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This is a list of the longest-lasting incandescent light bulbs.
| | This article needs additional citations for verification .(November 2018) |
This is a list of the longest-lasting incandescent light bulbs.
The world's longest-lasting light bulb is the Centennial Light located at 4550 East Avenue, Livermore, California. It is maintained by the Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department. The fire department claims that the bulb is at least 121 years old (installed 1901) and has only been turned off a handful of times. The bulb has been noted by The Guinness Book of World Records, Ripley's Believe It or Not! , and General Electric as being the world's longest-lasting light bulb.
While it might seem astonishing that so many longest-lasting light bulbs have been so infrequently turned off, this is the precise reason for their longevity. Most of the wear and tear that leads to burnouts in incandescent light bulbs is caused by turning them on and off, not by burning them. Each time the bulb is turned on and off, the filament is heated and cooled. This causes the material of the filament to expand and contract, in turn causing micro stress cracks to develop. The more the light is turned on and off, the larger these cracks grow, until eventually the filament breaks at some point, in non-spectacular fashion, thus causing the light to burn out.[ citation needed ] Another reason for the longevity of bulbs is the size, quality and material of the filament. Additionally, the consistency of the power delivery to the bulb and how little it fluctuates prevents the bulb's filaments from being damaged by dirty power (brown-outs cause damage to electrical systems).
The second-longest-lasting light bulb is in Fort Worth, Texas. The bulb, known as the Eternal Light, was credited as being the longest-lasting bulb in the 1970 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records, two years before the discovery of the Livermore bulb. [1]
The bulb was originally at the Byers Opera House, and was installed by a stage-hand, Barry Burke, on September 21, 1908, above the backstage door. The theater was demolished in 1977, and the bulb was transported to a museum located in the Livestock Exchange Building. Since its installation in the museum, it has only been turned off once—by accident—before being put on its own unswitched circuit.[ citation needed ] According to museum officials the lightbulb also lost power a number of times during the rolling blackouts of 2021.
Another working light bulb dating from 1908 is in Norway, in the "Kongevognen" (King's wagon) from Thamshavnsbanen railway in Trøndelag, Norway. The bulb is one of the original bulbs of the wagon that was ordered built by Christian Thams in 1908, and was delivered by the Edison factory in the United States. The wagon is now part of a museum, and the light bulb is in use several times per week.[ citation needed ]
The third longest lasting light bulb began operation in 1929-30 when BC Electric's Ruskin Generating Station (British Columbia Canada) commenced service. The bulb has been on ever since, and may in fact have the longest continuous service in the world with other bulbs having interruptions in operation during their existence.
The fourth-longest-lasting light bulb was above the back door of Gasnick Supply, a New York City hardware store on Second Avenue, between 52nd and 53rd Streets. It was installed in 1912, according to store owner Jack Gasnick. Apparently Gasnick tried several times to discredit the Centennial Light in Livermore. In 1981, he wrote to Dear Abby and claimed that the Livermore bulb had burned out, although it had not. In 1983, he wrote to Guinness and claimed that the Livermore bulb was a fraud. In his opinion as a trained electrical technician, the socket for the bulb was incorrect for its age. He also pointed out that there were no carbon deposits on the inside of the glass, unlike his bulb, which was filthy. He then declared his bulb to be the world's oldest, seemingly unaware of the bulb in Fort Worth. [2]
The ultimate disposition of Gasnick and his bulb are not known. [3] [4] [5] The store, as well as the entire half-block on which it stood, was razed in 2003.[ citation needed ]
The fifth-longest-lasting light bulb was located in a fire house in Mangum, Oklahoma. It was installed circa 1926–1929. The bulb was not attached to any special electrical supply, and when the power went off, so did the bulb. [2]
The firefighters in Mangum were willing to show visitors the light bulb as long as they were not busy with something else.[ citation needed ] The Mangum Light Bulb burned out on Friday, December 13, 2019. [6]
The sixth-longest-lasting light bulb was in a washroom at the Martin & Newby Electrical Shop in Ipswich, England. Given its shape and design, it was thought to date from the 1930s. It burned out in 2001. [7]
The seventh-longest-lasting light bulb is located in the Cinema Napoleón in Río Chico, Venezuela. It was installed in 1957 and never turned off due to a local superstition. The light bulb has only been turned off during electricity cuts.
Thomas Edison designed a bulb that was supposed to last forever, called the Eternal Light, and turned it on on October 22, 1929. The bulb is located in the Edison Memorial Tower at the Thomas Edison Center at Menlo Park, a small museum near the tower in Menlo Park, New Jersey. The tower fell down in 1937, but the bulb's power was supposedly uninterrupted, according to General Electric, and the bulb continued to burn while a second tower was constructed. However, according to museum curator Jack Stanley, the bulb is fake, consisting of a hollow bulb illuminated by a series of automobile headlights mounted in the display's base. [2]
An electric light, lamp, or light bulb is an electrical component that produces light. It is the most common form of artificial lighting. Lamps usually have a base made of ceramic, metal, glass, or plastic, which secures the lamp in the socket of a light fixture, which is often called a "lamp" as well. The electrical connection to the socket may be made with a screw-thread base, two metal pins, two metal caps or a bayonet mount.
An incandescent light bulb, incandescent lamp or incandescent light globe is an electric light with a filament that is heated until it glows. The filament is enclosed in a glass bulb that is either evacuated or filled with inert gas to protect the filament from oxidation. Current is supplied to the filament by terminals or wires embedded in the glass. A bulb socket provides mechanical support and electrical connections.
