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BULB DISCUSSION BOARDS => Antique Bulb Discussion => Topic started by: wabi on November 26, 2003, 11:44:00 pm

Title: biggest bulb & flat shape?
Post by: wabi on November 26, 2003, 11:44:00 pm
Hi everyone,
i'm a new observer appreciating all of the resources that you share and seeking some information on making a light bulb for my lighting design class.

can anyone please tell me -
what is the largest bulb and voltage that can be made, either by
hand or by machine? and is it possible to have a bulb
that is rather flat & rectangular, say like a thin box ? or
is the shape of the bulb limited to roundness?
thank you all in advance.

syko
Title: biggest bulb & flat shape?
Post by: James on November 27, 2003, 08:06:00 pm
I guess only the depth of your pocket limits the size of a lamp that can be made!  In the 1930s GE made some 75,000W incandescent lamps which are the largest I know of.

Regarding flat panel lamps, yes such a thing does exist!  Check out www.planon.de (http://www.planon.de)  for details on Osram's dielectric barrier excimer lamps.  They're not cheap either though, roughly $400 each for the lamp and driver.

Best regards,

James.
Title: biggest bulb & flat shape?
Post by: wabi on November 28, 2003, 12:21:00 am
Hi James,
thank you for your reply. I would love to see the shape size and the filament of that 75,000 watt bulb.
As for the rectangular shape bulb question, I am more facinated by the filament of the antique bulbs. i have been taking old light bulbs and powering it with a  12 volt transformer to just have the filament glow.  So i would like to know if it is possible to make a bulb that is a flat shaped with very intricate filament  (basically to replicate what i have been doing but with a flat shaped bulb to place it against the wall or perhaps a cube shaped would be interesting as well)
thank you again.

 
Title: biggest bulb & flat shape?
Post by: Tim on November 28, 2003, 10:49:00 am
quote:
Originally posted by wabi:
I would love to see the shape size and the filament of that 75,000 watt bulb.


Ask and you shall receive!  The larger bulb pictured below is the 75,000 watt monster...Enjoy!

(http://www.bulbcollector.com/photos/corning.jpg)

------------------
Tim
Kilokat's Antique Light Bulb Site (http://www.bulbcollector.com)
Mountain Dew Collectibles, Volume I (http://www.dewcollector.com)
Title: biggest bulb & flat shape?
Post by: Alan Franzman on November 28, 2003, 07:45:00 pm
quote:
Originally posted by tim:
The larger bulb pictured ... is the 75,000 watt monster.


Wow, it's been lit! Anyone have a photo of it turned on?

How big is it? I would guess about 3 feet tall, but with nothing of known size in the photo it's hard to be sure.

------------------
 
Alan "A.J." Franzman

Email: a.j.franzman at verizon dot net

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Title: biggest bulb & flat shape?
Post by: Tim on November 28, 2003, 09:27:00 pm
Hi Alan and Wabi,

I don't want to drift off topic but I dug up this picture of a 50kw lamp which appeared on the Smithsonian's site for Alan.  I think this may be a different type of 50kw lamp than in my picture above.  3 feet tall doesn't sound too far off either for the 75kw lamp.

(http://www.bulbcollector.com/photos/50kw_1947.jpg)

------------------
Tim
Kilokat's Antique Light Bulb Site (http://www.bulbcollector.com)
Mountain Dew Collectibles, Volume I (http://www.dewcollector.com)
Title: biggest bulb & flat shape?
Post by: Dylan on November 28, 2003, 09:40:00 pm
I think looking at a blank white screen would be about the same as a picture of that thing turned on! What kind of cooling system (if any) did these things use, and what was their purpose, anyway?
Title: biggest bulb & flat shape?
Post by: Tim on November 28, 2003, 09:52:00 pm
Dylan,

As far as I'm aware, these large lamps were only produced in small numbers for Edison commemoration ceremonies and such.  These pictures do suggest the bulbs were lit but I don't think these large lamps ever served a practical use in real-world applications but I could be wrong.  I'm not sure about the cooling either.  Maybe someone can elaborate on this.


------------------
Tim
Kilokat's Antique Light Bulb Site (http://www.bulbcollector.com)
Mountain Dew Collectibles, Volume I (http://www.dewcollector.com)
Title: biggest bulb & flat shape?
Post by: Stan on November 29, 2003, 04:09:00 am
Hi Dylan,

many years ago wrote to me H.F.Hicks, that was made only three pieces of this lamps. I have other pictures, made in Fort Myers Edison?s Winter Estate from my son. The pictures a litle later.
Title: biggest bulb & flat shape?
Post by: wabi on November 29, 2003, 12:16:00 pm
thank you all for that wonderful surprise.
as james mentioned - i guess only the depth of your pocket limits the size of a lamp that can be made!
seeing such bulbs, i would assume that it is also possible to make a bulb that is flat rectangular shape.
Title: biggest bulb & flat shape?
Post by: James on November 29, 2003, 04:42:00 pm
One other application for these high power lamps came into being in the late 1940s during the commissioning and testing of the first nuclear power plants, before they were connected to the main electricity grid.

I have a photo somewhere I will dig out which shows one of the lamps being lit outdoors during a public opening ceremony for one of the American reactors.

Corning made a 75kW lamp around 1992/93 as well, I don't know what happened to that, but remember reading the press reports at the time.

James
Title: biggest bulb & flat shape?
Post by: James on November 29, 2003, 04:54:00 pm
Regarding flat panel lamps, I don't know of any that are commercially available.

In the photo below is a very simple one I made for a glass artist some years ago, who wanted to thread glowing tungsten wires around in decorative shapes between the panes of a double glazed window.

It didn't work.  The space must be a vacuum otherwise they get too hot.  In vacuum it works fine, but the glass panels were then forced in towards each other and had a tendency to shatter.  This photo was taken inside my argon glovebox where the whole thing is filled with argon, enough to stop the filament oxidising but the panel became far too hot after only a few minutes use.  Its the only one I ever made.

James

(http://homepage.ntlworld.com/jameshooker/Glass%20panel%20lit.jpg)
Title: biggest bulb & flat shape?
Post by: Max on December 01, 2003, 05:24:00 am
Hi,

As far as incandescent lamps are conserned, it is true that the largest size is about 75 kW, but higer wattages were reached in arc lamps.
Vortek in Vancouver, Canada, produces water vortex stabilized 300kW argon lamps, and I have heard of carbon arc searchlights of about 5MW made during the second world war.

Max
Title: biggest bulb & flat shape?
Post by: Tim on December 08, 2003, 10:08:00 pm
quote:
Originally posted by Stan:
I have other pictures, made in Fort Myers Edison?s Winter Estate from my son.


Stan has asked me to upload this picture, mentioned above.  It looks like the picture was taken many years ago of the same bulbs I  recently photographed:

 (http://www.bulbcollector.com/photos/a31b.jpg)

On an interesting note, here's a picture of a postcard I saw on eBay not too long ago of the same bulbs.  The time period looks similar to that of Stan's picture:

 (http://www.bulbcollector.com/photos/fort_myers1.jpg)


------------------
Tim
Kilokat's Antique Light Bulb Site (http://www.bulbcollector.com)
Mountain Dew Collectibles, Volume I (http://www.dewcollector.com)

[This message has been edited by tim (edited December 08, 2003).]
Title: biggest bulb & flat shape?
Post by: Carl Wright on December 09, 2003, 01:05:00 am
Here is a picture of an Edison light bulb. It is located in the Edison Depot in Port Huron, Michigan. This is the same station that Young Tom Edison left from and traveled to Detroit selling candy and newspapers as as young boy.

Carl