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Incandescent - Carbon Filament
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Updated
08-XII-2014 |
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The carbon filament lamp was the first practical form of incandescent lamp, this material originally being favoured because of the possibility to operate it at temperatures higher than any other electrical conductor that could be produced in filamentary forms at the time. Higher temperature is the continual goal of the incandescent lamp engineer, owing to the fact that the efficiency of conversion of electrical energy into visible light increases under such conditions.
For more than two decades carbon held court as the filament material of choice, but at the beginning of the twentieth century developments in metallurgy enabled the production of metal wires that could be driven at higher temperatures. This resulted in the near-total disappearance of the carbon lamp by 1910. Due to its superior resistance to mechanical shocks than the brittle metallic filaments, it took a little longer to displace in some industrial and vibration-service applications, and its advantages as an infra-red source saw its limited manufacture for some heating appliances. Most curiously its popularity began to rise again after the 1990s, as a light source for decorative applications thanks to its warm glow with a colour similar to candlelight. |
| | American Lamps |
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Edison |
~16CP |
| First Commercial Lamp, Bristol Board Filament |
| 1879-1880 / 1928-30 |
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Edison |
16CP |
| Bamboo Filament with Copper Clamps |
| 1884-1886 |
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BrushSwan |
16CP |
| Original stem design with Swan Bayonet Cap |
| 1885-93 |
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BrushSwan |
16CP |
| Later stem design with Thomson-Houston Cap |
| 1893-95 |
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Edison |
16CP |
| New Type with Cellulose Filament |
| 1893-1899 |
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Packard? |
16CP |
| Pollard non-infringing lamp with silver film seal |
| 1892-1894 |
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Novak |
16CP |
| Bromine-Filled Carbon Filament Lamp |
| 1893-1894 |
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Ft.Wayne |
16CP |
| Adams-Bagnall Style Tipless Lamp |
| 1897-1898 |
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| | British Lamps |
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Lane-Fox |
20CP |
| Lane-Fox Carbon Lamp with Mercury Seals |
| 1882 |
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Maxim |
~5CP |
| Maxim Carbon Lamp of suspected British Origin |
| 1883-90 |
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Robertson |
8CP |
| 2nd Generation of Vitrite Cap with Brass Ring |
| 1901-1902 |
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