The Bayonet Fittings which still can
be seen in some places allow for Fast
and Secure bulb replacement.
They’re not affected by Vibration,
moreover, which made them more
suitable on board Ships, for instance,
where the vibration of the engine can
make light bulbs with screw caps
come loose all by themselves.
In some Bad Housing, vibration caused
by Installations and/or Heavy Traffic
in the immediate vicinity can be so
Serious, exactly the same happens.
Bulbs come unstuck by themselves.
Bayonet Caps can’t corrode into the
fitting either as for the light bulb not
being able to be removed anymore as
happens with Metal Screw Caps.
Electronic Light Bulbs needn’t have
Metal Screw Caps anymore, their Heat
Emission being so low it can’t melt
one made of Plastic.
Making them both Cheaper & Safer.
Plastic Screw Caps never corrode and
subsequently can’t jam in the fitting.
Reading Lights and Ambient Lighting
became separated too and could meet
the specific Requirements of both ..
.. which aren’t the same.
The original Copper Screw Cap was
replaced by cheaper alloys since.
Thomas Edison utilized Carbonized
Bamboo Fibres for his 1st commercial
light bulb after he famously tried out
every conceivable material.
Carbon Filaments were eventually
replaced by those made of the metal
Wolfsram which not only lasts long
but can be curled in a spiral making it
less vulnerable to breaking through
Vibration & Shocks when it expands
and contracts by heating and cooling.
Antwerp -2006