>Mercury discharge lamps (plate burners) and carbon arcs are a different
>matter entirely. They emit substantial amounts of short wavelength uv which
is harmful to both skin and eyes.
This is misleading.
I agree that the use of carbon arc is out of the ark and is inadvisable on many
grounds.
But the banket dismissal of mercury discharge lamps is wrong. Some more
powerful lamps may cause trouble but one takes more care in their use. The
spectral distribution charts issued with graphic arts high pressure mv lamps
( 125 V ) indicate that thay are not only more suited to a range of alternative
processes but are no more harmful than UV tubes.
Perhaps we need to be more careful in our definitions.
What is a ' plate burner' ? How powerful is it ?
We should remember that every time we go out into sunshine we are receiving more
UV light than will leak from a light box.
Terry King