The world's oldest monode

[EWBrown]

After all, couldn't a light bulb be called a "monode"...

Well, this one is at the centenarian stage, and still running:

http://www.centennialbulb.org/photos.htm

http://www.centennialbulb.org/images/bulbcam.jpg




I have trouble getting a few months out of today's so called "long-life" lightbulbs... And then there are the catastrophically failing Made in China CCFL bulbs, they really, really suck.... Lousy light color (temperature) and all of that stinkin' RFI I'll use 'em for certain purposes, but not if I actually have to use the sickly putrid light emanating from them

Yeah, I've been hoarding incandescents, especially when good little greenies leave off boxloads of perfectly good unused bulbs at teh dump swap table, or I'll scour rummage / church sales for them. I figure I may actually have enough to last 100+ years, by now - though I doubt that I'll be using them all up, myself

[EWBrown]

Fast Forward Exactly Four Years

106 years and still going strong...



The original bulb-cam died after three years, now they have a new cam.

Meanwhile old faithful shines on, day and night...

The photo automatically updates every ten seconds.

/ed B

[ioginy]

I just sat and watched the 10 sec. refresher page for longer than I care to admit. It's like watching a very very tiny sun... going on forever. very nifty!

[Geek]

Ah, but making stuff that good now isn't "economic".... have to get the consumers consuming at a giant rate!

Cheers!

[EWBrown]

I just sat and watched the 10 sec. refresher page for longer than I care to admit. It's like watching a very very tiny sun... going on forever. very nifty!

I suppose that the live bulb-cam is also a good way to know when the fire dept, and teh big "ladder truck" in teh background has been called out on a run.

/ed B

[nyazzip]

wonder if its hooked up with cloth wire, strung with posts-and-knobs...

[dcriner]

Don't get me started - it seems to be a certainty that the manufacture and sale of incandescent lamps will be banned (as will lead-based solder).

Then - what will we use for replacement dial and pilot lamps, the little bulb inside my door-bell button, flashlights, car headlights, oven lights, etc.? How about those lighted probes that doctors stick in your ear and up your nose? There will be no replacement Christmas lights other than those hidious "white" LEDs?

Yes, the CFLs are a joke. They claim a lifetime of what, 10-20 thousand hours (versus 2000 hrs for an incandescent)? CFLs have an early mortality rate that must not be reflected in their lifetime claims.

[EWBrown]

I recently heard that Fred Upton who was the (allegedly) republican congress-critter who authored the "incandescent ban" has had a sudden change of heart, as he got flooded with letters and e-mails taking him to basically pull his head out of his nether origice and observing the recent election results...

Some incandescent bulbs can never be replaced with CFL or LED, such as heat lamps, and LED or HID headlights are still expensive and unreliable.
Halogen incandescents are still going to be around for many years.

I wonder if teh Livermore FD still has any more NOS 106 year old lightbiulbs

I remember from around 1961, some neighbors had an old house, and at the top of the stairwell - this was a three-story house, with ten foot high ceilings - was a very old carbon filament lightbulb that had been in there since at least 1920, and very likely long before that. They hoped that it would never burn out, as it would have been a major project to replace it, more than just simply using a step ladder to get at it. They did still have some extra vintage bulbs,

/ed B

[EWBrown]

Now, it is 112 years old, and other than a temporary 9 3/4 hour outage, and some moves and relocations in its "early" years,
it has never been turned off since 1901

http://www.centennialbulb.org/cam.htm Updates every 30 seconds, now.




http://www.centennialbulb.org/facts.htm#anchor1972

[kt88pppamp]

If you want my opinion, government is too gridlocked to do much of anything. American society and the times are changing faster than its outdated, firmly entrenched institutions can keep up. The biggest case in point is the two party system. It simply is just not compatible with today's realities.

That is why, to keep it simple, education is a mess, healthcare, and big business in general. Get rid of the stupid administrators . Computers were intended made to make our lives easier, instead they are just generating more paper .

I do not think it is wise to talk anymore politics on a DIY tube forum than what has said thus far as we all have differing beliefs and opinions on these issues .