![Anglepoise1227](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/53/Anglepoise1227.jpg)
The Anglepoise lamp is a
balanced-arm lamp
A balanced-arm lamp, sometimes called a floating arm lamp, is a lamp with an adjustable folding arm which is constructed such that the force due to gravity is always counteracted by springs, regardless of the position of the arms of the lamp. Many ...
designed in 1932 by British designer George Carwardine.
History and development
![WAAF Instrument Mechanics at Work (1941) (ArtIWM](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6e/WAAF_Instrument_Mechanics_at_Work_%281941%29_%28ArtIWM.ART_LD_1298%29.jpg)
George Carwardine (1887–1947) was a car designer and, at the same time he invented the Anglepoise lamp, (as a freelance) design consultant specialising in
vehicle suspension
Suspension is the system of tires, tire air, springs, shock absorbers and linkages that connects a vehicle to its wheels and allows relative motion between the two. Suspension systems must support both road holding/ handling and ride ...
systems. While developing new concepts for vehicle suspensions, he created a mechanism which he recognised had applications in other fields. He particularly saw its benefits for a
task lamp. Despite many claims to the contrary, his concept had nothing whatsoever to do with mimicking the actions of the human arm. The joints and spring tension allow the lamp to be moved into a wide range of positions which it will maintain without being clamped.
Carwardine applied to be a patent, number 404,615, for a design using the mechanism on 4 July 1932, and manufactured the lamp himself in the workshops of his own company, Cardine Accessories, in
Bath. He soon found the interest and demand so great that he needed a major expansion or partner and, on 22 February 1934, entered into a licensing agreement with Herbert Terry and Sons in
Redditch
Redditch is a town, and local government district, in north-east Worcestershire, England, approximately south of Birmingham. The district has a population of 85,000 as of 2019. In the 19th century, it became the international centre for the ...
. Terry's manufactured and marketed the lamp, while Carwardine continued to develop the concept, producing a number of other versions and applications (for example, for supporting microphones). The original four-spring design was made for working environments, such as workshops and doctors' and dentists' surgeries, but he also designed a three-spring version for use in the home (patented on 10 February 1934, patent number 433,617).
1935 saw the release of the 1227 Anglepoise. An effective and revolutionary design, it was primarily manufactured for the home and proved to be extremely popular. The 1227 was hugely promoted by the Terry Spring Company and when the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
broke in 1939, the company ran an advert that same day describing it as the "ideal blackout lamp".
Although the Second World War had a detrimental effect on standard Anglepoise production, the Terry Spring Company switched its objectives to benefit the war effort and, consequently, started producing Anglepoise lamps for bombers. According to the Anglepoise website, these were so well produced that when a crashed
Vickers Wellington
The Vickers Wellington was a British twin-engined, long-range medium bomber. It was designed during the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey. Led by Vickers-Armstrongs' chief designer Rex Pierson; a key feature of the aircraft is its g ...
bomber was salvaged from
Loch Ness
Loch Ness (; gd, Loch Nis ) is a large freshwater loch in the Scottish Highlands extending for approximately southwest of Inverness. It takes its name from the River Ness, which flows from the northern end. Loch Ness is best known for clai ...
in Scotland in 1985, the lamp still worked after being given a new battery – despite being submerged for around four decades.
A key feature of the Anglepoise design and patent is the placement of all springs (either three or four) near the base. The design was extensively copied by other companies, usually in simplified form, and is still in use. Some derivatives use a heavy balance weight instead of the springs. The most common version replaces the arm linkages with two independent
parallelogram linkages, with a pair of light tension springs on each half of the arm.
The arm has been employed in other devices where it is necessary to hold an object stationary at a convenient point in space, notably the copy holder for typists and in some applications, the computer display screen.
The lamps have been made from a variety of materials over the years, evolving from the early full steel prototypes into later models made from brass and aluminium.
Although the lamp is still marketed as an iconic British design, production for all lamps, except the 1227 Giant model, has been moved to China.
Anglepoise lamps at the BBC
In 1948 the Board of Governors of the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
asked the head of the Variety Department, Michael Standing, to devise a guiding set of moral standards and protocols for the production of all BBC radio and television programmes. Standing produced what became known within the BBC as the "
", whose purpose was to eradicate smut, innuendo and vulgarity from all BBC programmes. After producing the book Standing took to implementing his guidance with eccentric zeal. In June 1949 he issued a memo to all staff in which he forbade BBC employees to illuminate any room with an Anglepoise lamp unless the main ceiling or wall light was also illuminated: Standing held a firm belief that a man working at a desk in a confined space with only the light from a low-wattage lamp would nurture furtive ideas and produce degenerate programme material. Director General Sir
later rescinded the Anglepoise lamp edict as extreme and unnecessary.
, makes repeated references to the Anglepoise lamp in the light of which he writes.
*
, who is subsequently featured in all their title sequences.
* In the 2013 album ''
.
The Design Museum page on the lamp and its development / history.