108 Year Old Lightbulb! - They don't make things to last like they use too!

[Kevin]

Click to watch MSNBC Video

[greencinacheeks]

wow...that is interesting.

~nate

[AndreaSctlnd]

I saw about this light bulb a few years ago on Ripley's Believe it or not. I can't believe it is still burning. It really is amazing. I wonder how efficient it is? LOL

[Lucky Feathers]

Wow, that is just amazing. It is only 4 watts, but still truly amazing to still be burning for that long.

[Buteo]

I've seen that too, but it's very interesting, especially since it's been in operation all those years.

This bulb & base are ones that my Dad saved from a building demolition at least a decade or more before I was born. While it's not been in continuous use as that one in the fire-station - as you can see, it still works too.
That pic with it on is really deceptive (ND filters work great); it's a helk of a lot brighter than it seems in that shot. LOL! Unless ya like seein that funky big blue spot everywhere ya look, ya don't want that bulb in your direct sight for more than a second.

This incandescent is much larger than the Centennial Bulb- It's over a foot tall!!!
There are no company markings on the bulb itself and there is only a wattage rating on the base: 1500 Watts. The threaded base is an unusually large diameter & even a large modern floodlight bulb won't fit it. The base is made of unusually thick brass internals with porcelain exterior.

Like that Centennial bulb, this one also has a very large filament in it.
In that first pic, you can see the rolling form lines in the glass from when the outer glass was spun.


I don't know the exact age, but I'm pretty sure it's somewhere between 50-65 years old.

[Nazir's]

Wow!!! That was interesting.

[huntress]

Thats cool. My friend has a bulb she only burns at Christmas and its about that old as well. It on its original base but the filament is shaped to say merry christmas and one burns red and the other burns green, The filaments will not break because they are so thick. Not bright as those but equally as cool.

[Baba Doodlius]

If you leave a light bulb on it will last a heck of a lot longer than one that you turn on and off periodically. The main damage to a bulb filament comes from the transient electrical behavior that happens when you turn the thing on. that's why most bulbs burn out right when they're switched on rather than when they've been on for a long time.

This message brought to you by the Great and Powerful Baba Doodlius and his buddy Mr. Wizard.