Sieray MA/H Coloured Medium Pressure Mercury
Siemens Brothers of Preston, England was perhaps the most scientifically oriented producer of mercury lamps. The physics laboratory was responsible for many breakthroughs in discharge technology, and so frequent were the improvements to their lamps that its rare to find any two the same. Dozens of electrode geometries and chemistries were evaluated, along with the addition of colour-enhancing elements to the discharge and physical assembly techniques.

Siemens is also the only known company to have offered these unique coloured MA lamps, intended for floodlighting applications. Yellow, Green and Blue glass envelopes were developed to transmit only those peaks in the mercury lamp spectrum, and a long arc neon lamp was offered for red lighting. Their use was probably very rare by virtue of the fact that they do not appear in any of the company's catalogues and these are the only known examples.

The electrodes take the form of large diameter open tungsten coils in line with the arc - Siemens being the first company to recognise the benefits of the hollow anode ring design to extend electrode life. The main electrode consists of an oxide-coated tungsten coil mounted at the centre of the anode ring. A very large auxiliary electrode resistor is necessary in this design and it is sleeved in a glass tube and mounted near the cap. Finally, it should be noted that Siemens Bros. worked independently of German Siemens, all ties between the two companies had been severed with the second world war. Siemens Bros. merged with Royal Ediswan to form Sieswan, which was amalgamated with Ekco and Metrovick to form AEI many years later and it ultimately ended up as part of the Thorn Lighting Group.
Manufacturer: Siemens Electric Lamps & Supplies Ltd.
Lamp Power: 400 Watts
Lamp Current: 3.25 Amps
Lamp Voltage: 120-150 Volts For 200/250V Mains
Cap Type: E40s/45 Brass + vitrite
Bulb Finish: Green Glass Soda-lime soft glass
Bulb Type: T-51 T-16 in eighths/inch
Overall Length: 330 mm 13 inches
Light Centre Length: 190 mm 7½ inches
Arc Length: 160mm 6¼ inches
Electrodes: CCC-6 Triple Coil Oxide emitter
Atmosphere: Inner: Hg | Ar (1 atm) Outer: Nitrogen
Luminous Flux: 8,800lm @ 100 hrs 7,400lm @ 750 hrs
Luminous Efficacy: 22.0 lm/W @ 100 hours 18.5lm/W @ 750 hours
Colour Temperature & CRI: CCT: 6300K CRI: Ra 0
Chromaticity Co-ordinates: CCx: 0.290 CCy: 0.610
Burning Position: Horizontal
Rated Lifetime: 1,500 hours (to 50% survival)
Warm-up & Re-strike Time: 7 minutes 4 minutes
Factory: Strand Road, Preston England
Date of Manufacture: Circa 1940
Original & Present Value: Unknown
 
References: 1) E.L.M.A. Electric Discharge Lamp Sub-Committe, Group IX Internal Agreed Data, circa 1956.