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Author Topic: Odd tipped bulb - a Christmas light???  (Read 7433 times)

Offline Tim

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Odd tipped bulb - a Christmas light???
« on: July 10, 2000, 10:22:00 pm »
Bill Nelson, another member of the bulb forum here, would like help in identifying the following bulb. Bill is an avid collector of early Christmas lighting and would like to know if this is in fact a Christmas lamp or not. The bulb is larger than the typical exhaust tipped Christmas lamp and is more elongated. The base is a European candelabra type that does not fit any American socket. It has a carbon filament with an anchor support. Please respond here or email Bill at  doglovers4@mindspring.com  if you can help him determine age, origin, and intended use of this bulb.

Thanks in advance

   

[This message has been edited by tim (edited July 10, 2000).]

[This message has been edited by tim (edited July 10, 2000).]

Offline James

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Odd tipped bulb - a Christmas light???
« Reply #1 on: July 13, 2000, 07:23:00 am »
That could well be an early christmas bulb, but I think it looks more like the kind of thing that would have been used as a telephone switchboard indicator.  The red laquer was widely used for them.  All the bulbs like that I have seen are British and have small bayonet bases, but presumably if they had the same things in Europe then they would have used that E14s screw base which is slightly bigger than the E12s candelabra base used in USA.

I think the only way you could be reasonably sure as to its application would be to try and find out the voltage - Xmas light strings were usually around 12-24V but a telephone lamp would be more like 50V.

The lamp looks distinctly European rather than British, and the design of base would suggest that it may be a Philips lamp made in Holland from around 1910.  But Philips makes bases for everyone else so without seeing inside the bulb I could be wrong!

Hope this helps,
James

Offline Bill Nelson

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Odd tipped bulb - a Christmas light???
« Reply #2 on: July 13, 2000, 11:13:00 am »
Hi, James, and thanks for the information. The bulb in question runs on 110 volts, if that is a help. It is unlike any other lamp I've come across during my Christmas light collecting...

Bill