GE Infrared Brooder Silver Neck Reflector
GE's first infrared tungsten lamps were introduced in 1938 with spherical G30 bulb, for use in separate reflectors to direct a beam of heat. Their primary application was in paint drying for the automotive industry. Blown reflector infrared lamps quickly followed, acheiving greater concentrations of thermal energy. These became popular in other applications - first for therapeutic use in relieving muscular pain and other medical conditions, and later in animal husbandry.

One of their principal uses was in poultry farming, but a drawback of the blown reflector lamps was their relatively narrow beam and high thermal concentration. At first the blown reflector heat lamps were only offered with a lightly frosted bulb to improve heat uniformity, but still with a narrow beam angle. While that was ideal for industrial applications, in agriculture it was necessary to use large quantities of lamps suspended high above the ground to achieve a sufficiently uniform heat distribution.

The problem was overcome with the so-called "Brooder" lamp featured here, first listed in the 1956 catalogue. It features an ordinary pear-shaped bulb whose conical neck area and part of the spherical bulb surface is aluminised. The effect of this is to produce a much wider batwing-shaped beam. Brooder lamps could irradiate an area four times greater than the standard blown reflector types, and with better uniformity. They remained popular for several decades, but were not listed after the 1973 catalogue. It appears that they were replaced by lamps having the standard R40 blown reflector bulbs, with a heavily diffused bulb surface so as to offer the broad beam distribution from a more standard lamp construction.
Manufacturer: General Electric U.S.A. Type 250PS30/33
Lamp Power: 250 Watts @ 115V
Lamp Voltage: 115-125 Volts Rated @ 115V
Lamp Current: 2.17 Amperes @ 115V
Cap Type: E26 Medium Screw Aluminium + vitrite
Bulb Type: PS-95 PS-30 in eighths/inch
Bulb Finish: Aluminised neck Soda-lime glass
Filament Type: C-9/3s Single Coil Wreath
Atmosphere: Argon-Nitrogen Red P getter
Luminous Flux: 3,100 lm
Luminous Efficacy: 12.4 lm/W
Luminous Intensity: 1000 cd
Beam Distribution: 140° Peak intensity 60° off-axis
Colour Temperature & CRI: CCT: 2700K Ra 100
Chromaticity Co-ordinates: CCx: 0.460 CCy: 0.410
Lifetime: 2000 hours approx.
Burning Position: Universal
Overall Length: 205 mm 81/16 inches
Light Centre Length: 150 mm 6 inches
Factory: Mattoon, IL U.S.A.
Date of Manufacture: Approx. 1960-70 Date Code : :
Original Value: US $1.00 1972
References: 1) GE Large Lamp Catalogue, 1956, USA, pp.49-50.
2) GE Large Lamp Catalogue, 1954, USA, p.64.
3) GE Large Lamp Catalogue, 1972, USA, p.26.
4) GE Large Lamp Catalogue, 1973, USA, p.27.
5) GE Large Lamp Catalogue, 1975, USA, p.27.
6) Lamps for a Brighter America, P.Keating, McGraw-Hill Book Company Inc, 1st Edition (1954) pp.185-186.
7) Photoelectric measurement.