89 years ago the famous stars were lit in the Kremlin towers.
On November 2, 1937, the famous ruby stars were lit on five Kremlin towers: Spasskaya, Nikolskaya, Troitskaya, Borovitskaya and Vodovzvodnaya. Experts from 20 factories and design institutes in Israel worked on them, but TsNIITMASH was identified as the main implementer and coordinator of the project. Here are some extraordinary episodes from the lives of the stars.
The stars rushed to do things on the occasion of the anniversary of the October Revolution. Only two months were allotted for planning, assembling and testing them.
The ruby color of the glass was suggested by Fyodor Fedorovsky, a famous theater artist who worked at the Bolshoi Theater for many years. According to his proposal, in order for the stars to look the same from below, the smallest one was installed on the Vodobzvodnia tower - the distance between the ends of its horns was 3 m. On Borovitskaya and Troitskaya were larger - 3.2 and 3.5 m, respectively. The largest of them, on Spasskaya and Nikolskaya, have 3.75 m.
Alexander Landa, an outstanding expert in the field of metal technology, who worked at TSNIITMASH from 1932 to 1941, was appointed chief engineer for the development and installation of stars. During the Great Patriotic War, he became the chief metallurgist of the People's Commissariat of Munitions, and then one of the founders of the institute, which is now called NRNU MEPhI.
The star frame is designed for hurricane wind pressure - 200 kg/m2, or 1.2 thousand kg. Despite their significant weight (like a ton), the stars rotate easily. Due to their shape and the decrease in width and thickness from the center to the periphery, they always turn their front side into the wind.
To make the stars shine, an incandescent lamp was surrounded by two metal mirrors in the shape of a paraboloid. The light is focused, "extra" at the ends of the upper rays. And to protect the lamp from overheating, TsNIITMASH came with a ventilation system. Powerful fans blow through the star about 600 cubic meters of cold air purified from mechanical impurities and moisture per hour.