What is a light bulb?

What is a light bulb?  Why do you care? Both good questions. The modern light bulb as we know it was created in the early 1800s, inventors looked for ways to convert electricity into light. Sir Humphry Davy, an English physician, successfully passed an electric current through platinum strips in 1801. Unfortunately, the strips evaporated quickly and Davy was unable to create a light that lasted more than a few minutes.  Frederick De Moleyns put the first patent on an incandescent light bulb in 1841 & his creation used powdered charcoal, platinum wires, and encased in a vacumed bulb. Joseph Swan and Thomas Edison are usually given credit for the invention of the light bulb, but that isn’t the real truth. Both of these men worked off of previous inventions. Hacks???? No. Only improving someone else’s idea, making it usefull, and safe. Historians estimate that over twenty inventors worked toward the creation and design of the light bulb. Of these, Edison’s version was the most efficient.

What is it called? Its an “A” lamp. You often see part numbers like 100A19/CL or 40A15/FR. The vacumed shape bulb was the prototype and no one had a name for the shape. They simply called it an “A” lamp & that stood for arbitrary (because that is exactly what the shape was). And now……the rest of the story (R.I.P. Paul Harvey) 100A19/CL is 100 watts, “A” is the shape, 19 is the size (measured in 8th’s of an inch), CL is clear, and FR is frosted.  No need to tell you about the other one. You can apply deductive reasoning and figure out the mystery.

Since the early days, lighting has taken many turns for the better. It is a science that is often taken for granted. It is continuing to change every day. The incandescent light was the start, but it doesn’t look like it will see the finish line in the race. Chances are that our grandchildren will never know what an incandescent light bulb looks like unless they see it on the internet. Everything is changing and we must evolve along with the modern science of lighting. New sources and better technology is out there. A 23 watt compact fluorescent light bulb will produce  about the  same amount  of light as a 100 watt A lamp. It will last 10,000 hours vs 750. There are 8760 hours in a year. Do the math.

LED light ing is all the rage. A 100,000 hour LED vs a 10,000 hour compact fluorescent. Seems like a no brainer. Or does it. Has anyone tested a 100,000 hour LED? 100,000/8760= 11.42 years. Probably not. I would say it is a good guess at this point. No one knows how they are going to perform in the field, but they are being tested. I believe LED’s are the way of the future, but they are also in their infancy. Give junior time to grow up before you give him the keys to the car.

In the name of saving energy, science has the answers. A good rule of thumb is to watch what the industry leaders are doing. GE is a leader of lighting technology and science. When GE, Osram Sylvania, & Philips lighting come out with a product line of LED’s for general lighting applications, you will know that they are tried and true. So far, LED’s are applied in signage, display lighting, cove lighting, and indicators. I have seen general lighting applications but I also think they will be better a few years down the road. There are still a few unanswered questions. Do they really last 100,000 hours? Will they maintain their light levels? Color shifting? Will the manufacturer guarantee replacement? 100,000 hours is a long time between light bulb sales. I may need to find a new job.

I took a course a the GE Lighting Institute in Nela Park. One question that came up during a class was: Why doesn’t GE make a light bulb that lasts forever. The instructor looked over with disdain and answered: “We can, but then we would all be out of a job.”

No one knows what the future holds, but we have a good idea what direction we are headed.

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