Integral compact fluorescent lamp
date: label: Date made
content: ca 1985
label: date made
content: ca. 1985
name: label: maker
content: Philips Lighting Company
notes: label: Description
content: Thomas Edison began selling his incandescent lamp in 1880 and only a few years later introduced a version with a silver coating on the back that served as a reflector. Almost exactly 100 years later (1981) Philips began selling their SL-18 compact fluorescent lamp and within a few years introduced a version with a built-in reflector—the lamp seen here.
label: Description
content: Reflector lamps have been most often sold as either spot lights that throw a narrow beam of light, or as flood lights that throw a broader beam. Engineers alter the shape of the reflector to create different beam patterns. In an incandescent lamp they typically place the filament at a focal point so as to get as much light as possible to travel along the path they've designed. Making a compact fluorescent reflector lamp was something of a challenge since the folded-tube that radiates the light is long and is not considered "a point-source" of light. The ridges seen on the outside of the silver reflector also appear inside and help direct the light from the tube out of the lamp.
label: Description
content: Lamp characteristics: Brass, medium-screw base with plastic skirt that houses a magnetic ballast, and a starter. Fluorescent tube includes two electrodes, mercury, and a phosphor coating. An R-shaped plastic envelope serves as a reflector and is enclosed with a plastic cover. Rating: 18 watts, 120 volts.
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Electricity
label: See more items in
content: Energy & Power
label: Exhibition
content: Lighting a Revolution
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: Lighting A Revolution exhibition website
label: Related Web Publication
content: http://americanhistory.si.edu/lighting/
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: from Philips Lighting Co.
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1997.0389.36
label: catalog number
content: 1997.0389.36
label: accession number
content: 1997.0389
objectType: label: Object Name
content: fluorescent lamp
label: Object Name
content: discharge lamp
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: plastic (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: glass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: mercury (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 7 1/2 in x 5 in; 19.05 cm x 12.7 cm