World's Oldest Light Bulb That Still Works

My wife got me started on that addicting website called Pinterest. That's where I found this little nugget. Not sure if it's that much of a news item to most in these forums, but thought I'd pass it on nonetheless.

I had never heard of Adolphe Chailet before, thinking the light-bulb race was between Edison and Tesla. This is another reason I posted this. It spurned me on to do more research on Mr. Chailet.

I tried to link in a picture of the bulb but didn't have much luck doing so.

The world's oldest functioning light bulb is 109 years old and still burning.

110 years ago, a competitor of Thomas Edison named Adolphe Chailet was making light bulbs to compete with Edison. Somehow, even though his light bulbs were nearly indestructible and said to never burn out (then again perhaps because of these properties; no recurring purchases if they never burn out), they never caught on. Nonetheless, at least one of Chailet's "Shelby" light bulbs is still burning, 109 years later.

Located at Fire Station 6 in Livermore, California, this Superbulb has survived several moves, many earthquakes, and even varying voltage (it went from 110 to 120 volts); it seems indestructible! The world's oldest still-burning light bulb is not an anomaly of its kind; even when it was built back in 1900, the Shelby-style light bulb was remarkable. During a series of challenges, Chailet's bulb proved to have the strongest filament, surviving increasing voltage levels while competitor light bulbs burned out. Not only did it survive, but it harnessed the voltage and just kept getting brighter!

Known to many as the Centennial Light, this light bulb burns all day and night. In its nearly 110 years of operation, it has been off for a grand total of only one week, during station renovations in 1937. It may not have the creativity or brightness of light bulbs today, but it has impossible durability.

Although I don't know the engineering behind the bulb or why it is so resilient, I can say that part of the reason it has operated for so long is precisely because it has been turned on and off so infrequently. It's the start-up phase that does damage to the filament; have you ever seen an incandescent light bulb fail during operation? If you have, you're in the minority, as the vast majority of incandescent light bulb failures occur on startup due to the voltage and electricity surge therein. In any case, an incandescent light bulb operating for over 100 years is incredible.

[url=http://www.elightbulbs.com/lighting-blog/Worlds-Oldest-Light-Bulb-That-Still-Works]

This video on YouTube had me thinking that the 'Centennial Light' went out, until I listened to the entire video:

reply to post by PaJoe52



Here is an actual picture for you.

www.centennialbulb.org...

PaJoe52
My wife got me started on that addicting website called Pinterest. That's where I found this little nugget. Not sure if it's that much of a news item to most in these forums, but thought I'd pass it on nonetheless.

I had never heard of Adolphe Chailet before, thinking the light-bulb race was between Edison and Tesla. This is another reason I posted this. It spurned me on to do more research on Mr. Chailet.

I tried to link in a picture of the bulb but didn't have much luck doing so.

The world's oldest functioning light bulb is 109 years old and still burning.

110 years ago, a competitor of Thomas Edison named Adolphe Chailet was making light bulbs to compete with Edison. Somehow, even though his light bulbs were nearly indestructible and said to never burn out (then again perhaps because of these properties; no recurring purchases if they never burn out), they never caught on. Nonetheless, at least one of Chailet's "Shelby" light bulbs is still burning, 109 years later.

Located at Fire Station 6 in Livermore, California, this Superbulb has survived several moves, many earthquakes, and even varying voltage (it went from 110 to 120 volts); it seems indestructible! The world's oldest still-burning light bulb is not an anomaly of its kind; even when it was built back in 1900, the Shelby-style light bulb was remarkable. During a series of challenges, Chailet's bulb proved to have the strongest filament, surviving increasing voltage levels while competitor light bulbs burned out. Not only did it survive, but it harnessed the voltage and just kept getting brighter!

Known to many as the Centennial Light, this light bulb burns all day and night. In its nearly 110 years of operation, it has been off for a grand total of only one week, during station renovations in 1937. It may not have the creativity or brightness of light bulbs today, but it has impossible durability.

Although I don't know the engineering behind the bulb or why it is so resilient, I can say that part of the reason it has operated for so long is precisely because it has been turned on and off so infrequently. It's the start-up phase that does damage to the filament; have you ever seen an incandescent light bulb fail during operation? If you have, you're in the minority, as the vast majority of incandescent light bulb failures occur on startup due to the voltage and electricity surge therein. In any case, an incandescent light bulb operating for over 100 years is incredible.

[url=http://www.elightbulbs.com/lighting-blog/Worlds-Oldest-Light-Bulb-That-Still-Works]

This video on YouTube had me thinking that the 'Centennial Light' went out, until I listened to the entire video:

edit on 28-2-2014 by PaJoe52 because: Corrected Youtube link

Let me guess. You are from The US?

No, the race for the invention of the light bulb was not between Edison & Tesla. The light bulb was invented by Joseph Swan.

en.wikipedia.org...

Every time someone mentions Tesla, there is normally a load of bollocks associated with it.

alldaylong


Let me guess. You are from The US?

No, the race for the invention of the light bulb was not between Edison & Tesla. The light bulb was invented by Joseph Swan.

en.wikipedia.org...

Every time someone mentions Tesla, there is normally a load of bollocks associated with it.

No there is ALWAYS a load of BS when Tesla is mentioned !

reply to post by alldaylong


I agree, The US inventors took credit for a lot of things in the past that we did not actually do. The truth is not taught in schools here, just the version that they want us to believe.

