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 506 items.
Page 2 of 51
Integral compact fluorescent lamp
- Description
- Between the two World Wars many large lamp makers attempted to control competition in the international electric lamp trade through organizations known as cartels. The demise of the Phoebus cartel after World War 2 resulted in the globalization of the market for electric lamps. The global nature of the market is easily seen by the wide array of compact fluorescent lamps available from manufacturers around the world.
- This lamp was made in Korea for Feit Electric Company of Los Angeles around 1986. The lamp is made as an integral unit and is intended to replace an incandescent lamp. The arc tube is twisted into a spiral so as to give the lamp the long arc path needed for efficiency. A magnetic, coil-core ballast contained in the base housing controls the current passing through the lamp. Coil-core ballasts have been replaced by more efficient electronic ballasts in today's compact fluorescent lamps.
- Lamp characteristics: medium-screw base-shell. The base insulator is part of the plastic skirt that houses a magnetic ballast and a neon-glow starter. A double-arch arc-tube contains two electrodes, a small amount of mercury and is coated with a phosphor. A clear, plastic cover protects the tube. Both the base skirt and the cover have slots for ventilation. Lamp rated at 18 watts. Received in original package.
- Date made
- ca 1986
- date made
- ca. 1986
- maker
- Feit Electric Company
- ID Number
- 1997.0389.11
- accession number
- 1997.0389
- catalog number
- 1997.0389.11
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Modular compact fluorescent lamp
- Description
- In the late 1970s and early '80s many new, energy efficient lamps moved from laboratories onto store shelves. Some succeeded in the market and are still sold today while others failed and disappeared. In the case of this lamp, the Econ-Nova compact fluorescent from Westinghouse, disappearance followed success.
- Many problems—some technical, some economic—had to be solved in order for a practical compact fluorescent lamp to succeed. A technical problem stemmed 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. Westinghouse engineers decided to fold a glass tube three times, allowing them to use an arc path about 18 inches long in a lamp less than 8 inches tall.
- An economic problem stemmed from the expense of the electronics and the ballast needed to operate the lamp. They lasted quite a long time, longer than the electrodes in the tube, but were a major portion of the price of the whole lamp. Throwing away perfectly good electronics just because an electrode failed made little sense. So the Westinghouse engineers designed their lamp to be modular. The fluorescent tube, what they called the hook, could be easily removed and replaced when it failed. New tubes were much less expensive than the whole lamp, so consumers saved money.
- Introduced in 1981 the Econ-Nova lamp seemed to be off to a good start when, two years later, the Dutch electrical company Philips purchased the Westinghouse Lamp Division. Philips had been first to the market, introducing two different types of compact fluorescent lamps in 1981. Their "SL" lamp was not modular and differed in other details but was somewhat similar to the Econ-Nova. In order to avoid competing with itself, the company discontinued the Econ-Nova.
- Lamp characteristics: A modular compact fluorescent lamp with three components: a light tube, a capsule containing the ballast and starting mechanisms, and a cover. Capsule: medium-screw base shell with brass contact mounted on a plastic skirt. The base insulator is part of skirt. The skirt houses a neon-glow starter and supports a magnetic ballast and a receptacle for a fluorescent tube. Ventilation slots allow heat to escape. A rubber O-ring is on the ballast to keep the tube from striking the ballast if the lamp is bumped. Light tube: a glass tube with three bends mounted on a plastic 4-pin connector. The connector attaches to the capsule with a screw. The tube contains tqo tungsten electrodes and is coated with a phosphor. Cover: a plastic dome that snaps onto the capsule. Ventilation holes at the top allow heat to escape.
- Date made
- ca 1981
- date made
- ca. 1981
- manufacturer
- Westinghouse Electric Corporation. Lamp Division
- ID Number
- 1997.0389.24
- accession number
- 1997.0389
- catalog number
- 1997.0389.24
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Integral compact fluorescent lamp
- Description
- Introducing a new product involves more than just crafting an advertising campaign aimed at consumers. A company must also convince potential distributors (both wholesale and retail) to stock the product. That task is made easier if one can visually show the differences between the old product and the new.
- This lamp is a Philips "SL Electronic" demonstration piece made about 1985. Philips' original "SL" compact fluorescent lamp came equipped with a magnetic, coil-core ballast when introduced in 1981. The newer version replaced that magnetic ballast with an electronic ballast, raising energy efficiency in the lamp. This demonstration lamp has a clear base-skirt allowing whoever demonstrates the lamp to show the electronic circuitry.
