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Heatercathodeshort · 23rd Apr 2019, 9:38 am

Lamp life was reduced when the 'coiled coil' filament was introduced. They burned hotter for the same consumption of power but could not stand up to any form of vibration.

They usually failed on switch on resulting in a flash and a bang, taking out the glass fuses built into the lamp stem. Without the fuses the house lighting circuit fuses would have failed.

The old rough service lamps were always single coil capable of taking quite considerable shock but never gave the same light output as their equivalent wattage coiled coil type.

I have a large collection of light bulbs, some well over 100 years old but most are very inefficient when compared with later filament bulbs. The drawn wire 'cage filament' types from the late 20's/early 30's are noticeably superior. Interesting thread. John.

23rd Apr 2019, 9:38 am	#20
Heatercathodeshort Dekatron Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Warnham, West Sussex. 10 miles south of DORKING. Posts: 9,147	Re: The lightbulb conspiracy Lamp life was reduced when the 'coiled coil' filament was introduced. They burned hotter for the same consumption of power but could not stand up to any form of vibration. They usually failed on switch on resulting in a flash and a bang, taking out the glass fuses built into the lamp stem. Without the fuses the house lighting circuit fuses would have failed. The old rough service lamps were always single coil capable of taking quite considerable shock but never gave the same light output as their equivalent wattage coiled coil type. I have a large collection of light bulbs, some well over 100 years old but most are very inefficient when compared with later filament bulbs. The drawn wire 'cage filament' types from the late 20's/early 30's are noticeably superior. Interesting thread. John.