Naqshe Jahan Teklight Lighting Industry Company is the leader of the lighting industry in Iran with more than 15 years of experience. Naqshe Jahan taklight lighting industry factory with an area of 18,000 square meters and an infrastructure of about 5,000 square meters consists of several departments.
The word “light” evokes a sense of peace and security in the human mind. Even reaching the light in different religions is synonymous with reaching salvation. It is for this reason that man has always tried to light up his living environment in order to create security and peace, and it is due to this issue that lighting has become a symbol of human religions and its manifestation can be seen in holy places. Creating lighting at night in its most primitive form was done with fire, and then candles and tallow lamps were used, which were mostly confined to the inside of houses.
The growth and development of urbanization caused lighting to become important in the streets in addition to houses and holy places, and oil-burning and gas-burning lamps were installed in the streets of developed cities. But what caused a great transformation in the lighting of the streets of the cities was the discovery of electric energy, followed by the invention of the light bulb.
At the end of the 19th century and in 1822, equivalent to 1263 AH, Thomas Edison opened his first commercial electricity company to provide lighting in one of the streets of New York. One year after that, around the year 1264, by the order of Naseruddin Shah Qajar, who had seen electricity in Europe, he lit the first electric lamps in Golestan Palace and Tekeh Dolat in Tehran, but nevertheless, the use of electric lamps became common. did not. Perhaps the reason for this problem was the lack of public favor or public resistance due to the bad propaganda of some extremists who, due to lack of knowledge about this new technology, introduced it as the cause of blasphemy and Satan. This issue caused that in 1279 AH, Muzaffaruddin Shah ordered the lighting of the court of the 8th Imam, the reason for which was to give a religious effect to the lighting.
History of outdoor lighting industry
In the past, one of the problems was the darkness of the streets during the night. People did not know where to put their feet while walking and on the other hand they might be attacked. The history of street lighting is longer than it seems. Street lights are part of the urban equipment family.
Street lighting with gas flames
Public street lighting
The first way of organizing public street lighting was done in 1417 in London. In this year, the mayor of London “Sir Henry Barton” approved that, according to the law, all houses should take the lanterns out of the house and put them on the street at night in the winter months. In Paris, for the first time in 1524, it was decided that the windows facing the street should be lit at night. This is how the nights of Paris became illuminated. In 1802, William Murdock was able to light the city of Soho with coal-fired gas flames. In 1820, the city of Paris was lit with gas lights. The gas was transported through pipes to the lanterns.
Electric lights
The first electric street lights were arc lamps that were used in Paris in 1878. In the first phase, about 4,000 electric lamps replaced gas lanterns in Paris. After the spread of arc lamps in America, by 1890 more than 130 thousand lamps were installed in the streets. Most of these lamps were installed on top of tall towers. These tall metal structures could illuminate a very large space. These arc lamps had two major defects. Their light was intense and harsh, and on the other hand, they did not stay lit for a long time. With the advent of incandescent lamps, arc lamps were replaced with them. These lamps were cheaper, brighter and had a longer life.
Street lighting from the 19th to the 20th century
Street lighting is one of the vital components of any urban landscape that provides lighting for circulation, surroundings and security in external environments. While LEDs have become the gold standard in modern street lighting technology today, cities around the world once relied on gas, carbon arc, and incandescent bulbs to light their streets.
Some pioneer companies in the production of street lights are as follows:
Globe Gas Light Boston, 1877
At one time, Globe Gas “Steam Torch” street lights were active in more than 500 cities across the country. Lantern-style lanterns were made of tin, copper or brass with iron or wooden bases.
Edison Light Company, Edison, New York, 1883
The company’s catalog provides descriptions of the lighting systems offered—incandescent and arc lamps—as well as safety disclaimers regarding the newness of the technology. “This light, although bright and clear, does not harm the eyes, even if it is used near the eyes.”
Van Depole Electric Lighting System, Van Depole Electric Lighting Company, Chicago, 1884
By the late 19th century, electric arc lamps burned both brightly and at very high temperatures, making them an ideal outdoor solution. This manufacturer promoted the use of electric arc lamps in the lighting systems of city towers.
The story of the first illumination of the roads of Iran
It should be said that the city of Tabriz, due to its proximity to Europe, has been the gateway to the entry of many new technologies into the country. Qasim Khan Wali was one of the celebrities of Tabriz and Azerbaijan who had completed his education at the Saint-Syr school in Paris. Qasim Khan was the one who created many of the country’s firsts in Tabriz, one of the most important of which was electricity. Nusratullah Fathi writes in the book “Thaqa-ul-Islam Collection of Pen Works”: “Qasim Khan Amir Toman, known as the governor, was the first person who brought electric lights to Tabriz and installed them around the shops of Majid-ul-Molk before the beginning of the constitution.”
Rezazadeh Shafaq also adds in the book “Sheikh Mohammad Khayabani”: When Qasim Khan Amir Toman brought electric lights to Azerbaijan, in Istanbul they lit the lights with oil. In fact, the first franchise of Iran’s power plant was issued in the name of Qasim Khan Vali in 1281 AH, that is, even three years before the country’s capital. This power plant was open until during the conflicts in 1987, the power plant was destroyed and destroyed. This movement of Qasim Khan was the first attempt in the field of production, transmission and distribution of electricity for public use in the country. While the creation of electric lighting in Golestan Palace and Razavi Shrine had a special aspect and the general public did not benefit from these facilities. In fact, it was Qasim Khan who brought electricity to homes and streets in Tabriz.
Behrouz Khamachi writes in the book “My City of Tabriz”: Koi Haramkhane is one of the most famous and oldest Koi and Burzans of Tabriz, the exit door of Aali Qapu or Shams-ul-Amara for the Royal Haram was located on its north side. Also, there was the historical door of Baghmisheh, the shops of Majid al-Molk and Omar Moghazalari, and today the sequence of the shoemaker’s market starts in the eastern direction from Haramkhaneh Koi and is located behind the governor’s building.
In addition, due to the existence of a printing house and a library, this place also had a kind of cultural center. The combination of these factors made this place a gathering place for ordinary people and a hangout for the intellectuals of that time, and this also gave a kind of social centrality to the said place.
