Urbis Sapphire 1

Lantern acquired in January 2006.

This lantern has never been used anywhere - it is another brand new example, and was purchased from eBay. I was keen to obtain a Sapphire as none were known on Derbyshire streets at the time, so this may well have been the first ever example in the county!

This lantern features an aluminium canopy painted silver. Some versions have a 'finger trap' clip on this side of the lantern, which secures the canopy to the chassis. This example has a sprung clip instead.

A NEMA socket is fitted; however, it is covered with a dust cap to protect it prior to installation.

A Royce Thompson Oasis 1000 photocell was included with the lantern, and is seen here. A low profile polycarbonate bowl is fitted to the underside of the lantern's IP 66 sealed optic.

A rotatable plate at the rear of the lantern allows side-entry or post-top mounting. The reflector employed here is the 1632 type, where an aluminium coating is applied to a plastic moulding. An OSRAM 70 Watt SON-T lamp is seen within the optic.

The compact nature of the lantern is demonstrated once the canopy is opened. A Harvard electronic ballast situated towards the rear runs the lamp. This appears to have been produced during week 16 of 2004 (the 12th - 18th April). This is attached to a removable gear tray, allowing easy replacement of the component if necessary. When a lamp change is required, the black plastic handle at the front of the optic is pressed, which acts as a lever, and releases the lampholder, disconnecting it in the process.

This close-up of the identification label provides the exact part code for this lantern, along with the technical specifications and batch number.

The lantern was fitted to a wall bracket and was then powered up. At first, the electronic ballast emitted a slight whistle, but this disappeared as the lamp warmed up.

And finally, a photograph with the flash on for comparison.

Lantern warm-up video (featuring a 70 Watt CDO-TT lamp):

ELECO PT1031 | AEC Uno

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