George Carwardine (1887-1948)

George Carwardine is remembered amongst other things for his classic table light named the Anglepoise task light. George who was a an automotive engineer specialising in the design of vehicle suspension systems.

In 1932 he patented the design of the above articulated task light, the Anglepoise. This light allows constant repositioning because it is so flexible. At the time it was an innovative design, based upon the constant tension principle of human limbs. The lamp contains a spring which acts in the same way as human muscles.

The light was mass produced over fifty years by Herbert Terry in Redditch, who was an English manufacturer.

The patent for the light was bought in 1937 by by Jacob Jacobsen, a famous Norwegian lighting designer. Jacobsen had been influenced by the Anglepoise when he designed his highly successful Luxo 1001 Lamp in the same year.

Carwardine's Anglepoise was later manufactured in large quantities in Norway but was sold under a different name. The light has been copied on many occasions and has influenced generations of lighting designers.

The Anglepoise task light 1932.

 

 

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