The Marshalite was a form of rotary
traffic signal that was designed in 1936 by an Australian
Charles Marshall (1864 -
Dunedin, New Zealand - 3 April 1953,
Mornington, Victoria, Australia), founder of the
Fitzroy Fitzroy or FitzRoy may refer to:
People As a given name
*Several members of the Somerset family (Dukes of Beaufort) have this as a middle-name:
**FitzRoy Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan (1788–1855)
** Henry Charles FitzRoy Somerset, 8th Duke of Beau ...
firm of Charles Marshall Pty. Ltd.
The Marshalite signal consisted of dials facing each street at an intersection, with a rotating hand pointing to coloured sections that denoted whether traffic in either direction should proceed, prepare to stop, or stop, and how much longer that phase had to go.
Variations existed for
pedestrian crossings, with additional text instructing people to "Walk" or "Don't Walk".
The first experimental model was erected in 1937 at the corner of
Gertrude and
Brunswick streets, Fitzroy, but was removed when its legality came into question. After 1945, Mashalite signals were installed at a number of locations in metropolitan
Melbourne, starting with the intersection of Brunswick and Johnston streets, Fitzroy
[ At the intersection of Whitehorse and Union roads, Surrey Hills, the clock was used in conjunction with conventional traffic lights, so that the point of change was absolute and unambiguous. The last Marshalite to operate was situated on the Nepean Highway.
A similar system was used in The Netherlands, Vienna and West Germany. In Germany it was called " Heuer-Ampel", after the engineer Josef Heuer, and was used in a number of places until 1972, when a change in traffic laws outlawed them. For historic reasons, an unused one is still in place in ]Bochum
Bochum ( , also , ; wep, Baukem) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia. With a population of 364,920 (2016), is the sixth largest city (after Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg) of the most populous Germany, German federal state o ...
.
References
External links
Marshalling Melbourne's traffic One of the world's first traffic lights, the Marshalite
Information Sheet No 10345, October 2000, Museums Victoria
Traffic Control Signal - Marshalite, 1940-1960
Museums Victoria Collections
Negative - Marshalite Traffic Signal, Clifton Hill, 1960
Museums Victoria Collections
Vintage Melbourne - Marshalite Traffic Signals
April 22, 2016, By Sarah, Zinc Moon, ''If you head into the city (Melbourne), and along Burke Street to the RACV Club, you may notice an interesting structure in their courtyard.''
image of pedestrian crossing Marshalite.
Transport in Melbourne
Traffic signals
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