Saturday, November 5, 2016

History Of Flagpoles And Their Lightings

By Tom Grage


The relevance of a flag cannot be overemphasized. This tiny piece of cloth painted with elaborate figures and carefully chosen hues carry a certain patch of history. As it flies in the air, it retells a colorful story of a distant past, of courage and valor preserved and immortalized through the passage of time.

United States law requires that anyone who flies a flag at night must use flagpole lighting. This is a simple law to abide by because the government puts no stipulations on the type of fixtures or lamps used for this purpose. Nor does it regulate foot candles or wattage.

The lighting design, therefore, has complete freedom to select appropriate equipment that will appropriately light the flag and work in harmony with the entirety of the photometric lighting design.

While up lighting is being systematically phased out in many parts of the country, there are many places that still permit it. In these areas, flagpole lighting is still being done with either inground fixtures or above ground fixtures that shine light up the pole onto the flag. Either type is highly effective, depending on the size of the flag, the location of the pole, and the amount of luminance in the general environment as well.

As the US flag code proclaims, "It is the universal custom to display the flag only from sunrise to sunset on buildings and on stationary flagstaffs in the open. However, when a patriotic effect is desired, the flag may be displayed twenty-four hours a day if properly illuminated during the hours of darkness," the thought of exposing a flag's symbolic figure even at night gave birth to the invention of flag pole lightings.

There is a barrage of cheap and inferior flagpoles and their lightings being imported and sold, that do not comply with the flag statute. This is bad for a number of reasons. Imported stuff is cheaply made and more importantly, the designs, materials, colors, and methods do not compare well with the better quality, longer-lasting, and correctly designed flagpole lightings made by American manufacturers. The Flag Company Inc specialized in flags and flagpole lightings offered a special edition of flagpole lightings to provide innovative solutions for individual projects.




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