Strange filament

[Antenna3]

I have a bulb that has me baffled as to what it was made for. It is 3 inch high, standard screw base, normal looking clear glass envelope. Instead of a filament it has a metal plate about the size of a nickle, set horazontal,  cut in half, with a gap of about 1/32 inch between the halves. One side of this plate has a wire hanging into space with a small rod  welded on it 1/4 inch long 1/16 diam. With 110v applied each half of the plate glows a very bright soft orange.
I would say at least as bright as a 40 to 60 watt bulb. no markings except "105 volt"
Hope some one may be able to solve this question for me,
thank you. Tony

[Tim]

Tony,

It sounds like you have a neon indicator lamp, such as a GE NE-34 or maybe NE-40.  The wire you describe that is hanging into space off from one electrode has me curious though.  Could you post a picture here or email one to me?

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Tim
Kilokat's Antique Light Bulb Site
Mountain Dew Collectibles, Volume I

[This message has been edited by tim (edited July 11, 2003).]

[Alan Franzman]

A neon indicator lamp as bright as a 40 or 60 watt incandescent? Maybe, if the ballast resistor was overloaded and cooked itself to a much lower resistance. If that's the case, or if it's meant to run with an external resistor, it could be an explosion waiting to happen!

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Alan "A.J." Franzman

Email: a.j.franzman at verizon dot net

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[This message has been edited by Alan Franzman (edited July 12, 2003).]