Energy & Power - Overview
The Museum's collections on energy and power illuminate the role of fire, steam, wind, water, electricity, and the atom in the nation's history. The artifacts include wood-burning stoves, water turbines, and windmills, as well as steam, gas, and diesel engines. Oil-exploration and coal-mining equipment form part of these collections, along with a computer that controlled a power plant and even bubble chambers—a tool of physicists to study protons, electrons, and other charged particles.
A special strength of the collections lies in objects related to the history of electrical power, including generators, batteries, cables, transformers, and early photovoltaic cells. A group of Thomas Edison's earliest light bulbs are a precious treasure. Hundreds of other objects represent the innumerable uses of electricity, from streetlights and railway signals to microwave ovens and satellite equipment.
"Energy & Power - Overview" showing 11 items.
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Integral Compact Fluorescent Lamp
- Description
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- date made
- ca. 1996
- Date made
- ca 1996
- manufacturer
- DURO-TEST Corporation
- ID Number
- 1997.0062.07
- catalog number
- 1997.0062.07
- accession number
- 1997.0062
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Modular Compact Fluorescent Lamp
- Description
- One method that companies have long used to minimize production costs is to design products that use many of the same parts. In the early 1990s Duro-Test Lighting used this approach in a series of modular compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs).
- Modular CFLs are designed so that specific parts can be replaced if they fail. This allows the reuse of expensive parts that still work. In this particular lamp, the fluorescent tube and the reflector enclosing it are made as one piece; the base-unit that houses the ballast and starter are another. In addition to allowing one to replace the tube assembly if it failed, one could swap different assemblies. The reflector lamp could be changed to a decorative lamp for example, without having to remove the base-unit.
- Since the price of electronic components has dropped since this lamp was made, the economic reasoning behind this feature is less persuasive.
- Lamp characteristics: Two-piece, modular compact fluorescent lamp including a base-unit and a tube assembly. The base-unit has a medium-screw base-shell with plastic insulator, and a plastic skirt that houses a ballast and a starter. A socket on top accepts a plug-in base. Tube assembly includes plastic plug-in base, a fluorescent tube with two electrodes, mercury, and a phosphor coating. A glass R-shaped envelope with silvered coating serves as a reflector and is glued to the tube assembly's base.
- Date made
- January 1991
- 1991-01
- manufacturer
- DURO-TEST Corporation
- ID Number
- 1997.0062.09
- catalog number
- 1997.0062.09
- accession number
- 1997.0062
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Modular compact fluorescent lamp
- Description
- A major hurdle that makers of compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) have faced stems from the unusual shapes of the lamps, as compared to traditional incandescent lamps. Consumers have grown used to what light bulbs "are supposed" to look like. Many have rejected CFLs for that reason despite the potential cost savings.
- As lamp makers refined their understanding of the new product, designs were introduced to meet consumers' preferences for less-intrusive styles. Duro-Test developed a series of five modular CFLs around 1996, including this "Duro-Brite" unit that has a removable glass globe covering the twin-tube lamp. Another unit in the collection sports a removable glass reflector. The base-units contain the lamp's ballast and starter, and the tube assemblies themselves are interchangeable.
- This unit is a modular CFL with three components: a tube assembly, an adapter, and a glass cover.
- Lamp characteristics: Tube assembly is a twin-tube unit mounted on a plastic base. The adapter has a medium-screw base-shell with an insulator that is part of the plastic skirt housing the ballast. A G23 socket is on top for the tube assembly, and key-slots are molded around the edge to attach the cover. Cover is a G-shaped, clear-glass envelope with aluminum collar at bottom. There are stamped protrusions on the inside of the collar to mount the cover onto the adapter. Electrical rating is 13 watts.
- date made
- ca. 1996
- Date made
- ca 1996
- manufacturer
- DURO-TEST Corporation
- ID Number
- 1997.0062.11
- catalog number
- 1997.0062.11
- accession number
- 1997.0062
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Non-ductile Tungsten Lamp
- Description
- Thomas Edison and others considered element number 6, carbon, ideal for lamp filaments in part because it has the highest melting point of any element. Element number 74, tungsten, has the next highest melting point but it then existed only as a powder. Attempts to make it into a workable form failed until early in the 1900s when a burst of invention occurred in Europe. A pressing technique called "sintering" (squeezing a material into a dense mass) was adopted by several inventors.
- The most commercially successful design proved to be that of Dr. Alexander Just and Franz Hanaman of Austria. Their work on sintering tungsten was based on a prior sintering process developed by Carl Auer von Welsbach for his filament made of osmium. Just and Hanaman made a tungsten and organic paste, squirted it through a die, baked out the organic material, then sintered the tungsten in a mix of gasses. The resulting filament gave about 8 lumens per watt and lasted 800 hours.
