page_title: Hammer Historical Collection of Incandescent Electric Lamps
section_title: Case 5
hierarchical_section_title: Hammer Historical Collection of Incandescent Electric Lamps / American Institute of Electrical Engineers / Case 5
caption_attribution_description: English: Hammer Collection of Electric lamps - Case 5
context_page_description: The Hammer Historical Collection of Incandescent Electric Lamps was an exhibit of early electric light bulbs and was collected by William Joseph Hammer. The collection of lamp bulbs is the most comprehensive known in the world. It shows the technology development of the filament electric light bulb during Thomas Edison's lifetime. Hammer's collection was displayed for years in five glass cases at the Headquarters of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers in New York City. It is now housed at The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.
context_section_description: Case No. 5 were light bulbs that represented the state of the art of filament lamps from 1900 to 1913. They show electric lights using certain gases within the sealed bulb. They were directing a path of technology into 'cold light.' One of these was a long tube instead of a globe. It had a stop cock in the center and a glass bulb at each end. Hammer explained how this one came about. He said one day in 1902 he visited Pierre Curie, the husband of Madam Curie. Professor Curie drew a diagram on the blackboard and suggested that Hammer make a lamp like that with sulfide of zinc inside. Curie explained to Hammer what radium gaseous could do in this configuration. It would stimulate luminescence that would produce light without a hot filament involved.
  Lamps in this case also show how some of these experimental bulbs progressed into vacuum tubes that were used in radios and TVs. Below are some of the incandescent electric lamps that were in this display case. These were numbered 530 to 871.
caption: Display Case 5
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