Talk:Disco ball

AKA "specular sphere"?
My edit has been reverted but isn't this another name for them?

...
Someone added text that i cop-ed-ed:
 * With the appearance of infrared networks, disco balls have found a new application, as a method of dispersing the infrared signals.

But IMO having it rotate would serve no purpose except where the coverage is spotty, and the application is such as to make transforming spottiness in time more acceptable that in space. E.g., don't rotate it if you plan to use it for telephony. Experts, please? --Jerzy (t) 18:55, 2005 Apr 18 (UTC)


 * Don't know about the rotating, but I think the mirrors aren't flat in disco balls used for infra red communications. // Liftarn

The names i added other than "Disco ball" reflect current marketing, but i note that Frank McCourt, in 'Tis, writing about his thoughts in the early or mid 1950s says, without further elaboration, "crystal ball" (where the context seems clear). Do we have any other evidence of pre-disco terminology? --Jerzy·t 00:48, 2005 August 11 (UTC)

"producing a complicated and hard-to-anticipate display" - I wouldn't say so. If a single light is pointed at the ball, the usual pattern is of an array of spots that move steadily with the ball's rotation, and of course change apparent size with distance from the ball. Naturally multiple light sources will make things a little more complex, but the overall pattern remains fairly simple really. 128.232.250.254 22:59, 23 May 2006 (UTC)

How to set up a disco ball?
I got a disco ball, but I have no idea what I need to get it to rotate? --212.200.210.133 12:29, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

Who invented the disco ball?
When was the FIRST disco ball made and for what purpose?

I found an uncited source that suggested mirror balls had been used to repel witches in Europe. However, a "mirror ball" could have either a smooth surface (e.g., ceremonial south pole), or small square planes of mirrors (like a disco ball).

Snowgecko 19:27, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Could the disco ball also be called a bonspiel?
Back in the 70's I used to frequent a club called The Bonspiel Room. I was told that the name of the club reflected the proper name for the disco ball. I can't find any information to substantiate that information. I told a friend that it was the proper name for the disco ball, and now I'm wondering if that could be true.

BooCar159 04:19, 11 October 2007 (UTC)BooCar159

im deleting the line "The world's largest rotating disco ball is situated in the ABC Nightclub in Glasgow, Scotland. " and its cited source. this is an unsubstantiated comment that upon further inquiry proves to be false. in addition it appears this comment was added to be an advertisement for the club. however the club has no mirror balls in any of their pages on their homesite or in articles about them. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.97.21.36 (talk) 02:47, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

Mirror- stik... invented by  Bachrach  and  Finklestein
Although it  might  be  true  that  the  mirrored  ball  existed  in  Germany in  the  1020s  as  one  poster  states  I  remember my father  Michael Bachrach  and  his  partner  Irving  Finklestein  inventing  sheets  of  mosaic  mirrors with  adhesive  backing  called  Mirror-stik. The product was  used  in  set  designs  of  many  TV  shows  (  i.e. Perry  Como  Show)  in the  late  50s  and  early  60s  and  later  re-appeared  as  the  disco  ball. They were  forced  to  sell  the  patent  for  very  little  money  due  to  financial need  after  only a  few years  but  I  have  fond  memories  of  going to  the  TV  sets  and  meeting  some  stars  as a  little  girl. I do  not  know  who owns  the  patent  now. I have  seen the  product  on  buildings  in Epcot Center  and  other places,   and  hope  my dad  and  his  partner  are  looking  down  from heaven  to  see  that  thier  work  lives  on.

69.121.198.165 (talk) 22:20, 14 June 2008 (UTC) Andrea Bachrach

Rewriting History - Glitter Ball or Disco Ball
I was surprised that the Glitter ball has been listed on here as the "disco ball" in the title section. I do not ever recall it being referred to as such in the youth culture of the 1960s (when discotechques emerged), 1970s, 1980s or 1990s. The fact that they are called "disco balls" today in some quarters surely in no way indicates that the "glitter ball" name has been eclipsed? I'd never heard of the term "disco ball" until I read this article, and I'm fifty two years old! The use of the glitter ball in dance halls for decades (since at least the 1930s) has been largely ignored in this article. In our UK TV programme "Strictly Come Dancing", a "Glitter Ball trophy" is awarded each series.

I think this is a strange and misleading article - and an attempt to rewrite pop culture history.

Might I suggest that the article title is changed to "Glitter ball/Disco ball" and that somebody does rather more research into the history of dance halls across the decades and the glitter/disco ball's place in them?

(Solidsandie (talk) 18:03, 16 January 2010 (UTC))

Bogus Section: Resonant Discotheque?
Can someone confirm if the following section is valid? It seems to me that from "resulting in a Q-switched ..." onwards it is a spoof entry that would not be out of place in THHGTTG.

"Disco balls with first-surface mirrors can be used in combination with excimer lasers and Nd:YVO4 crystals to produce hemispherical DPSS orbital optical cavities, resulting in a Q-switched fully resonant discotheque experience oft used in Stockholm, Helsinki and less often, Madrid. This system is called "The Helsinki Venus Pump"."

I think it is bogus. "The Helsinki Venus Pump" can only be found at wikipedia and nowhere else. I think this part should be deleted! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.63.173.202 (talk) 09:59, 5 May 2010 (UTC)

Actually the Helsinki Venus Pump (usually referred to by the acronym HVDP) uses a Yttrium aluminium garnet laser. Though you can also dope them with erbium to get a higher power output per joule. The process was also used in Ibiza in 2003 and reached a synchronous output of over 12joules per watt. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.54.200.21 (talk) 18:53, 29 June 2010 (UTC)

Requested move

 * The following discussion is an archived discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section. 

The result of the move request was: page not moved.   A rbitrarily 0   ( talk ) 14:38, 24 September 2011 (UTC)

Disco ball → Mirror ball – If the subject of this article predates disco music by 50 years, then it should really be referred to by a more generic term, such as mirror ball, which identifies physical, unchanging properties of the device. 70.123.152.102 (talk) 03:17, 18 September 2011 (UTC)
 * Oppose WP:UCN -- Mirror ball (and variants) Mghits ; Disco ball 5.1 Mghits . Also this device is a spherical ball with flat-mirrors as attached facets, which is not the same thing as a mirrored ball, that is smooth and spherical, or other forms of mirror bearing or reflective balls. 70.24.244.20 (talk) 14:07, 18 September 2011 (UTC)
 * Oppose. I agree with 70.24.244.20. Whether it was originally called a mirror ball is irrelevant; Wikipedia naming works by using the most common name and "disco ball" is the clear common name. Jenks24 (talk) 15:12, 19 September 2011 (UTC)
 * Oppose agree per above. While started as a neologism, now by far the most common term for the object in English. Infrogmation (talk) 22:47, 22 September 2011 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

used on a norwegian circus
the circus is called merano and have used it at least since 2010 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.208.59.120 (talk) 21:48, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

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as solar projectors
Would it be relevant to talk about discoballs as solar projectors and pinhead mirrors?

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1361-6552/ad1fa0

https://www.space.com/watch-ring-of-fire-eclipse-with-disco-ball

https://www.iflscience.com/you-could-use-a-disco-ball-to-watch-the-ring-of-fire-eclipse-70945

https://petapixel.com/2023/10/02/astronomers-put-more-disco-balls-in-observatories/ Synethos (talk) 16:02, 9 February 2024 (UTC)