Found a very old light bulb this morning--anyone into these?

ABTOMAT · Mar 21, 2009

Do any CPF members collect antique light bulbs? I was rummaging through a box of junk someone was throwing out today and I found a neat old bulb. Edison base, globe without a neck and sealed at the top, curly carbon filament. It has no markings I can find, but I don't think it's a reproduction. Could be 100+ years old.

I'll get some photos later tonight. The filament looks good so I think I'll try running it up on a Variac.

Lee1959 · Mar 21, 2009

My dad gave me a whole box of old lightbulbs, some very odd ones such as described. Any good websites anywhere that I might find out what they are and some idea of worth for him? Some are even in the cardboard boxes they came in. As I understand he got them when he cleaned out his fathers old farmhouse and they were old and stored in a junk box even way back then.

matrixshaman · Mar 21, 2009

Link to antique bulb collector with lots of pics I don't collect them but find them interesting. Look forward to your pics. :thumbsup:

american lockpicker · Mar 21, 2009

I have an old bulb from the '70s.

dudemar · Mar 21, 2009

The "Centennial Bulb" in Livermore, CA is very cool:

http://www.centennialbulb.org/

I live fairly close to it. Being a flashaholic and all I should go visit it sometime!

:hitit:

ABTOMAT · Mar 22, 2009

The darn thing still works. Three photos, the last two are at about 30V and 110V respectively. Click for huge.

Also thought I'd try the Youtube thing, so there's a boring video of a full cycle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9e8cbIykXE

D.B. · Mar 22, 2009

Very cool! Reminds me of a bulb/lamp my grandmother had. I remember it having the same light bulb from when I was kid all the way up until she passed away a few years ago. According to my father (who now has the lamp), it was from the 40's, and apparently has the same bulb he remembers from when he was a kid too.

h_nu · Mar 26, 2009

Abtomat, I have a bulb that looks exactly like yours. My grandfather gave it to me a few decades ago. He said they replaced the carbon filament bulbs at his workplace with tungsten in the 70's to get brighter bulbs.

My bulb has a small piece of paper inside the bulb on the glass support. It clearly says Nov '05.

Benson · Mar 26, 2009

h_nu said:
My bulb has a small piece of paper inside the bulb on the glass support. It clearly says Nov '05.

Wow, who'd have thought they were still making carbon bulbs 3.5 years ago! :laughing:

ypsifly · Mar 26, 2009

Where I work we have some original Edison bulbs. Actually we have the entire Menlo Park lab. I walk past a display when checking one of our FS units so I will check your pics against what we have in the museum tomorrow.

Mike Painter · Mar 26, 2009

american lockpicker said:
I have an old bulb from the '70s.

You better mean the 1870's or I'm going to sulk. :sigh:

I remember seeing a socket at baseboard level in the early 1040's that fit this plug .
By the mid 70's, even with a clear memory of it I thought I had dreamed it, until I noticed a lamp in an old house in Chico, CA. It as unplugged but had this type plug and wall socket.

ypsifly · Mar 27, 2009

I checked the display in the museum today and your bulb looks a lot like a Westinghouse that was made in 1905.

ABTOMAT · Mar 27, 2009

Thanks for the info, I appreciate it.

geepondy · Mar 28, 2009

Were the lighted shots under exposed or did those old bulbs really give out that little amount of light?

ABTOMAT said:
The darn thing still works. Three photos, the last two are at about 30V and 110V respectively. Click for huge.

Also thought I'd try the Youtube thing, so there's a boring video of a full cycle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9e8cbIykXE

ABTOMAT · Mar 28, 2009

The camera underexposed the full-power shot, but it does give off a fairly weak yellow light. It looks like a modern lightbulb running on a dimmer might.

There's a reason that tungsten filmaments were all the rage by the '20s.

h_nu · Mar 30, 2009

Carbon filaments were a little more resistant to shock than Tungsten and so they were used a little while longer in areas where the bulb might be subjected to vibration. Also, the higher thermal resistance at room temperature meant you didn't get the large inrush current when first turned on.

I wonder if they ever filled carbon bulbs with Argon instead of just using a vacuum?

Found a very old light bulb this morning--anyone into these?

ABTOMAT

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Lee1959

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matrixshaman

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american lockpicker

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dudemar

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ABTOMAT

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D.B.

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h_nu

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Benson

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ypsifly

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Mike Painter

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ypsifly

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ABTOMAT

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geepondy

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ABTOMAT

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h_nu

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