Centennial Light

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Photo of the incandescent lamp in November 2013

The Centennial Light ( English for hundred-year-old light ) is considered the longest-lasting incandescent lamp in the world. It is located in the "Station 6" fire station in the city of Livermore near San Francisco in the US state of California . It is often cited as an indication of the existence of planned obsolescence in modern incandescent lamps.

history

The light bulb was manufactured by the Shelby Electrics Company in Ohio in the 1890s and originally had an output of 60 watts; today it is only four watts. It is a carbon filament lamp , of which there are many other types. According to Zylpha Bernal Beck, her father Dennis Bernal gave the fire station a gift with the incandescent lamp in 1901. The occasion was the sale of his Livermore Power and Water Company .

Overall, the lamp is said to have been in use in four facilities. For many years it was in a hose truck house, later in a workshop in the center of Livermore. The changes in position and some power outages caused some of the few moments that the Centennial Light did not glow. In 1976 the fire department moved. In order not to damage the light bulb, the cable was cut and transported in a specially made container to the new office in just ten minutes. An electrician installed the landmark and connected it to the emergency generator . In 2001 the centenary of the incandescent lamp was celebrated in Livermore. In 2006 it has been in continuous operation for thirty years since the move in 1976. The main reason for the longevity should be the low power of only 4 W, which corresponds to the luminous flux of a night light for an incandescent lamp . The Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department plans to keep the lightbulb dim for as long as possible.

On May 21, 2013, the light bulb failed. The almost ten-hour failure was due to a problem with the power supply for the incandescent lamp of the century . It is still unclear what should happen to the lamp if it is permanently defective. Ripley's Believe It or Not! , which operates a variety of museums, is interested in the potential exhibit.

popularity

It wasn't until 1972 that the reporter Mike Dunstan published a first report in the Tri-Valley Herald . When journalist Charles Kuralt became aware of this, he contacted the Guinness Book of Records . The committee declared, as did Ripley's Believe It or Not! and General Electric , the Centennial Light for the longest-lasting incandescent lamp in the world. As recently as 1972, it was replaced by another old light bulb in Fort Worth , Texas . From 1988 to 2006, the Centennial Light Bulb did not appear on the list for reasons unknown. Since 2007 it has been in every edition of the Guinness Book. In the United States she gained a high profile over the years, not least because of the reports on television.

The Centennial Light Bulb Committee provides support and operates a website . On this, the everyday life of the light bulb can be followed live via webcam . The webcam has had to be replaced three times since its inception.

In 2010 the documentary Buy for the Garbage Dump was released , in which, among other things, detailed reports about the Centennial Light.

Web links

Commons : Centennial Light  - collection of images, videos and audio files

swell

  1. ^ Century Light Bulb , National Public Radio, June 2001.
  2. ↑ http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_17287091?source=most_emailed&nclick_check=1
  3. ^ Livermore's Centennial Light Facts
  4. ↑ Facts / History , Centennialbulb.org (English)
  5. ↑ Oldest light bulb fails for the first time , BHKW-Infozentrum.de (German)
  6. ↑ Livermore's Centennial Light Cam Pics. Retrieved December 20, 2018 .
  7. ^ The Little Bulb That Could ... and Does ( Memento January 3, 2010 in the Internet Archive ), VIA Magazine
  8. ↑ List of Articles , Centennialbulb.org
  9. ^ Light Bulb Cam , centennialbulb.org, Retrieved April 24, 2014
  10. ^ Documentary by Cosima Dannoritzer , Buy for the garbage dump , 75 minutes, 2010. ( Online ( Memento from November 19, 2011 in the Internet Archive ))

Coordinates: 37 ° 40 ′ 48.79 "  N , 121 ° 44 ′ 22.18"  W.