- All fluorescent lamps require a ballast due to a quirk engineers call negative-resistance characteristic. The electrical resistance inside a fluorescent lamp is very high when the lamp is off—that's why fluorescent lamps need starters. But once the current is flowing through the lamp the resistance drops, causing the lamp to draw more current, which drops the resistance further, causing still more current to be drawn. Without a control device in the circuit, this cycle would quickly destroy the lamp. A ballast, whether magnetic or elecronic, regulates the amount of current flowing through the lamp and prevents the cycle from occurring.
- Lamp characteristics: Brass, medium-screw base with clear plastic skirt that houses an electronic ballast and a starter. Fluorescent tube includes two electrodes, mercury, and a phosphor coating. A corrugated plastic cover protects the tube. Eight slots in the cover allow excess heat to escape. Rating: 18 watts.
- Date made
- ca 1985
- date made
- ca. 1985
- maker
- Philips Lighting Company
- ID Number
- 1997.0389.28
- catalog number
- 1997.0389.28
- accession number
- 1997.0389
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Integral compact fluorescent lamp
- Description
- When incandescent lamp manufacturers want to make lamps with different ratings, 40 watt and 60 watt lamps for example, they simply alter the length of the coiled tungsten filament. Since the filament is rather small in either case, there's little apparent difference in the two lamps. Compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) are different.
- This lamp is a demonstration triple-tube compact fluorescent lamp made by Philips about 1995. One way to increase the light output from CFLs is to make the tube longer. In this lamp the three tubes are connected by thin glass passages called bridge-welds, creating a continuous path for the electric current to travel. Using bridge-welds allowed the engineers to place the three tubes very close together, reducing the size of the lamp as a whole. The plastic base-skirt that houses the control electronics is clear so that whoever is demonstrating the lamp can show the electronic circuitry.
- Lamp characteristics: Nickle-plated, medium-screw base with clear plastic skirt that houses an electronic ballast and a starter. Three fluorescent tubes are connected by bridge-welds. Included are two electrodes, mercury, and a phosphor coating. No external cover is placed over the tubes. Lamp was operational when donated.
- Date made
- ca 1995
- date made
- ca. 1995
- maker
- Philips Lighting Company
- ID Number
- 1997.0389.30
- catalog number
- 1997.0389.30
- accession number
- 1997.0389
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Integral compact fluorescent lamp
- Description
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Date made
- ca 1985
- date made
- ca. 1985
- maker
- Philips Lighting Company
- ID Number
- 1997.0389.36
- catalog number
- 1997.0389.36
- accession number
- 1997.0389
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Cooper Hewitt mercury vapor lamp
- Description
- Many inventors worked to improve incandescent lamps during the 1890s, but only a few tried to develop practical discharge lamps. Unlike incandescent lamps that make light by heating a filament until it glows, discharge lamps make light by passing an electrical current through a gas. The current energizes the gas which then emits light. One inventor, Peter Cooper Hewitt, achieved success with a discharge lamp using mercury.
- Hewitt experimented with mercury-filled tubes in the late 1890s and found they emitted an unappealing bluish-green light. The amount of light given off, however, was startling. In 1902 the Cooper Hewitt Vapor Lamp Company (backed by George Westinghouse) was established to make the lamps. Though few people would want his lamps in their homes, Hewitt realized that the poor color would not matter for other uses. Photo studios used Cooper Hewitt lamps extensively. In an age of black and white film, the color of a photographer's light made little difference--they just needed lots of light. Industrial uses for the lamp also emerged.
- Ultimately, Cooper Hewitt lamps proved cumbersome. A heavy ballast was needed to control the electrical current and each lamp contained nearly 1 pound of mercury. Starting early models required the user to tip the entire fixture over so that the mercury would run from one end to the other. Tungsten-filament incandescent lamps made in the 1910s provided almost as much energy efficiency as Cooper Hewitt tubes and gave a much better color. General Electric bought the Cooper Hewitt Company in 1919, and in 1933 began marketing a more convenient mercury lamp, the H-1. The H-1 and fluorescent lamps used only a fraction of the mercury found in Cooper Hewitt lamps, but produced light much more efficiently.
- This unit is a production-model Cooper Hewitt lamp from about 1904. An attached manufacturer's tag (not shown) gives proper operating positions for various models, and includes a caution notice and a six month warranty.
