By Mary Davis
The average incandescent bulb lasts about 1,000 hours (approximately 1 year of 3 hrs/day usage).
Halogen bulbs last about 1.5 years.
Compact fluorescent bulbs last about 6-9 years.
An LED bulb lasts about 23-45 years.
They have nothing on the Centennial Bulb. It has been lit for 124 years (well over a million hours of nearly continuous use). It was off for short periods due to a few quick moves (22 minutes for one move) or a power outage (9 hours & 45 minutes).
Most early incandescent bulbs lasted around 2,500 hours, but in the 1920s, their lifespan dropped to only 1,000 hours because of the Phoebus Cartel. Philips, Osram, and General Electric got together and agreed to artificially cut the lifespan of bulbs nearly in third and jacked up the prices. They could make three times the money that way. Grrrr.
However, the Centennial Bulb wasn’t under these contrived regulations.
This particular incandescent bulb was made by hand in the late 1890s in Shelby, Ohio by the Shelby Electric Company. Adolphe Chaillet, a French engineer, invented this carbon-filament bulb and filed a patent for the socket technology. In 1901, Dennis Bernal gifted one of these bulbs to the Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department in Livermore, California, his hometown.
It lives in station #6.
The bulb started out on L Street in the hose cart house, then it lived in a garage downtown used by fire and police departments. In 1937, the bulb was off for about a week while the station underwent renovations. When the station moved to a new location in 1976, no one was brave enough to unscrew the bulb for fear of damaging it, so they cut the wire and rewired it in the new location 22 minutes later.
Why has this bulb lasted so long when modern bulbs don’t? Well, it was made from high quality materials, has been in nearly continuous use, and a low wattage, 60-watts. These three factors contribute to its longevity. The thermal shock by a light being turned on accounts for a major portion of the wear and tear. Modern incandescents use a tungsten filament compared to the Centennial Bulb’s carbon filament that is 8 times thicker. Another contributing factor is that the bulb has dimmed from 60-watts to about 4-watts (the brightness of a nightlight), using very little power.
The Centennial Bulb has its own live-feed webcam, similar to baby animals on farms or eagle hatchlings in the wild. You can watch the bulb in “action” HERE. But I have to warn you, it’s pretty boring. The firefighters joke about having to replace the camera several times but never the bulb.
THE DAMSEL’S INTENT (The Quilting Circle Book 3)
Can Nicole learn to
be enough of a lady to snag the handsome rancher?
Nicole Waterby heads down the mountain to fetch herself a
husband, not realizing women don’t wear trousers or carry a gun. She has a lot
to learn. Rancher Shane Keegan has drifted from one location to another to find
a place to belong. When Nicole crosses his path, he wonders if he can have
love, but he soon realizes she’s destined for someone better than a saddle
tramp. Will love stand a chance while both Nicole and Shane try to be people
they’re not
Mary lives in the Rocky Mountains with her Carolina dog, Shelby. She has three adult children and three incredibly adorable grandchildren. Find her online at: Books2Read Newsletter Blog FB FB Readers Group Amazon GoodReads BookBub
Sources
https://www.centennialbulb.org/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centennial_Light
https://sunco.com/blogs/sunco-blog/the-oldest-light-bulb-in-the-world-that-s-still-burning
https://www.slashgear.com/1860838/centennial-light-bulb-worlds-oldest-explained/
No comments:
Post a Comment