High-Pressure Sunlamps Turn 100

One hundred years ago, Heraeus developed the first quartz glass lamp that produced ultraviolet light identical to sunlight. The Original Hanau® qualifies the Hanau, Germany-based precious metals and technology group as the inventor of the UV high-pressure lamp and as a pioneer in tanning using artificial light sources. The artificial sunray lamp (Höhensonne®) also laid the foundation for tanning salons and today’s tanning market.

The mercury-vapor quartz glass lamp developed in 1904 by physicist and Heraeus chief developer Richard Küch was first used extensively in medical phototherapy. Since that time, Heraeus has continuously refined the technical, medical and commercial applications of UV and infrared light.

Küch (1860-1915) was one of the most influential inventors at Heraeus. In experiments, he realized that mercury vapor emits a short-wave, greenish light when it is stimulated to produce electrical discharges in a quartz glass tube. In contrast to normal glass, quartz glass (pure silicon dioxide, SiO2) has two important advantages: The ultraviolet radiation generated can pass through quartz glass unhindered and, in contrast to normal glass, quartz glass is stable even at temperatures above 1,000 C. This enabled mercury-vapor lamps with quartz glass to produce a much higher yield of medically effective light (UVA radiation in the wavelength range between 380 and 290 nanometers).

In order to be better able to take advantage of the potential of this invention, Heraeus and AEG jointly established the firm Quarzlampen-gesellschaft mbH in 1906. The artificial sunray lamp Original Hanau ultimately was developed in close cooperation with medical institutions. The new lamp displayed the same invigorating effects as sunrays in the mountains.

A steadily increasing number of applications in medicine and dermatology—such as total body exposure for invigoration, vitamin D prophylaxis or supportive therapy (of soldiers wounded in World War I in particular)—caused quartz glass lamps to become part of the equipment inventory of every hospital and many physicians’ offices.

The continuous development and the successes of medical phototherapy made the Höhensonne product line the market leader in Germany in the 1930s. In the 1950s, the small Höhensonne advanced to become an electrical consumer item as a tanning lamp that was used in many households.

However, the development did not stand still. In the late 1970s, the “artificial sunray lamp” increasingly captured the professional tanning market. Today, the successors of the mercury-vapor quartz glass lamps—fitted with sophisticated filtration systems and satisfying the most demanding safety requirements—are found in many tanning salons as tanning lamps.

Heraeus Noblelight has continued the Original Hanau tradition since 1992. With tanning tubes and emitters, electrical components, filters and reflectors, as well as complete facial tanning units, the Original Hanau SunCare division today is a provider of complete UV solutions and a development partner and an original equipment manufacturer for well-known solarium manufacturers.