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Amglo Neon Signal Type 60c |
This style of lamp is featured in an Amglo 1960 brochure, referenced as a gas discharge signal light. Various designs were filled with inert gases, or with phosphor-coated tubes and a mercury discharge, to produce different colours of light with higher efficiency than using filtered incandescent lamps. They were originally conceived for use in marine buoys where their low current consumption extended battery life, and were later applied in other traffic and aviation signals, even as stroboscopic flash lamps.
The construction comprises a narrow-bore glass tube wound into a tight helix, one end of which is widened and sealed to the inner glass stem around a hollow iron cathode. The opposite end of the glass spiral is left open, with the result that the electrical discharge takes place both within the spiral as well as the outer bulb before reaching the second electrode, a pair of nickel plates. Those carry barium getters, flashed onto the outer bulb to maintain gas purity. Thanks to the long discharge path being compressed into a small bulb, the resulting intensity can be rather high. The patent literature identifies the gasfilling as pure neon at a pressure of 10-12 torr for highest efficacy. In the 1960s Amglo offered a transistorised power supply to run these lamps from a 6V battery at 400mA - that data has been used to estimate the actual lamp power. The Amglo address on the box dates this lamp to the period of approx. 1944-1951.
| Manufacturer: | Amglo Corporation | Model 60c |
| Lamp Power: | Approx. 1 Watt | |
| Lamp Voltage: | Approx. 1000 Volts | |
| Lamp Current: | Approx. 1 Milliamp | |
| Cap Type: | E26s/25 | Brass + vitrite |
| Bulb Type: | ST-44 | ST-12 in eighths/inch |
| Bulb Finish: | Clear | Soda-lime glass |
| Electrodes: | Iron cylinderc cathode | Nickel plate anode |
| Atmosphere: | Neon | 10-12 torr |
| Luminous Flux: | ||
| Luminous Efficacy: | ||
| Colour Temperature & CRI: | CCT: | CRI: |
| Chromaticity Co-ordinates: | CCx: | CCy: |
| Lifetime: | ||
| Warm-up & Re-strike Time: | Instantaneous | |
| Burning Position: | Universal | |
| Overall Length: | 92 mm | 3⅝ inches |
| Light Centre Length: | ||
| Mass: | 36 g | 1.25 oz |
| Factory: | Chicago, IL | U.S.A. |
| Date of Manufacture: | Approx. 1944-1951 | Date Code: Not marked |
| Original Value: | Unknown | |