A box of vintage bulbs- ex-Odeon?

[Colourstar]

I picked up this box of about 20 vintage lamps this morning from the local car boot sale for £1. All are amber coloured and rated at 110v 15w. Some lovely vintage boxes, particularly those from Ekco.

Only when I got the box home did I notice that it's labelled 'Odeon, Darlington'. Were 110v lamps commonly used in signage installations?

Not really of any use to me, but I thought I'd save them for posterity. I'll probably offer them on as a freebie in the hope that they may help out someone else. Meanwhile here are some pics...

Steve

[Refugee]

110V was quite common in cinemas. The projectors and amps were all 110V and if used in a hall or other location had to have an autotransformer.
I actually have the amps from a Paramount cinema and they came with a matching transformer.

[Radio Wrangler]

Low wattage bulbs on 240v have a very thin filament and a short life. Coloured signage bulbs will be in difficult to change places and a failed one will stick out like a sore thumb, so lower voltage bulbs are very advantageous.

The difference in robustness versus voltage extends over a wide range. Lorries on 24v have much shorter life expectancy from their bulbs than do cars on 12v so they have to have doubled-up rear lights to avoid accidents.

David

[broadgage]

110/120 volt lamps were popular for decorative lighting even with a 220/240 volt supply.
Series pairs of lower voltage lamps gave a much more reliable installation. The failure of 220/240 volt lamp tended to blow the relevant fuse and thereby extinguish a relatively large number of lamps.
The failure of one lamp of a series pair only extinguished two lamps, the resistance of the sound lamp limiting the fault current and avoiding blowing the fuse.

Also, back in the days when both 110/120 volt and 220/240 volt lamps were in general use, the lower voltage lamps tended to be cheaper and more efficient.
It is inherently easier and cheaper to make a 120 volt 25 watt lamp than to make a 240 volt 25 watt lamp, due to the lower voltage lamp containing a shorter and thicker filament.

These days 110/120 volt lamps tend to be rather expensive but that is due to limited demand and small scale manufacture.

[Lucien Nunes]

240V lamps of 15W and less are notoriously fragile because of the very thin filament. When used for effect lighting e.g. chasing and marquee, there is a definite reliability and efficiency advantage to 110/120V lamps, even if this means using them in series pairs on 230V.

Alternatively they may have been used as indicators and pilots on the 110V DC arc supply that many cinemas had until xenon took over. Neither this nor the projector 115V AC (often 60Hz off a motor-generator to suit US-built equipment) would normally be used for general illumination duty, because they were not always live, and the MG supply was strictly limited in power output.

In this country, however, probably the greatest users of coloured 110-120V lamps were showmen; 110V was the norm for most rides until about 20 years ago and the extra durability of the lamps was very important.

Aha - post crossed with above

[Radio Wrangler]

At least we all agreed !

David

[Nicklyons2]

Originally Posted by Lucien Nunes

240V lamps of 15W and less are notoriously fragile because of the very thin filament.

As Hoover discovered using 25W pygmy lamps for 'dirtfinder' headlamps on their de-luxe models; one decent bump into the skirting board & that was that. Later models used a low voltage lamp tapped off the motor field coils.

[Tractorfan]

I remember watching an item on TV years ago about Blackpool Illuminations, and their chief sparks said they were almost always wired in 110 volt series pairs, but it wasn't clearly explained exactly why. now I know! Thanks.
Cheers, Pete.

[Colourstar]

Thanks for the excellent replies everyone. Oddly when I googled photos of the Odeon at Darlington it had one of the plainest, most bulb-free frontages imaginable!

Out of interest would the classic seafront illuminations consisting of a mile or more of filament lamps strung between lamp posts the whole length of a promenade most likely have been 110v? The last resort I visited (Weston-super-Mare) ditched theirs in recent years, with each new lamp post simply having a cone on the top of it which cycled through different colours. No doubt much much cheaper to run, it made the promenade look incredibly bare compared to the twinkly riot of lights it once was.

Steve

[vidjoman]

May have been used to provide the low level illumination in the ceiling during the film show.

[Radio Wrangler]

I took my parents to Blackpool a couple of years ago and LEDs seem to rule the (much smaller than when I was a kid) illuminations. Must save a packet on electricity.

David

[broadgage]

Some seaside and similar decorative festoon lighting certainly used series pairs of 110/120 volt lamps.
"Double festoon" lamp holders used to be available and consisted of two lamp holders ready wired in series, and intended to be affixed to standard two core rubber insulated cable.

In the case of similar lighting at low level and within reach of the public, then a 110 volt supply from a centre taped isolating transformer was preferred to reduce the risk of dangerous shock, as well as the increased reliability.

[Mr Moose]

Hello
This shows some views of the Odeon, as was, in Bondgate. It seems to have originally been called the Majestic and it appears to have been restored to its original Majestic guise recently.
If you scroll down on the page there is some interesting electric apparatus including a tungar and mercury vapour rectifier.
http://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main...l#.V0t5qvoRePC
After restoration here
http://decoarchitecture.tumblr.com/p...-photo-by-andy
Yours, Richard