ESLA: Electric Street Lighting Apparatus Co Ltd, Canterbury, Kent
ESLA 2-way Bi-Multi 165 degree open lantern
A rather weather-beaten ESLA 2-way Bi-Multi lantern seen mounted on a Swanneck bracket at Toton, Nottinghamshire. The screw in the neck of the lantern is used in connection with focusing the light from the lamp. This is done by releasing the screw and moving the lampholder-stem inside the lantern either up or down, allowing the reflected light from the lantern to correctly focus onto the road surface below. Once the desired position is determined, the screw is then tightened to re-secure the lampholder.
This 2-Way, Bi-Multi ESLA is on private property in Nottingham. It appears to have an ESLA 1525 swanneck bracket, but the spigot cap with 'tulip' connector looks more like REVO/AC Ford than ESLA.
ESLA bracket and control box combination
This ESLA bracket and control box assembly (serial/model number not known) was photographed in the Broxtowe area of Nottinghamshire, where ESLA Bi-Multi lanterns were once to be found in numbers mounted onto these ornate brackets. Sadly, the bracket's finial top has been removed to allow for the mounting of a side-entry lantern (originally a Revo/Relite Gemini), but the Thorn Beta-2 is likely to be a 2nd or even a 3rd generation side-entry sodium lantern for the bracket.
Here's a close up of the cast iron ESLA fuse box, which would originally have held the porcelain fuse holders for the original tungsten lamped fitting. Fortunately, there are still several examples of these ESLA bracket and control box combinations to be found in the area in 2006, but these along with their cast iron columns are gradually being replaced by steel hockey-stick columns. Fortunately, an example of one of these ESLA bracket and control box combinations is held in the collection.
This general view shows the bracket and control box assembly mounted on top of its cast iron column; whether the column is also ESLA is not known?
ESLA No44 Column with ESLA right-angle bracket/controlbox combination
Presiding over a T-junction in the village of Aversham, Notts on a sunny afternoon in March 2007, is this wonderful old ESLA No44 Column with a right-angle bracket. Painted in silver, the bracket has been retro-fitted with a Relite 'Gemini' 55watt SOX lantern sometime in the 1970's. However, the bracket is most likely to have originally carried a Three-way Bi-Multi ESLA open reflector lantern, which were designed to give the optimum light distribution at these types of junctions.
Copyright(c) 2005 Claire Pendrous. All rights reserved.
Please note that all pictures are by Claire Pendrous, or are part of the Claire Pendrous photographic collection unless otherwise stated; none of these images can be copied without obtaining prior permission.