Society of Architectural Historians University of California Press "The Century's Triumph in Lighting": The Luxfer Prism Companies and Their Contribution to Early Modern Architecture Author(s): Dietrich Neumann Source: Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. 54, No. 1 (Mar., 1995), pp. 24-53 Published by: University of California Press on behalf of the Society of Architectural Historians Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/991024 Accessed: 25-10-2015 18:45 UTC Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/ info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Society of Architectural Historians and University of California Press are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 128.148.252.35 on Sun, 25 Oct 2015 18:45:40 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions "The Century'sTriumph in Lighting": The Luxfer Prism Companies and their Contributionto Early Modem Architecture medium to another, as from air to water or, in this case, glass. DIETRICH NEUMANN, BrownUniversity Throughoutthe eighteenth and nineteenth centuriesconically characterize this new prism as one of the most shaped glassesalready had been used to redirectlight into dark .L remarkable improvements of the century in its bearing rooms in basementsor in ships.5Thaddeus Hyatt, one of the on practical architecture, is to speak but mildly. In the opinion pioneersofAmerican concrete construction, patented different of some of the foremost architects of this country the Luxfer systems of glass cones and lenses in metal or reinforced prism is destined to work an entire revolution in planning and concrete framesfor sidewalksfrom 1845 onwards.6They were to necessitate very extensive changes in construction."' The so successfulthat many earlyAmerican building codes recom- building material that was so enthusiastically praised by the mended these so-calledHyatt Lights as a fireprooflight source Inland Architectin 1897, and shortly after was even proclaimed for basements.7Translucent, light-diffusingglasses such as to be the "century's triumph in lighting," was indeed about to rough plate glass, ground on both sides, or corrugatedglass have a considerable impact on the commercial architecture of with horizontalgrooves were used from the 1880s onwardsto America's urban centers.2 The idea seemed surprisingly simple. provide factorieswith an evenly distributedlight. Corrugated Window glass with horizontal prismatic ribs on the inside would glass had the additionaleffect of refractinga large part of the redirect the light from outside and cast it deeply into a room, light deeper into the room and gained some success in New thus bringing the surplus of light near the window into areas England'sfactories as "factoryribbed glass."8 that it had not previously reached [Figure 1]. The material was The product that came closest to the development of the offered as the ideal solution for the developers of commercial new prism glass was the so-called stallboardlight, which had architecture caught between the need for large floor areas and been developed in Englandin 1883 and quicklyhad become a the quest for well-lit offices. The promotional brochures claimed standard feature in British commercial architecture.It con- the that prismatic glass provided so much light in the back of a sisted of squareglass tiles with horizontalv-shaped ribs on room that one could not only save the energy of artificial inside,which were set in rowsin a metal frame,adjacent to the wall or above the lighting but often could gain additional floor space by omitting pavementlights at the bottom of the exterior these light wells in the center of a building or by using well-lit display window. The brilliance created by prismatic basements as offices. stallboardlights was reportedlyso powerfulthat the employees blinded the Prismatic glass was the most sophisticated and complex had to rearrangetheir desks in order not to be by at the development among the many attempts in the last decades of sudden surplus of light.9 Similarideas were patented in the nineteenth century to bring more daylight into the dark same time by a numberof individualinventors both Europe interiors of factories and densely built urban centers.3 Innova- and the U.S.1' Among them was the British inventorJames in which was tive approaches included reflective white enameled terracotta Pennycuick, who filed a U.S. patent 1882, for the walls of light courts and large mirrors to reflect light eventually to provide the basis for the Luxfer Company's on the from the falade into the interior. Numerous new glass products success.He proposedwindow glass with prismaticridges of reflection or for building purposes were developed in Europe and the U.S. inside, which would "double the quantity of the same After Among them were early prototypes of hollow glass blocks and illuminationof the