ECN Forum Forums Photo Discussion Forums Electrical Nostalgia Identify this bulb

Photo and info supplied by ECN Member KJ
Any idea where I can get more info on this bulb,
its an Edison Mazda, circa 1915, it has a black ink 'ibd'marking written on the base of the filament glass and amazingly still works.

that bulb is one of the " Edison " days style and this is a carbon filment type and the watage i think about 20 watts or so it is not very bright

but to find this old bulb i will say not too often you will see one around here

Merci , Marc

Actually, that's an early tungsten lamp. Carbon lamps weren't designed in a caged filament shape. You can learn more about old bulbs at http://bulbcollector.com



Have fun!

Here is a replica that you can buy...

rejuvenation.com

Put your glasses on, Mike !!

Mike: Does that lamp have a little vacuum tip on the glass envelope?

Nice little lamp. I's like to find something like that, hook it up to an autotransformer to set the voltage very low, and keep that thing burning in my office all the time.

Mike (mamills)

Yes there is a tip on top of the bulb. I have one set up at line voltage ant it isn't very bright... it consumes 40W but only puts out about as much light as a modern 25W lamp. More of a piece of art than a functional lamp.

Now if I could find a lamp like Edison's first trials with the long evacuation tube on the side of the bulb...

Wonder what's going to happen to the market for those under the Australian incandescent light bans. Would they be considered a specialist application?

Yes, those old straight filament tungstens were pretty dim. I have one with an E14 base dating back to at least the 1950s (got it from a friend of mine who said his grandparents put it down in the basement back then and never looked at it again) and it gives a very warm, reddish light. Modern 15W bulbs are a little like that but more yellow than red.