29C. Prestwood Road West / Thorneycroft Lane, Wood Hayes, Wolverhampton Still extant in 2022 are a small number of 30 ft (9·14 m) tubular steel columns supporting Revo 'Hyperion B' A42.304 lanterns, which date from the 1960s. Although running 135 Watt SOX lamps these days, some examples may have run 140 - 200 Watt SLI/H lamps originally, and converted to operate SOX lamps after SLI/H lamp production ended in the 1980s.
The first installation pictured is near the junction of Long Knowle and Amos Lanes.
The cranked brackets are a feature of these installations.
Two pop rivets towards the rear of the lantern secure internal fixings to the inside of the canopy.
A v-shaped steel insert situated on the bottom of the bowl is intended to diffuse the amount of luminous flux being cast directly below the lantern.
A narrower pavement here saw a shorter outreach bracket employed.
The bowl on this lantern is relatively clean, allowing the lamp to be visible inside.
The inverted v-shaped baffle plates are not in-service modifications; this is part of Revo's original design.
These two Hyperions run consecutively.
Not only did the tree adjacent this example play havoc with the camera's focus; it had also caused a quantity of detritus to gather in the lantern bowl.
The next example was to be seen on the corner of D'Eyncourt Road, with a modern LED offering being visible behind.
Originally, the lanterns were operated on individual time switches, but as can be seen with this example, now rely on two-part photocells.
The same installation, from the other direction.
The lantern is similar in appearance to the GEC Z9554M, but is slightly longer.
Philips MA 50s served as casual replacement lanterns for Hyperions that required replacement over the years; a few a visible in the background of this picture.
Although this column was in good condition for its age, the bracket was a different story entirely, with considerable rusting being visible.
Again, the 135 Watt lamp is visible inside the lantern; it isn't quite long enough to reach the far end of the bowl - another indicator that the Hyperion was designed around SLI/H lamp dimensions.
As the road becomes Thorneycroft Lane, the lighting style changes. In October 2021, two of the columns were graced with Thorn Alpha 5 lanterns. Sadly, by February 2022, the first example had been removed, with a D.W. Windsor Kirium Pro LED lantern having replaced it. Luckily, I pictured the Alpha 5 before this happened.
The Alpha 5 was also a lantern that could accommodate SLI/H lamps, and this particular example may have been another conversion - notice that (what appears to be) a length of wire serves as a makeshift lamp support.
Unlike the Hyperion, the underside of the Alpha 5's bowl is transparent, without any additional means of diffusing the light output.
The second Alpha 5 was dayburning at the time of picturing.
Typically, out of the two, this was in poorer condition, with one of the bowl refractors on this side of the lantern having disappeared.
Nevertheless, this did allow the SOX lamp's arc tube to be seen in all of its golden glory.
The former Alpha 5 column is visible in the background of this image.
Both of the refractor plates were missing from this side of the bowl.
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