plainwindow-glass size."I1 at commercial heavy load-bearing slabs of glass bringing light into basement a number of unsuccessful attempts finding rooms from the floor above, or into staircases in light wells.4 support for his "improvementin window glass," Pennycuick of in 1896 Several products made use of the well-known optical prin- founded the "RadiatingLight Company" Chicago of local This ciple that light changes its direction when it passes from one with a small group entrepreneurs.'2 company 24 JSAH / 54:1, MARCH 1995 This content downloaded from 128.148.252.35 on Sun, 25 Oct 2015 18:45:40 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 1 :2 modem architecture. The new, expensive product appeared on the market at a moment when a widespread enthusiasm for the accomplishments of modem technologies was joined by a growing awareness for the values of a simple life in harmony with nature. 15 Prismatic glass was praised as both a product of scientific progress and a remedy for some of the negative effects of modem civilization, such as the disadvantages of artificial light or the darkening of streets due to skyscrapersand elevated railroads. The material was presented as a natural, healthier, and even more spiritual alternative to current technologies: "Prisms,without loss, without any cost of maintenance, displace FIG.I (Top):Principle of refractionthrough prismatic glass, from Die BaugildeII gas and electric lights, and in their place give pure, healthful (1929):389. light. Heat, noxious vapors, dirt and disease give way before the FIG.2 (Bottom):Luxfer Prism, from CanadianLuxfer Prism Co., ed., Prismsfor Creator's pure light of day."16 LightingBuildings of everyDescription (Toronto, n.d.), 2. The company hired the prominent physics professor and spectroscopist, Henry Crew of Northwestern University, and succeeded in winning the support of a number of prominent his assistant, Olin H. Basquin, not only to develop the product Chicago businessmen, including William H. Winslow, Edward further and to explore its potential applications, but also H. A. Charles H. C. Waller, Cyrus McCormick, George Fuller, to signal the scientific intent of its enterprise.'7 Through a Wacker, and Levi Z. Leiter. The company's first president was series of experiments Basquin established the average bright- John Meiggs Ewen, one of the leading building engineers of ness of the Chicago sky, which directly influenced his calcula- Chicago.1' In April 1897 the company adopted the name tions for the Luxfer Prism designs. He is still credited today "Luxfer," referring to the Latin lux for light and ferre, meaning with being the first person to record daylight measurements to carry.'4 scientifically.18 In contrast to the existing applications such as corrugated Luxfer Prisms glass, stallboard lights, or Pennycuick's patent, Crew and was the factor The financial power of Luxfer's shareholders key Basquin aimed at a precisely predictable light refraction. They in the behind the enormous success of the product following developed mathematical formulas to calculate specific, indi- years. It provided the means necessary to refine the prismatic vidual "prescriptions"for a building's lighting needs, similar to glass technically, to develop a full product range, to submit and the way eyeglass prescriptions are precisely adjusted to a a defend patents, and, perhaps most importantly, to develop patient's imperfect vision.19 Crew claimed that their products comprehensive and sophisticated marketing strategy. Unlike took direct inspiration from August Fresnel's mathematically other building materials prismatic glass was advertised with an exact system of prismatic lenses, which since 1821 had been the ambitious concept clearly aimed at the concerns of prosperous standard equipment for lighthouses all over the world. In architects. and educated downtown businessmen and their January 1898 Crew and Basquin published the Luxfer Compa- in Luxfer promised substantial savings thanks to an increase ny's PocketHand-Book of UsefulInformation and TablesRelating to available space and better working conditions, and it claimed the Use of Electro-GlazedLuxfer Prisms, which presented the full the of that prismatic glass would contribute to development product range, a number of calculation tables, technical details NEUMANN:LUXFER PRISMS 25 This content downloaded from 128.148.252.35 on Sun, 25 Oct 2015 18:45:40 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions for the installation of the product, and numerous examples of "sky-angle," calculated from the height and distance of the successful applications.20 The company offered three produc- buildings opposite.24 For those architects who shied away from tion lines: conventional prismatic basement lights, stained this rather time-consuming procedure, an average angle of 570 glass, and the widely advertised Luxfer Prisms.