LEDs Light the New Year

Ever wonder why people gather around Times Square to watch the ball drop? According to The Times Square Alliance, the first "time-ball" was installed atop England's Royal Observatory at Greenwich in 1833. This ball would drop at one o'clock every afternoon, allowing the captains of nearby ships to precisely set their chronometers (a vital navigational instrument).

Around 150 public time-balls are believed to have been installed around the world after the success at Greenwich, though few survive and still work. The tradition is carried on today in places like the United States Naval Observatory in Washington, DC, where a time-ball descends from a flagpole at noon each day - and of course, once a year in Times Square, where it marks the stroke of midnight not for a few ships' captains, but for over one billion people watching worldwide.

Revelers began celebrating New Year's Eve in Times Square as early as 1904, but it was in 1907 that the New Year's Eve Ball made its maiden descent from the flagpole atop One Times Square.

The first New Year's Eve Ball, made of iron and wood and adorned with one hundred 25-watt light bulbs, was 5 feet in diameter and weighed 700 pounds. It was built by a young immigrant metalworker named Jacob Starr, and for most of the twentieth century the company he founded, sign maker Artkraft Strauss, was responsible for lowering the ball.

The ball has taken many forms over the years. Below is a shot from the New York Times depicting the ball in 1978.


On November 11th, 2008, The co-organizers of New Year’s Eve in Times Square (Times Square Alliance, Countdown Entertainment) unveiled a new Times Square New Year’s Eve Ball at a press conference at Hudson Scenic Studio in Yonkers, New York.

The new Times Square New Year’s Eve Ball is a 12 foot geodesic sphere, double the size of previous Balls, and weighs 11,875 pounds. Covered in 2,668 Waterford Crystals and powered by 32,256 Philips Luxeon Rebel LEDS, the new Ball is capable of creating a palette of more than 16 million vibrant colors and billions of patterns producing a spectacular kaleidoscope effect atop One Times Square.


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Now, a word about LEDs...

Nick Holonyak Jr. invented the LED in the sixties! In 1963 he predicted that the LED would replace the incandescent light bulb. Forty-five years later, his predictions may finally be coming to fruition. LED "light bulbs" with the "Edison" style base are now entering the market. Unlike CFLs, LED bulbs do not contain any mercury. The bulbs can last up to 30,000 hours! (They are already used extensively in CD and DVD players and in cell phones and lighting displays.)

Keep an eye out for these in 2009!