Integral Compact Fluorescent Lamp
date: label: date made
content: ca. 1996
label: Date made
content: ca 1996
name: label: manufacturer
content: DURO-TEST Corporation
notes: label: Description
content: An unusual looking type of compact fluorescent lamp (CFLs) has spiral tubes, like this "Spiralux" lamp made by Duro-Test in 1996. Several manufacturers developed and now produce spiral CFLs. While the equipment to make these spiral tubes proved expensive to develop, the design addresses two problems.
label: Description
content: CFL engineers faced a problem stemming from the fact that energy efficiency in fluorescent lamps depends in part on the distance the electric current travels between the two electrodes, called the arc path. A long arc path is more efficient than a short arc path. But most residential fixtures are designed to accept lamps the size of ordinary incandescent bulbs. So CFLs have been made with a variety of bent, folded, and connected tubes--all intended to put a long arc-path into a small lamp, the spiral design being one such.
label: Description
content: The second problem centered on how light generated by the lamp interacted with shades and reflectors on fixtures. Most incandescent lamp fixtures are designed to use frosted or so-called soft white lamps. The coatings prevent the filament from being seen, making it look like the entire glass bulb is glowing. Shades and reflectors used in regular fixtures are designed using the science of optics to spread and direct the light in predictable patterns. CFLs, with their glowing tubes, are not shaped correctly for regular fixtures, causing light from the fixtures to be emitted in undesired patterns. Spiral CFLs closely mimic the shape of a glowing incandescent lamp so the optical design of the fixture operates as intended.
label: Description
content: Lamp characteristics: Brass, medium-screw base with plastic skirt and glass base-insulator. Spiral-shaped discharge tube with internal phosphor coating, mercury, and two tungsten electrodes. The shape is intended to simulate an ordinary A-lamp.
place: label: Place Made
content: United States: New Jersey, Bergen
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 Duro-Test Corporation
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1997.0062.07
label: catalog number
content: 1997.0062.07
label: accession number
content: 1997.0062
objectType: label: Object Name
content: discharge lamp
label: Object Name
content: fluorescent 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: 5 in x 2 1/2 in; 12.7 cm x 6.35 cm