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GE Cobraheads
NiMo:
Part II: In 1970, the venerable "torpedo" shape of the GE "M-series" luminaires, except for the M-1000 went by the wayside as GE introduced the M-400 "split door", which was a virtual clone to the M-400A1 except for a simple thumb latch and solid door as the ballast was mounted on the housing, and to address heat dissipation issues with the M-400A1, vent holes were introduced on the ballast door of the M-400A1. At the same time, the M-250A1 and the M250R1 were introduced. The M250A1 was the "Little brother" to the M-400A1, and the M-250R1 was the first GE luminaire to incorprrate a bail-type latch we would see in different incarnations in the newer series. Most notably, the slipfitter for the entire M-series luminares consisted of a single two-bolt clamp with the main bolt heads on the exterior of the luminaire. Found only in the Powr/Door versions were internal hex heads permanently welded to the bolts. You had to go in the reverse directions to tighten or loosen the slipfitter. Also in the slipfitter design was a rocker assembly that consisted of a cast piece for the pipe that was rounded on the backside and "teeth" on both the casting and the housing so that you can essentially angle the luminaire with one hand while tightening the bolts with the other. In 1976, per new Federal NEMA regulations, all new Luminaires were required to display a decal consisting of black alpha-numeric characters on a colored background (how Westinghouse got away with not displaying the decals still amazes me). And with the advent of High Pressure Sodium lamps, new full cutoff optics were made available for both the M-250A1 and M-400A1 luminaires in 1975.
Jace the Gull:
The GE M-250A1 FCO are VERY rare! I have never seen one in person but I saw one picture of it which was found in California...
NiMo:
I think that the M250R1 as a FCO made a better fit anyways.
NiMo:
Moving right along...
Part III (the 1980s):
The 1980s saw many transitions take place in the M-series luminaires. When the M400A1FCO was first introduced, the optics were unique in that the socket was actually mounted on the reflector and the reflector was attatched to the door. Also, the flat glass was "stippled" rather than transparent. This changed when the FCO optics were redesigned with a house side mounted socket and clear flat glass lens. Also, the M-1000 underwent some changes in the ballast mounting necessitating a resdesign of the lower housing with the "step" door. In 1983, the M-1000's refractor was changed for good from the deep bowl to a shallow bowl refractor. Then the glass for the M-400s was replaced with the original Form-400 deep bowl glass for good.
1983 also saw the introduction of the (then) M-150A as a successor to the M-250A1. This luminaire was different in that it incorperated many of the components that would become the standard for all GE Lighting System outdoor products, such as the bail latch, tool-less P-cell receptacle, and for HPS lighting, a no-tool plug-in ignitor. Eventually, the M-150 increased its wattage capacity and was renamed the M-250A2.
These design features, as well as a new four-bolt slipfitter became the standard for all of the M-series luminaires except for the M-1000 which continued to use the existing components right down to the original push latch from the original M-series design.
In 1985, the M250R2 and M400R2, as well as the M400A2 and a redesigned M250A2 were introduced to replace the dated and obsolete designs. All of these luminaires were equipped with the features first introduced in the M150A (Original M250A2) and with the redesign of the M250A2, a critical component was upgraded. When the M250A2 was first rolled out, it had a black plastic socket rather than the conventional porcelain socket. This presented problems with relamping as the socket was prone to melting.
Mike:
The 80's M-250R2 had a black plastic socket too. See Antstar85's gallery.
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