Beautiful lamp here Darren. Better not let anything happen to this gem. these things are SUPER rare in perfect condition from what i know. Now all you need is a Form 109 to go with it.
Yep if there's an MIA deflection coil or it doesn't work, you can only use HPMV lamps (and what's bad about that? lol) Seems like these are LPS lamp's opposite? (vertical burn instead of horizontal and close to opposite ends of the spectrum in light color)
when did they make these and low long was the life?
They're listed in here(pg 29) at 4000 hours with 16000 initial lumens. In comparison, a Westy 400w clear merc has a 24000+ hours life and 21000 initial lumens.
Oh and it turns out GE made a 3kW merc at one point too. I'm sure any remaining ones are quite rare.
These were made in the (early?) 40s and were (I THINK) among the first MV lamps...I THINK Westinghouse also had a similar lamp.
BTW these are a medium-pressure lamp (not high pressure like modern ones or low pressure like a florescent lamp) and have a Pyrex arc tube. To run this lamp horizontally, you'd need a magnet thingy (the GE Form 109 fixtures had them I think) to keep the arc from bowing upward and melting the Pyrex.
Pyrex is better known as borosilicate glass or hard glass which has a low thermal expansion and is harder to break under thermal shock. HID outer bulbs and streetlight refractors are made with this stuff.
Actually newer Pyrex brand baking dishes aren't made with borosilicate glass anymore. They switched to cheaper soda-lime glass sometime in the late 90s.
does that mean the dishes aren't as thermal shock resistant and chip resistant as older borosilicate ones? aren't incandescents and fluorescents made from soda-lime?
Yeah, the older borosilicate ones are more thermal shock resistant and yeah most incandescent and fluorescent lamps are made with soda-lime. I suspect my 1kW incandescent is made with borosilicate glass though.
Maybe sticking it in a gumball for the time being would also work.
Most of the deflection coils have either been removed or don't work anymore. Gumballs use vertical lamps so they're fine.
when did they make these and low long was the life?
Oh and it turns out GE made a 3kW merc at one point too. I'm sure any remaining ones are quite rare.
BTW these are a medium-pressure lamp (not high pressure like modern ones or low pressure like a florescent lamp) and have a Pyrex arc tube. To run this lamp horizontally, you'd need a magnet thingy (the GE Form 109 fixtures had them I think) to keep the arc from bowing upward and melting the Pyrex.