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Self-Ballasted Mercury Blended
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Updated 16-XII-2022 |
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At the time of the introduction of high pressure mercury lamps, they were considered to have two principal drawbacks compared to their incandescent predecessors. Firstly, the cool white light colour with apalling colour rendering properties, and secondly the fact that they could not be connected directly to AC mains electricity supplies and required some form of electrical ballast.
Both of these problems were alleviated with the concept of the mercury-blended lamp - which was achieved by mixing its blue-rich light with the red-rich radiation from an ordinary tungsten filament lamp. In the early 1900s it was recognised that specially designed filament lamps could be used as a resistive ballast to provide current regulation and colour correction for the arc, but it was not until 1929 that the filament and the arc were united within the same bulb to create the first blended-light lamps.
Initial experiments in this field were limited to low pressure lamps for Ultraviolet applications. In 1935 the first mercury-blended lamp for general lighting was introduced, in the form of the Medium pressure MAT lamps invented by Siemens of England. A variety of high pressure MBT blended lamps followed quickly, and the addition of fluorescent phosphors achieved continual improvements in parallel with the developments being made in mercury-fluoresscent lamps. |
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![](Images/HID Thumbnails/t D MC Philips Ultrasol 5023.jpg) |
Philips |
110W |
Ultrasol 5023 Self-Ballasted Sunlamp |
1935 |
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| | Medium Pressure |
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![](Images/HID Thumbnails/t D MAT Siemens 300W.jpg) |
Siemens |
300W |
Sieray "Dual" MAT/V first self-ballasted lamp |
1940 |
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![](Images/HID Thumbnails/t Mazda MAT300.jpg) |
Mazda |
300W |
MAT/V of final production design |
~1955 |
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| | High Pressure |
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![](Images/HID Thumbnails/t Mazda MBT200.jpg) |
Mazda |
200W |
MBT/V with shrink seals and pearl outer bulb |
~1945 |
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![](Images/HID Thumbnails/t Philips ML500.jpg) |
Philips |
250W |
ML500 First model mercury blended |
~1940-45 |
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![](Images/HID Thumbnails/t Osram HWA165.jpg) |
Osram |
165W |
HWA 302 German lamp in pearl outer bulb |
1958 |
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![](Images/HID Thumbnails/t Bumix Jupiter.jpg) |
Bumix |
860W |
"Jupiter" variable colour mushroom-shape |
~1950 |
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![](Images/HID Thumbnails/t D MBT Philips ML160 Clear PS90.jpg) |
Philips |
160W |
ML Mixed Light Clear pear-shaped |
~1955 |
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![](Images/HID Thumbnails/t Philips ML160.jpg) |
Philips |
160W |
ML with new design for automatic production |
2003 |
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![](Images/HID Thumbnails/t Thorn MBT160.jpg) |
Thorn |
160W |
MBT Sunlight Clear mercury blended |
1987 |
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![](Images/HID Thumbnails/t National MBT100V.jpg) |
National |
100W |
BH100 with preheated arc tube electrodes |
2001 |
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![](Images/HID Thumbnails/t D MBT Jewel SB750.jpg) |
DuroTest |
750W |
Self-Ballasted Lamp of high efficiency design |
~1960 |
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![](Images/HID Thumbnails/t XingJi HMB500.jpg) |
XingJi |
500W |
HMB Halogen-Ballasted Mercury Vapour |
2003 |
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| | High Pressure Fluorescent |
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![](Images/HID Thumbnails/t Philips MBTL160.jpg) |
Philips |
160W |
MBTL with Magnesium fluoro-germanate |
1960 |
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![](Images/HID Thumbnails/t Atlas MBTF250.jpg) |
Atlas |
250W |
MBTF with Yttrium Vanadate coated bulb |
1970 |
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![](Images/HID Thumbnails/t Osram HWL500.jpg) |
Osram |
500W |
HWL with isothermal bulb shape |
1974? |
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![](Images/HID Thumbnails/t GE MBTF160.jpg) |
GE |
160W |
E-Z Lux low voltage HSB160/PS30/M |
~1980 |
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![](Images/HID Thumbnails/t Durotest SB450R.jpg) |
DuroTest |
450W |
Fluomeric with special high efficiency design |
1970/78 |
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![](Images/HID Thumbnails/t Philips MLR160.jpg) |
Philips |
160W |
MLR mercury blended reflector style |
1984 |
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