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Product of the Month

Jan. 1, 2003

Engineers and product managers spent three years designing a portable lighting fixture that would not only be lightweight, but also durable enough to fall from a functional height without shattering into a million pieces. The result is the Quad Light, a fixture with coated lamps encased in a protective tube shield. Originally designed to meet the demands of the aircraft manufacturing industry, the

Amy Florence Fischbach

The result is the Quad Light, a fixture with coated lamps encased in a protective tube shield. Originally designed to meet the demands of the aircraft manufacturing industry, the lamp had to be durable enough to withstand a drop off an airplane wing from 15 ft in the air, says Peter Durbin, a project manager with K&H Industries.

“I“f you jump up and down on it too many times or hit it with a baseball bat, you'll probably break it, but it will take something that direct on one of the tube shields to have it happen,” Durbin says.

To illustrate its real-world durability to potential customers, the product development team throws the light in the air, and then with the fixture plugged in, tosses it end over end in the laboratory.

“The fun part of selling it is to bring it into an office and toss it across the room — people gasp and jump out of their seats,” Durbin says. “I don't think I've broken a lamp yet — in testing or otherwise.”

If the lamp does break, the glass is contained inside the coating and tube shield to prevent shards from spilling out into the surrounding area. Along with its durability, the Quad Light, which features both nylon and aluminum components, is also 20% lighter than similar fixtures. Durbin says the engineers wanted to design a fixture that would provide a substantial increase in light output over products currently available, but in a smaller footprint. The Quad Light can provide wide area temporary lighting from rough-in to trim-out, which can help electrical contractors improve safety on a jobsite and comply with industrial lighting rules and regulations.

“With four T8 lamps, you can have a much greater light output for the same circuit draw as compared to incandescent task lighting,” Durbin says. “You could run it off a generator and fill a whole basement with light rather than just the space that you are working in.”

Product Specs

Inspired by aircraft manufacturing industry needs, the Quad Light's lamp protection system features rubber end caps and field-tested lamp shock absorbers. Here are some fast facts about this portable lighting fixture that comes in two four-lamp models that use 17W or 23W T8 fluorescent lamps for added stability.