Lighting Tech for the TOW PROFESSIONAL

By David Cotsmire

Full disclosure, just so you know where I am coming from here. I remember the days of corded rotary phones and party lines where you would have to ask your neighbor to hang up so you could place a call. I also remember walking to a co-worker’s office to converse with them, or calling them on the phone. Handheld searchlights that required those huge rectangular six-volt batteries seemed to last only minutes and didn’t provide much more light than a candle. I was two years old when Neil Armstrong landed on the moon! The bottom line is that I love technology and the benefits it has delivered – a safer, cleaner world in which to work and play. Let’s explore how lighting and power technology has improved to allow the tow professional to work in a safer environment at night and be more efficient at the same time.

Will-Burt’s Night Scan on-vehicle folding light tower was introduced in the late 1980’s and significantly improved the safety of nighttime road rescue operations for towmen, police, and fire fighters. Night Scan then, as it does today, focuses the illumination power of several lights on the working scene. A remote-controlled positioner allows a user to point the lights exactly where they are needed regardless of the position of the vehicle to which the system is mounted. Needless to say, the manner in which this was accomplished in 1989 was significantly different than it is done today.

Today, the power management system, controls, and lights are much more advanced than 30+ years ago. Will-Burt has employed the latest technologies to make the system more powerful, more dependable, and more