Mangum is a city in and county seat of Greer County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 3,010 at the 2010 census. It was originally part of Old Greer County in the Texas panhandle. The community was named for A. S. Mangum, who owned the land on which the town was founded in 1882. It became part of the Oklahoma Territory in 1896, and thus part of the state of Oklahoma on November 16, 1907.
Sir Joseph Wilson Swan FRS was an English physicist, chemist, and inventor. He is known as an independent early developer of a successful incandescent light bulb, and is the person responsible for developing and supplying the first incandescent lights used to illuminate homes and public buildings, including the Savoy Theatre, London, in 1881.
A flashlight (US) or torch (CE) is a portable hand-held electric lamp. Formerly, the light source typically was a miniature incandescent light bulb, but these have been displaced by light-emitting diodes (LEDs) since the early 2000s. A typical flashlight consists of the light source mounted in a reflector, a transparent cover to protect the light source and reflector, a battery, and a switch, all enclosed in a case.
The history of street lighting in the United States is closely linked to the urbanization of America. Artificial illumination has stimulated commercial activity at night, and has been tied to the country's economic development, including major innovations in transportation, particularly the growth in automobile use. In the two and a half centuries before LED lighting emerged as the new "gold standard", cities and towns across America relied on oil, coal gas, carbon arc, incandescent, and high-intensity gas discharge lamps for street lighting.
The Thomas Edison Center at Menlo Park, also known as the Menlo Park Museum / Edison Memorial Tower, is a memorial to inventor and businessman Thomas Alva Edison, located in the Menlo Park area of Edison, Middlesex County, New Jersey. The tower was dedicated on February 11, 1938, on what would have been the inventor's 91st birthday.
Mazda was a trademarked name registered by General Electric (GE) in 1909 for incandescent light bulbs. The name was used from 1909 to 1945 in the United States by GE and Westinghouse. Mazda brand light bulbs were made for decades after 1945 outside the US. The company chose the name due to its association with Ahura Mazda, the transcendental and universal God of Zoroastrianism whose name means light of wisdom in the Avestan language.
Edison screw (ES) is a standard lightbulb socket for electric light bulbs. It was developed by Thomas Edison (1847–1931), patented in 1881, and was licensed in 1909 under General Electric's Mazda trademark. The bulbs have right-hand threaded metal bases (caps) which screw into matching threaded sockets. For bulbs powered by AC current, the thread is generally connected to neutral and the contact on the bottom tip of the base is connected to the "live" phase.
The Centennial Light is the world's longest-lasting light bulb, burning since 1901, and almost never turned off. It is located at 4550 East Avenue, Livermore, California, and maintained by the Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department. Due to its longevity, the bulb has been noted by The Guinness Book of World Records, Ripley's Believe It or Not!, and General Electric.
General Electric Research Laboratory was the first industrial research facility in the United States. Established in 1900, the lab was home to the early technological breakthroughs of General Electric and created a research and development environment that set the standard for industrial innovation for years to come. It developed into GE Global Research that now covers an array of technological research, ranging from healthcare to transportation systems, at multiple locations throughout the world. Its campus in Schenectady, New York was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1975.
A Shabbat lamp is a special lamp that has movable parts to expose or block out its light so it can be turned "on" or "off" while its power physically remains on. This enables the lamp's light to be controlled by those Shabbat observant Jews who accept this use, to make a room dark or light during Shabbat without actually switching the electrical power on or off, an act prohibited by Orthodox Judaism on both Shabbat and the Jewish Holidays.
The Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department (LPFD) provides fire suppression and emergency medical services to the neighboring cities of Livermore and Pleasanton, California. The organization uses a joint powers authority (JPA) model with essential support services provided by both cities. This partnership promotes more efficient administration and effective delivery of services.
A lightbulb socket, lightbulb holder,light socket, lamp socket or lamp holder is a device which mechanically supports and provides electrical connections for a compatible electric lamp base. Sockets allow lamps to be safely and conveniently replaced (re-lamping). There are many different standards for lampholders, including early de facto standards and later standards created by various standards bodies. Many of the later standards conform to a general coding system in which a socket type is designated by a letter or abbreviation followed by a number.
William Joseph Hammer was an American pioneer electrical engineer, aviator, and president of the Edison Pioneers.
The Edison State Park is located in the Menlo Park section of Edison, New Jersey. It is located on Christie Street, the first street in the world to be lit up by lightbulb, just off Lincoln Highway, near the Metropark Train Station. It covers a total area of 37 acres (0.15 km2). The park commemorates the site where the famous inventor Thomas Alva Edison had his Menlo Park laboratory. In his laboratory, Edison invented over 600 inventions such as the incandescent electric light and the phonograph, the latter being the first object to record and play sound.
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Adolphe Alexandre Chaillet was a French inventor in the field of electrical engineering.
The Electro-Dynamic Light Company of New York was a lighting and electrical distribution company organized in 1878. The company held the patents for the first practical incandescent electric lamp and electrical distribution system of incandescent electric lighting. They also held a patent for an electric meter to measure the amount of electricity used. The inventions were those of Albon Man and William E. Sawyer. They gave the patent rights to the company, which they had formed with a group of businessmen. It was the first company in the world formally established to provided electric lighting and was the first company organized specifically to manufacture and sell incandescent electric light bulbs.
The Light Bulb Conspiracy, also known as Pyramids of Waste, is a 2010 documentary film written and directed by Cosima Dannoritzer. An international co-production of France and Spain, the documentary thematizes the planned obsolescence of industrial products for commercial reasons.