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My 1963 GE M-250R, 100W MV
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Here's my newly acquired GE M-250R, 100W MV 120V with a regulator ballast (4-coil ballast with capacitor in series with the lamp; a common ballast GE used until the 80s). GE regulator ballasts are notoriously noisy and this light is no exception, even being just 100W. This old dog is a buzzer box lol.
This one is from 1963 and is quite different from my 1965 one. The socket mount is totally different, ballast bracket is different, door casting is different (though interchangeable with the later model). I like how streamlined the fixture looks without the protruding tab on the push button latch. However, it's a PITA to open these. Even in operating position these won't open without something to pry the door open while pushing on the latch. Pretty thoughtless design lol. I wonder why it took them six years to figure out it was a bad design.
This is shown with my spare old style GE shallow glass. Origially this had a nice deep glass but it was handed to me with a new style M-250R2 glass. Oh well... :-( At least I have a proper glass for it, though I'd like to get a deep glass for it since that's what it originally had.
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Here's a site showing different ballasts. GE referred to these ballasts "regulators" so that's where I got the name from. GE's names have always been different from the others lol. They call their CWA ballasts "autoreg" (auto-regulator) ballasts. I guess GE prefers to use the technical names where Cooper and AEL preferred to stick to the more common terms. IMO they need to standardize the terms since there's like three different names for every kind of ballast lol.
@ Joe: LOL yeah it would be better if the latch locked in when you pushed it, allowing the door to drop. Then have a clip or something you pulled to allow the latch to push back out to be flush with the housing again. Because it's impossible to push the latch open and allow the door to lower at the same time without using a long screwdriver to gently pry the door open while pushing the latch in. I'd imagine it's really tough with lineman's gloves on! Many of Joe Maurath's early 60s GEs have bend marks around the front of the door from being pried open for new lamps over the years lol.