Still burning bright (Texas bulb first illuminated in 1908)

CNN ^ | 9/20/04 | (Reuters)

[Nail]

DALLAS, Texas (Reuters) -- They sure do not make things anymore like the Texas lightbulb that sold for a few cents and has burned for 96 straight years.

The North Fort Worth Historical Society will have a birthday party Tuesday for its famous household fixture -- a lightbulb that has burned continuously since September 21, 1908. The bulb was first illuminated when a stagehand at a local opera house flicked a switch and posted a sign that the light over a stage entrance was not be turned off.

[wardaddy]

Nice article.

I live in a decent area of Nashville where the homes start around 350-400K.

Mine was built in 1962 and I bought in from the original owner in 2001.

I still have all of the original appliances from the kitchen and heating.....Trane AC is new and I replaced the old upright Fridge last year with a big black Frigidaire that was cheap and works great.

My oven is a 50s model Westinghouse...no such animal anymore...the elements are a bitch to find.

My stove top is an old 50s porcelain GE gas range...works great.

Disposal is an old Insinkerator as is the very old dishwasher.

I could go out and buy fancy German or Italian appliances but WTF....I like old stuff that keeps on working well enough....it has a certain charm....at least for me.

[Racehorse]

"Anybody remember the "Andy Griffith" episode with the old freezer? If not ... carry on! :)"

I'd call The Man.

[Mr. Buzzcut]

I'd call The Man.

"Aunt Bea call the Man. Just .. call the Man!"

Love that ep!

[ßuddaßudd]

Its all about the filament. LEDs are in the near future.

[uglybiker]

The Livermore bulb is in a firehouse. But that can't be right, can it? Bush closed all our firehouses and opened then in Iraq.

Yeah... but he left strict orders to leave the lights on.

[LowOiL]

I have a General Electric upright freezer purchased in 1952. Still running strong. But not continuously. I confess. Every once in awhile I unplug the thing for an afternoon defrosting.

I had a late 40's Firestone Freezer that did a wonderful job until last year. The handle finally rotted off and broke and I reluctantly threw it away. Yes you had to defrost it about once a year, but it was a trooper that never had to be repaired.

I did some research on it and old freezers are in great demand. The newer models were no more electrical saving than the old ones. Frost free is not cost free.

I would hold on to yours as long as it preformed it duty. Probable as long as the door handle still works.

[_Jim]

Is the bulb on AC or DC current? AC will cause the filiment to eventually fail due to metal fatigue similar to turning a light on and off.

Interesting experiment to try sometime - configure a low resistance current 'shunt' in series with a light bulb to the 'Neutral' side of the line and connect to CH 1 of an O-scope (oscilloscope),

- connect CH 2 to the 'high' side (hot) line voltage.

Switch on the power, note the deviation from 'pure' sinusoid over an entire sinsusoid ...

Connect a diode in series with the high side, and note the deviation from 'pure' sinusoid ... you will see a BIGGER difference now that the bulb's filament is 'warmed' by only half the incoming AC and cools during the other ... this will shed 'some light' on what the thermal time constant of a filament is ...

Next, switch off the power, set the scope from 'Auto Trigger' to 'Norm Trigger' (we're going to WATCH the huge inrush current when a cold bulb is switch on) ... now, switch power ON and OFF several times: note the HUGE currents drawn by the filament when it's *cold* and the incomig AC is at it's peak (1.414 * 120 V rms = 17V pk) -

- eventually, when the bulb gets older as the filament has thinned, this will turn out to be 'fusing' current ... an incandescent lamp can pull a "cold-filament" inrush current of 10 to 20 times the steady-state "hot filament" current ...

Simply applying 'DC' in place of AC won't cure this phenom - there needs to be a way to sloooowly apply the power ....

Zero crossing thyristors actully work quite well - I've got a hall light that seems well on it's way to 'running forever' - it's one of those BSR X-10 wall switches, and when they turn on a lamp, they do it at the 'zero crossing' point of the incoming AC sinusoid ...

[Ditter]

I have the bulb that hung in the hallway of my grandparents house in the Houston Heights and burned continuously from about 1908 until 1965 when my grandfather died. The last time I tried it a few years ago it still worked. I also have a red bulb of the same period that he said came from a ships lantern, it also still works.

[TheBattman]

I think you missed the point. A freezer that is almost 50 years old - and still running strong, while modern appliances don't typically last 1/5 that long without some sort of major repairs.

Kind of like the old Kenmore Washer and Dryer my parents had while I was growing up. When they loaned it to a family member, the pair was over 25 years old and had never had any repair work done.

I haven't seen a similar product sold in the last 15 years that lasted more than a couple of years (usually about the length of the warranty + a month).

It really puzzles me how these appliances are suppose to be more efficient, partially because they don't have to work as hard - yet they don't last as long.

[wildbill]

I remember when the Texas theater (an old vaudeville and movie house) in San Antonio was torn down a few years ago, a light bulb high in the wings was found to be still burning. Apparently it had been on for God knows how many years.

[Lazamataz]

Thankfully, that thing is nearly worthless or anything serious!

Huh?

[cowtowney]

extended warranties are usually not a good investment

[flashbunny]

The only thing I get them on now is laptops, just because there's not much you or anyone local can do when it goes bad - it usually has to be fixed the the manufacturer.

[Nail]

Not worth its own thread, but this piece of news is a bit related to what we discussed here:

 

130-year-old Chinese fire put out

A fire that broke out more than 100 years ago at a Chinese coalfield has finally been extinguished, reports say.

In the last four years, firefighters have spent $12m in efforts to put out the flames at Liuhuanggou colliery, near Urumqi in Xinjiang province.

While ablaze, the fire burned up an estimated 1.8m tons of coal every year, according to China's official Xinhua news agency.

Local historians said the fire first broke out in 1874, Itar-Tass reported.

Hou Xuecheng, head of the Xinjiang Coalfield Firefighting Project Office, said the Liuhuanggou fire was the largest among eight major coalfield fire areas in Xinjiang.

The burning coal emitted 100,000 tons of harmful gases - including carbon monoxide and sulphur dioxide - and 40,000 tons of ashes every year, Mr Hou told Xinhua.

The continuing blaze is also thought to have caused environmental damage to the region.

Xinjiang accounts for 1.8 trillion tons, or 40.6%, of China's total coal reserves.