The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Edison demonstrated the incandescent lamp publicly for the first time.

Footnote: Before this date, whenever someone had an idea, a candle would appear over their head.

And since about a year ago, I don't have one incandescent bulb on the property. All fluorescent, compact fluorescent or LED. Somehow I just can't picture an LED light above someone's head when they get an idea...

Over on the Incandescent Bulb Forum they're going nuts. Here, not so much.

I still have a few modern incandescents mixed in amongst CFLs and LEDs. But I also burn 3 antique bulbs every single night: a Shelby, ca. 1901-1903, that is identical in every respect to the one that has been burning non-stop at the Livermore, CA fire station for 110 years (http://www.centennialbulb.org/cam.htm); a GEM ('GE metalized') carbon filament double-loop bulb (ca. 1910-1915) in a gas/electric fixture in my living room; and a 1920s Mazda 'squirrel cage' tungsten with evacuation tip in a lovely old fixture over my desk.

In my experience, carbon filament bulbs last almost forever. But if one burns out, I have a large trove of antique backups on hand, including a second Shelby. I'm running my first Shelby at 65V, which is still plenty bright enough for my hallway, so it may outlive me.

I recently saw the Edison name being used for marketing a new product. Lowe's (Hardware store) is selling an antique-styled light coupled with what was called an "Edison-style" bulb with the multiple ornate filaments. I believe they even used his face on the box for the bulb. Anyway, it worked on me, I bought it. But not what you would call energy efficent.

Actually German pioneer and inventer Heinrich Goebel was the first to invent the light bulb in 1854 but he did not file for a patent. His first bulb burned for aprox. 400 hours I read somewhere.

[quote="briankeith"]Actually German pioneer and inventer Heinrich Goebel was the first to invent the light bulb in 1854 but he did not file for a patent. His first bulb burned for aprox. 400 hours I read somewhere.[/quote

Allegedly the first. That story may have been fabricated by a reporter, Franklin Pope, in order to strengthen his friend Edison's legal argument in an 1893 lawsuit against three bulb manufacturers.

1849
January 31st. Arriving of the "J:W:Andrews" in New York City. HENRY GOEBEL, as he is called from that moment on, moves into an apartment on Monroe-Street 391 and runs a horology and optician store.

1853
The installation of an lighting arc lamp on the roof of his house (supplied by a self-constructed primary battery) is prohibited according to a courts decision. Continuing of his experiments from 1846.

1854
By using a filament made out of carbonides bamboo and a bottle of Eau-de-Cologne, which was a vacuum, he succeeds in constructing the first electric light bulb. He refrains applying for a patent.

1859
His lamps, from that time on made out of cylindrical glass tubes, glow up to 400 hours. He does not only light his workshop, apartment and his daughter’s sewing machine with them, but also the display windows of his store and the telescope car. With this vehicle he drives through the streets of New York City at darkness and shows people through his self-constructed, 6 meter long telescope the starry sky for a fee.

Wolfe,

What is the exact name of this incandesent bulb forum?

Jerry F Bacon ♫♫