Patent ID: 7402952

Claim:
An incandescent lamp comprising: a light transmissive bulb having a wall defining an enclosed volume sealed in a vacuum-tight manner; a luminous body positioned in the enclosed volume; the luminous body including a metal carbide having a melting point greater than the melting point of tungsten, the least distance between the luminous body and the wall being less than 18 mm; electrical leads sealed through the wall and electrically coupled to the luminous body; a filing enclosed in the enclosed volume including: an inert fill gas; and one or more additives composed of carbon, hydrogen and halogens, so that the total content in the gas phase, based on a cold filling pressure of 1 bar, in mol percent is: carbon 0.1%-5.0%, hydrogen 0.2%-20.0%, halogen, not including fluorine 0.05%-0.5%; and no nitrogen; whereby a first cycle process is supported attributed to the carbon, and a second cycle process is supported which is attributed to the metal and halogen.