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50,000 Watt incandescent light bulb!!!
Now that's a BIG incandescent! 

My parents went on vacation to the New England area...and went to a museum and saw this lightbulb and thought of me and took a pic to send to me! Now I am sharing this all to you! Enjoy! 
Keywords: Lighting_History

50,000 Watt incandescent light bulb!!!

Now that's a BIG incandescent!

My parents went on vacation to the New England area...and went to a museum and saw this lightbulb and thought of me and took a pic to send to me! Now I am sharing this all to you! Enjoy!

10silverlinerswoint.jpg meinfredericknight.jpg lightbulbbiggest.jpg IMG_0519.jpg DSC04200_Crouse-Hinds_L-150.JPG
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Filename:lightbulbbiggest.jpg
Album name:Jace the Gull / Incandescent
Keywords:Lighting_History
Filesize:423 KiB
Date added:Oct 20, 2010
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URL:http://www.galleryoflights.org/mb/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=3722
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Comment 4 to 23 of 23
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Form109   [Oct 20, 2010 at 09:05 PM]
5800 Degrees F? the lamp surely Radiates Heat from quite some distance away.....just imagine the brightness of that thing! Shocked
gailgrove   [Oct 20, 2010 at 10:01 PM]
Assuming the 100 watt lamps are 1200 lumens each then this would put out 600,000 lumens Shocked
Silverliner14B   [Oct 20, 2010 at 10:52 PM]
@Form 109 yes it is 5800F but it is the filament itself, not the outer glass.

@gailgrove a 100w 750-1000 hour bulb emits about 1600-1750 lumens. Remember the efficency increases with wattage. I seem to remember this bulb getting 20-25 lumens per watt so that could be up to 1,250,000 lumens!
Form109   [Oct 20, 2010 at 11:05 PM]
@silverliner14B so that means the Outer Glass should be at least 500 F Right?

this has to have a Special Fixture i bet....its such a Fire Hazzard if it were to be used improperly....and since it requires such high amperage no way you could run this thing at a typical house with 200 Amp Service.
Silverliner14B   [Oct 20, 2010 at 11:20 PM]
Very likely more than 500F on the glass. 1500w general service incandescent lamps reach 500 degrees at the hot spot above the filament.
joe_347V   [Oct 21, 2010 at 03:51 AM]
Whoa, I wonder how does the fixture that uses this lamp look like as well as the size of the feed wires for this thing.
Form109   [Oct 21, 2010 at 04:58 AM]
the Wiring is probably around 0 AWG or bigger.....
Sailormoon_01_uk   [Oct 21, 2010 at 07:29 AM]
They would have been used in mobile Airport Floodlights see HERE it gave 1/2 Billion Candlepower from a 50kw lamp, also if the lamp gets 500 deg C it would need to be Forced Cooled to reduce the Glass softening and exploding as can happen with old Filament Projector Lamps, Re the Cabling it would need to be about 40 to 60 mm2 as found in Heavy Industry.

All the Best

Colin
GullWhiz   [Oct 21, 2010 at 01:24 PM]
Form109, there is NO such a thing as a 0 AWG, a bigger AWG than 1 is "Aught" which starts with 1/0, 2/0, 3/0, 4,0 and after that its 250, 350, 400 and go up to 1000....

If this needed 420 amps then the wire size would be 350 if using a 75 degrees wire rated type THHN copper.
Silverliner14B   [Oct 21, 2010 at 02:15 PM]
Note they use the term "kcmils" for sizes larger than 4/0 AWG. Like 250 kcmils, etc.
GullWhiz   [Oct 21, 2010 at 03:15 PM]
Yes Dave that's right! I see you have learned stuff in school! Good job...do you have the NEC 2008?

But when say the wire numbers...if you said "I want # 4 wire" that means you refer to 4 AWG....but if you say "I want 4 "aught" wire" that means you are refering to 4/0!
FGS   [Oct 21, 2010 at 05:06 PM]
MINE! I want it! Laughing That's one awesome pic you got there Jace. I heard of a 75000w lamp somewhere. Can't find pics of that one anywhere.
Sailormoon_01_uk   [Oct 21, 2010 at 07:19 PM]
Hi FGS, Jace

I have read that, In 1954, the largest light bulb, rated at 75000 watts, was lit at the Rockefeller Center in New York, to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Edison’s first light bulb. The huge bulb was 3-1/2 ft high and about 2 ft in diameter. From high above, it illuminated the entire skating rink. It was allowed to cool for five minutes after burning for three minutes. In Jan 1879, at his laboratory in Menlo Park, NJ, Edison had built his first high resistance, incandescent electric light, though its thin platinum filament in a glass vacuum bulb burned for only a few short hours. He then tested thousands of substances before coming up with a more useful carbon filament which he presented in a public demonstration of his light bulb on 31 Dec 1879.

For Photos see HERE

All the Best

Colin
FGS   [Oct 21, 2010 at 08:39 PM]
Biggest one yet. It's from Westinghouse and it's 100000w at 120v. I knew I had seen this somewhere but didn't remember where.

Question is: Why they made it for 115v instead of higher voltage?
rjluna2   [Oct 21, 2010 at 08:46 PM]
If it was higher voltage, the filament would have been a lot longer. I think for shorter filament is for lower voltage like the series bulb.
Form109   [Oct 21, 2010 at 08:57 PM]
i meant 1/0 Gauge.
f36t8   [Oct 21, 2010 at 09:18 PM]
Also higher voltage lamps are less efficient than than lower voltage lamps for the same lifetime (thicker filament -> more tungsten to evaporate before it breaks -> can operate at higher temperature for the same lifespan, so more efficient).
don   [Oct 22, 2010 at 12:37 AM]
I seen a couple of these at the Smithsonian museum ten years ago. I think one was 50kW and the other 75kW and were for some sort of Edison commemoration. Other notable exhibits were fluorescents with partial phosphors to see the internals while lit, and all kinds of electrical gadgets dating back to the 1800's. Come to think of it Jace, you don't live too far from there....you should check it out!
streetlight98   [Jan 24, 2012 at 11:37 PM]
Was this at the Boston Museum of Science? Smile
GullWhiz   [Jan 25, 2012 at 01:25 AM]
Yes sir

Comment 4 to 23 of 23
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