Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1913-12-17
The Newest Thing in Electric Lights.

weeks ago that a new incande scent
lamp has been perfected which con
sumes only half watt of electrical
energy against full watt required
by the best lamps of today. The new
nitrogen lamp is really a tungsten
lamp, filed with nitrogen gas, and of
high efficiency.
For many years scientists and in
ventors have been trying to increase
the efficiency of the incandescent
lamp. The most noteworthy achieve
ment was the perfection of the
! tungsten filament lamp which gives
three times as much light, of better
quality. as the old carbon tilament
lamp perfected by Edison, This in
itself was wonderful improvement,
but the invention of the nitrogen
filed lamp almost equals it 50 far as
high candle power lamps are concern
ed.
New lamps are usually the result
of long and tedious study. Edison
worked for years to produce the first
carbon lamp and sent men securing
the earth for the bamboo to be used in
the filaments 1t was years before
the squirted carbon filament was
found. The carbon lamp remained
practically the same for nearly twenty
years previous to the discovery of the
tungsten lamp. The new nitrogen
| lamp was not the result of accident.
Long and laborious research work in
the laboratories of the General Ele
ctric Company was necessary before
a hint of the new lamp was found.
It was to eliminate the blackening of
the tungsten lamp during it's lifetime
that the new lamp was discovered.
Owing to the chemical action of q
tiny bit of water vspor in the vacuum
| of the globe acting upon the metal
| flament, the minute PARTICLES of the
tungsten are carried from the filament
to the globe. blackening the lamp.
1t was to remedy this that the expert
mentors hit upon the new lamp
Besides their high efficiency at but
half watt per candle-power there
are certain features of the new lamps
which may prove of distinct ad-
vantage.
i l. Color of the light-The tenn
perature of the fiIament being several
hundred degrees higher than that of
ordinary tungsten lamps causes the
light to be of very much winter
color, so that it comes closer to day
light than any other form of artificial
illuminant except the direct current
arc and the special Moore tube con-
tanning carbon dioxide. The color
is almost exactly like that which can
be obtained for a few minutes by
running an ordinary tungsten lamp
at double its rated voltage.
By the use of special color screens
it is possible to obtain a true day.
light color at an efficiency of about
two watts per candle, whereas with
ordinary tungsten lamps the efficiency
obtained with the proper screens is
ten to twelve watts per candle.
2. High intrinsic brilliancy-The
intrinsic brilliancy is five or ten
times that of the tilament of the ordi-
nary tungsten lamp. This renders it
especially suitable for projection work
such as headlights and stereopticons.
Although the intrinsic brilliancy is
less than that of the arc, this differ
ence is often more than Offset by the
fact that the wandering of the crater
OF the arc prevents as sharp focusing
as is possible when the source of light
is fixed in position.
3. Constancy of characteristics
during life Because of the freedom
from blackening of the bulb In these
lamps and because the helically wound
tilaments. may be so designed that the
sagging compensates other changes
during life, it is possible to make
nitrogen filed lamps which maintain
their volt-ampere candle power char
acteristics practically constant during
their whole life. The ultimate
failure of these lamps is due to the
breakage of the 6lament The candle
power is usually we'll above 80 per
cent even just before failure.
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