What is the function of the orange tube/cylinder atop some lampposts?

August 18, 2004 6:32 PM

What is the function of the orange tube/cylinder atop some lampposts? I see them every few street corners; the other lampposts usually have a little orange bubble on top. I'm guessing those are to let aircrafts know that they are above an urban area. The orange cylinders are about six or more inches high, and I'm very curious to know what they are for.
posted by riffola to Grab Bag (6 answers total)

That's where you get the RSS feeds for the lamp posts. ;)
posted by pwb503 at 6:57 PM on August 18, 2004

Best answer: ta-daa! Many people don't know this but those orange lightsticks that you see on top of some lamp posts are indicators that there is an emergency cll box on that corner. The orange lights used to be mounted on the side of the post and looked like a big orange tic-tac. Now they have been replaced with the new light sticks that are brighter and placed on top of the light at the top of the post. Of course, who knows if the call box actually works, but that's what makes it fun!

and they're planning cell antennas on lampposts too.
posted by amberglow at 6:59 PM on August 18, 2004

Response by poster: Thanks amber and pwb :)
posted by riffola at 7:05 PM on August 18, 2004

By the way-- I think this is mainly a NYC thing. At least, we don't seem to have them in Chicago. They are really cool-lookin', though.
posted by 40 Watt at 7:24 PM on August 18, 2004

Response by poster: Ah I didn't know that 40 Watt, I thought I saw similar lights in NJ and OH, I could be wrong.
posted by riffola at 8:33 PM on August 18, 2004

I could very well be wrong myself.
posted by 40 Watt at 9:06 AM on August 19, 2004