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Enormous Edison-Mazda cage filament lamp
Voltage- 110-120v
Wattage/rating- 500w (?)
Filament- Tungsten cage
Cap type- US Std base
Circa- 1911-1913?
Finish- Clear glass
Origin- USA
This is about as big as tungsten cage-filament bulbs ever got. This gigantic creature is about 500 watts although I am not entirely sure- I`ve seen one identical to this listed as 500 watts, and another as 250 watts. The only way I`ll know for sure is to power it up and measure the current draw, so watch this space- it`s currently put away safe out of harms way while I come up with a way to best display all my bulbs.
It was intended for streetlighting and features a very interesting internal structure. It uses a thing called "Skaupy`s Getter". A Getter is a substance put inside lamps which acts to remove impurities and keep the lamp burning brighter, longer. Skaupy`s Getter (pictured on the left) features a white powder inside the hollow top-portion of the support stem. To the best of my current knowledge, when the lamp is running a tiny amount of this powder is vaporised by the heat and then reacts with any impurities inside. This includes evaporated tungsten, which otherwise would build up over time on the glass wall causing the familiar darkening that higher power lamps invariably suffer from. This darkening would block some of the light, and also radiate heat back inside making it burn hotter with the result of shortening its life. The getter substance prevents this build-up and keeps it working as bright and long as possible which for streetlighting, is a very desirable property to have. One thing I have noticed of lamps using getters is that they tend to be much more reflective, some even irridescent looking, presumably as a result of the vaporised getter substance inside. This one is no exception and as you can see in the top picture, is very shiny indeed.
Shown below lit on low voltage...
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