- Another Austrian, Dr. Hans Kutzel, used an electric arc to make a tungsten and water paste. He then pressed, baked, and sintered the tungsten in a manner similar to Just and Hanaman's procedure. Yet another pair of Austrians, Fritz Blau and Hermann Remane, adapted the osmium lamp process (they worked for Welsbach) by making a filament from an osmium and tungsten mix. They soon changed their "Osram" lamp filament to tungsten only. (The German word for tungsten is wolfram.)
- All three filaments were brittle and collectively known as "non-ductile" filaments. Individual filaments could not be made long enough to give the proper electrical resistance, so lamps needed several filaments connected end-to-end. U.S. companies quickly licensed rights to all of the non-ductile patents. This particular lamp was made under license by General Electric and sent to the National Bureau of Standards for use as a standard lamp.
- Lamp characteristics: Medium-screw base with glass insulator. Five single-arch tungsten filaments (in series) with 5 upper and 8 lower support hooks. The stem assembly features soldered connectors, Siemens-type press seal, and a cotton insulator. Tipped, straight-sided envelope with taper at neck.
- Date made
- ca 1908
- date made
- ca. 1908
- maker
- General Electric
- ID Number
- 1992.0342.16
- catalog number
- 1992.0342.16
- accession number
- 1992.0342
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Prototype Heat-Mirror Tungsten Lamp
- Description
- During the 1970s, energy crises lamp makers scrambled to develop products that would be more energy efficient. One manufacturer, Duro-Test, began working with researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on an improved version of the ordinary incandescent lamp. The resulting product was called the "MI-T-Wattsaver" and was produced by the company from 1981 through 1989.
- The basic concept seemed simple. The hotter a tungsten filament operates, the more efficient it becomes. Most of the energy emitted by the filament is in the form of invisible infrared rays that we feel as heat. If some of that heat could be directed back at the filament to raise its temperature, the lamp would give more light with no additional electricity needed. The researchers at Duro-Test and MIT called this concept a heat-mirror. They developed a special coating that would allow visible light to pass while reflecting infrared back to the filament, and put the coating on the inside of the glass bulb.
- The concept worked but problems emerged. Tests showed that the coating aged with use, reducing the amount of heat reflected to the filament. The lamp was also difficult to make since the coating needed to be precisely applied and the filament needed to be mounted exactly in the center of the round bulb. As the price of compact fluorescent lamps fell in the late 1980s, Duro-Test decided to discontinue the MI-T-Wattsaver. The heat-mirror concept continues in use today in some tungsten-halogen lamps though.
- The lamp seen here is a prototype sent to the U.S. Department of Energy for testing and evaluation in 1981.
- Lamp characteristics: The piece has two sections-the lamp itself and a base adapter. The lamp has a brass bi-pin base (1/2" pin spacing with exhaust tube in between). Tungsten filament (broken) in CC-8 configuration with crimp connectors. A metal disc inside bottom of envelope may serve as a heat shield (the base pins pass through this disc). Tipless, G-24 glass envelope made in two halves. Both halves have an interior coating of infrared-reflecting film. The base adapter has a brass medium-screw shell, the insulator is part of a three-piece plastic skirt. Twist-lock receptacle on top connects to lamp.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- ca 1980
- date made
- ca. 1980
- collaborator
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- maker
- DURO-TEST Corporation
- ID Number
- 1992.0553.09
- catalog number
- 1992.0553.09
- accession number
- 1992.0553
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Integral Compact Fluorescent Lamp
- Description (Brief)
- Production model SLS20 "Earth Light" compact fluorescent lamp to replace a 75 watt incandescent lamp.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1993
- maker
- Philips Lighting Co.
- ID Number
- 1996.0357.02
- accession number
- 1996.0357
- catalog number
- 1996.0357.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Integral Compact Fluorescent Lamp
- Description (Brief)
- Production model SL*18/27 compact fluorescent lamp to replace a 60 watt incandescent lamp.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1990
- maker
- Philips Lighting Co.
- ID Number
- 1996.0357.03
- accession number
- 1996.0357
- catalog number
- 1996.0357.03
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Production Incandescent Lamp
- Description (Brief)
- A krypton-filled lamp in original package. Krypton gas made incandescent lamps slightly more energy efficient.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1966
- maker
- DURO-TEST Corporation
- ID Number
- 1997.0387.21
- accession number
- 1997.0387
- catalog number
- 1997.0387.21
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Mercury Lamp in Laboratory Fixture
- Description (Brief)
- Cooper Hewitt mercury vapor lamp mounted in a wooden luminaire. For use with a laboratory Michelson interferometer.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1908
- maker
- Cooper Hewitt Electric Company
- ID Number
- 2001.0033.01
- accession number
- 2001.0033
- catalog number
- 2001.0033.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
"Stopper" Lamp Replica
- Description (Brief)
- Replica "stopper lamp" made to the original 1893 specifications for the Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1934
- maker
- Westinghouse Lamp Company
- ID Number
- 2002.0020.01
- accession number
- 2002.0020
- catalog number
- 2002.0020.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center