clear-glass figurals - 14V Japan

[geraldmusic]

HELP?

I have 8 clear-glass E10 figurals - marked: "14V Japan"
BUT they burn only dimly, unless I put them all on the same 8-socket string.
If I have only SEVEN of them on the string and add an ordinary C6 bulb an 8th (so all will light [series-wired]), the C6 burns VERY brightly.
Although they all work (obviously), I think they are all very old and none of them light up with the 9-volt battery trick.

Why, Oh Why?

Is it that they are rated at a different AMPERAGE, therefore a different WATTAGE, than the newer, esp. milk-glass, bulbs?

[jonathan cassiday]

most likely they are carbon filiment light bulbs, and early figural bulbs were painted clear glass before they switched to milk glass which held paint better and did not look as bad when the paint eventually chipped like previous models with clear glass. Often you can find bulbs that were made inthe same molds in earlier clear glass with carbon filiment and milk glass with tungsten filiments.

[geraldmusic]

THANKS, Mr. Cassiday!


That was very helpful.

Now that I know the what (CARBON filaments), I'm still curious about the why - electrically.
I wonder if the CARBON-filament bulbs are rated at a different (probably HIGHER) voltage than the typical C6 (E10), which are at 15v.
In the typical series-wired, 8-socket string, each of these gets 1/8 of the standard (for North America) 120volts available at the household outlet - 120 divided by 8 gives us the "15"volts alotted to each bulb.
At least I THINK this is correct.
So, if the carbon-filament bulb requires a higher voltage, I can see why it would be dim when it is on a string with 7 15v bulbs drawing 105 of the available 120volts and leaving the carbon guy only 15, when it needs 40 or whatEVER.
But why would EIGHT carbon-filament bulbs (not sharing with any 15v bulbs) light up BRIGHTly in an 8-socket string all by themselves - Aren't they still getting only 15 volts apiece?


Another electrical thing about which I am curious is ...
Why do I hear that the Sylvania fluorescent bulbs are not to be used with a DIMMER??


Thanks AGAIN!

[jonathan cassiday]

From what I know, Carbon filiment light bulbs consume more current than a tungsten light bulb, which would lead to the brighter tungsten light bulb when combined in a string of carbon ligt bulbs. Carbon filiment light bulbs often varied in brightness as well from bulb to bulb, and often times you would find claims about the bulbs in a set of lights being a "matched " set in terms of brighness. These two variations could account for the diffrences in burning charcteristics when combining tungsten and carbon filiment bulbs. Another test for a carbon filiment bulbs would be the traditional 9 voult battery test on the base (assuming 14-16 volt bulbs) the bulb will not light up, or will light up dimmly verses the traditional tungsten bulbs which will light up to near full brightness.

[jonathan cassiday]

I realized that I did not quite answer the question asked, so to answer ti to the best of my knowledge, it is the diffrences in current draw that affect the way the bulbs in a string of lights burn, as long as the set contains bulbs of the same current draw, then the brightness would be equal. During the transition days between tungsten and carbon filiments most sets would include a warning to use all the same type bulbs in the string to prevent premature burnout due to the diffrences in current draw. Hope this helps!

[geraldmusic]

EUREKA!

T H A N K S !!

(This is the greatest website!)