ABSTRACT

The history of a technological innovation, the "Sealed Beam" automobile headlamp, can be written without much concern for the professionalism or ethics of the men who worked on its development. After all, the lamp is just one among thousands of products that are tolerably reliable, reasonably priced, and "optimized" to conserve material and overhead in production. During the 1920's and early I930's, the age-old problem of seeing one's way along a road at night became acute: nighttime automobile fatalities increased steadily from 35% of total auto fatalities in 1920 to 56% in 1933, while night driving mileage accounted for only 20% of total miles driven. Paul Goodell's plea fell on receptive ears: the men he was addressing in 1933 were already active participants in efforts to improve the highway lighting situation. The highway engineers knew they could make roads safer by using improved streetlighting.