Just like cars, they were all over Europe before Ford....Ford only made them cheaper and more available to people...trying to do them a service. He got angry when people wanted new and improved and more colorful and fancy cars, it also made people poorer...which was opposite of his intent. Many cars that were perfectly good were scrapped. They were well built cars.

reply to post by PaJoe52


Apparently the bulb has outlasted 3 webcams that stay focused on it so the world can watch it. No surprise there. Modern technology is trash.

www.centennialbulb.org...

They really knew how to build things back in the day. I suppose our progress isn't as forward as I always think it is. Miss the days when you would work on your own car because it had less than 10 parts to focus on (and you could reach them). Now we have a lightbulb that makes sense. Why is it so hard to replicate it? Too simple maybe?

Light bulb manufacturers conspired to give light bulbs a shelf life. I think it's called ""obsolescence""...something or another. I suggest searching a video called ""The Light Bulb Conspiracy"", I believe. May even be somewhere on this site.

reply to post by alldaylong


No the light bulb was invented by Humphry Davy in 1809. The reason why people think it was Edison is because he made the first practical light bulb for commercial use. Before him light bulbs had extremely short life spans were talking days inconsistent lighting and even subject to explode. Often you would attempt to use them and they just wouldnt work Edison made the bulbs cheap and reliable.

dragonridr
reply to post by alldaylong

 

The reason why people think it was Edison is because he made the first practical light bulb for commercial use.

Swan's house was the first in the world to be lit by lightbulb, and the world's first electric-light illumination in a public building was for a lecture Swan gave in 1880. The Savoy Theatre in London was the first to be lit completely by electricity.

The Egyptians had electricity. Just look at the hieroglyphs itself.

reply to post by alldaylong

Let me guess. You are from The US? No, the race for the invention of the light bulb was not between Edison & Tesla. The light bulb was invented by Joseph Swan. en.wikipedia.org... Every time someone mentions Tesla, there is normally a load of bollocks associated with it.

Cheers

I love my city's history, the inventor of the first light bulb was in indeed a Mackem (Sunderland born), well he was actually born in Pallion but that is a part of Sunderland.

Star for you, I'd give you more if I could because not a lot of people know that.

There was a lightbulb in the basement of the house I grew up in, that shone brightly for over 15 years in that basement until it was shattered with a wayward ladder. Had string or something wrapped around the whole bulb, but otherwise looked like a normal incan bulb. I tried looking for old light bulbs with string wrapped around them on google, but got nothing but silly arts and crafts stuff. Anyone have any idea where/what the bulb was/ What's the string all about? Does it give any indication of who made it, or why it lasted so long?

Where did it come from? Well, evidently from the house my parents owned before they bought that one! It was the old basement light, which they took with them because it never burned out, and lit up the new basement for well over a decade.

From memory I don't remember it being any dimmer than standard 60 watt incans of the day, I'll never forget that light bulb, and I still don't understand the string wrapped around it part. I remember as the years went on the string became more undone, it looked like it was professionally wound around the bulb, extremely thin fine fiber, that evidently let light shine through because it was, at one time, completely covered with the string but still shone.

Just old style protective packaging maybe? Wrapping string around a bulb to protect it seems a bit... overdone, you'd think newspaper or something would be cheaper and work better.

Sorry for the long silly post, I just remembered the bulb thing after reading this thread, and figured it was on-topic (long lasting bulbs and all that)

ahhhh the mighty US is always taking credit. Here's one for you all...
Search for a man named SIR RICHARD PEARSE! He was from a small country town in Nowhere, NEW ZEALAND. First man to fly! Before the Wright brothers...

This is for once a genuine and verifiable conspiracy against the public.

Lightbulbs are made with tungsten filaments and the reason the lightbulb companies give is that it has a high melting point but the real reason is they easily burn out.

Any modern lightbulb made with the same filament as the olden days ones would also last forever

IkNOwSTuff
This is for once a genuine and verifiable conspiracy against the public.

Lightbulbs are made with tungsten filaments and the reason the lightbulb companies give is that it has a high melting point but the real reason is they easily burn out.

Any modern lightbulb made with the same filament as the olden days ones would also last forever

No the reason they use tungsten is its high melting point this allows the tungsten to be thinner which means it glows brighter. If they made the filament thicker it would last longer but wouldnt be as bright. More like original bulbs in the early 1900s. They lasted a long time but had only a quarter of the brightness they do now. In science there are always trade offs.

jester420
ahhhh the mighty US is always taking credit. Here's one for you all...
Search for a man named SIR RICHARD PEARSE! He was from a small country town in Nowhere, NEW ZEALAND. First man to fly! Before the Wright brothers...

Americans have invented almost everything we use in the modern world.

Well, in their imagination they have anyway.

gemineye
reply to post by PaJoe52

 

Apparently the bulb has outlasted 3 webcams that stay focused on it so the world can watch it. No surprise there. Modern technology is trash.

www.centennialbulb.org...

I wouldn't say that. The most modern lighting technology isn't trash, it's LED or light emitting diode and it can not only last a long time, but it's way more efficient than incandescent. Really the old lighting technology is pretty trashy compared to the LED, so you have it backwards.

But modern incandescents aren't very good, though you need to remember they could make them last longer if they put out less light or were less efficient. With LEDs you don't have to make those tradeoffs, you can get long life and efficiency.

ATS had a nice thread on this awhile ago i wish I had the link for you as it had a ton of pics and info on it but this is a very interesting device