- Lamp characteristics: Glass, U-shaped tube with bulbs at both ends. Bulbs house mercury-pool electrodes. A single brass screw contact is mounted on the smaller bulb; two brass screw contacts are on the larger bulb. The tube is attached to a mounting bracket that holds it in its fixture. Pads of asbestos insulation keep the glass from direct contact with the metal bracket. Unit contains about 1 pound (.5 kilograms) of mercury.
- Date made
- ca 1904
- date made
- ca. 1904
- maker
- Cooper Hewitt Electric Company
- ID Number
- 1998.0005.10
- catalog number
- 1998.0005.10
- accession number
- 1998.0005
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Experimental "Magnetic Arc-Spreading" compact fluorescent lamp
- Description
- The energy crises of the 1970s inspired inventors to try novel ideas for new light bulbs. One of the more unusual designs emerged from the drawing board of Manhattan Project veteran Leo Gross. Supported by Merrill Skeist at Spellman High Voltage Electronics Corporation, Gross designed a compact fluorescent lamp that he called a "magnetic arc spreader" (MAS).
- The design took advantage of a fundamental aspect of electro-magnetism known since the early 1800s. When a current flows through a coil of wire, it produces a magnetic field. The arc discharge that travels between the electrodes of a fluorescent lamp can be affected by the presence of such a field. In the center of the MAS lamp seen here there is a copper coil. Current moving through the coil creates a magnetic field that spreads out the electrical arc within the lamp. The expanded arc energizes phosphor throughout the lamp's entire length.
- The concept was tested at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, and General Electric became interested. In 1978 GE purchased a one-year license from Spellman in order to conduct further tests but determined that the necessary glasswork would make the lamp too expensive for commercial production. GE donated one of their test lamps to the Smithsonian in 1998—the only known surviving example of this experimental design.
- Lamp characteristics: No base. Two stranded lead-wires extend about 2" from either end, and each end has one lead wire encased in a glass insulating tube. Two coiled tungsten electrodes are mounted in a hollow cylindrical envelope. The exhaust tip is near one set of leads, and the envelope has an internal phosphor coating. A coil of bare copper wire held together with black string is inserted into the center of the envelope. A current passing thru this coil spreads the arc between electrodes so that more of the phosphor is activated.
- Date made
- ca 1978
- date made
- ca. 1978
- maker
- General Electric Corporate Research & Development Laboratory
- inventor
- Spellman High Voltage Electronics Corp.
- ID Number
- 1998.0050.15
- accession number
- 1998.0050
- catalog number
- 1998.0050.15
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Modular compact fluorescent lamp
- Description
- Compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) came on the market in 1981. Dutch lamp-maker Philips introduced two different versions with features intended to appeal to different markets. Ultimately both succeeded and are still produced today.
- This unit, a model PL-7/9, dates from about 1983 and was the second of the two types. The key development seen in this lamp is the small glass connection between the two parallel tubes called a bridge weld. Making the bridge weld proved difficult but not as difficult as the glasswork in some other proposed CFLs. This glasswork combined with a new, more durable type of phosphor made the PL lamps practical. The PL reportedly stood for Pi Lamp since the two connected tubes resembled the Greek letter.
- Philips intended this lamp for commercial use and included several design features not used on their consumer-grade SL lamps. First, the unit is modular: the ballast and tube assembly can each be separately replaced reducing the cost of replacing a failed lamp. Also, the tube assembly has a special plug-in socket, not a standard screw-in socket. This prevented theft of the new, expensive lamps, since only commercial-grade fixtures had the plug-in sockets. And it cut down on the rate of "snap-back," or replacement of a failed compact fluorescent with an old-fashioned, inefficient incandescent lamp.
- Lamp characteristics: A modular unit with three separable components—an adapter, a twin-tube lamp, and a ballast. Adapter: nickle-plated brass medium-screw base-shell with a brass retaining ring. A plastic insulator is part of the adapter housing. The base-shell rotates in one direction to prevent over-tightening of lamp when it is inserted into the socket. Top of the adapter has a socket for a G23-based lamp, and the back of the adapter is slotted so the ballast module can slide on. Two small holes near the top are ports for the ballast pin-connectors. Lamp: G23 base with brass pins, plastic housing, and aluminum skirt. Two arc tubes connected by a glass bridge. Internal coating of rare-earth/alumina phosphors. Ballast: Magnetic coil-core ballast in a plastic housing. Two pins are on front to connect to adapter, and a yellow potting material is evident on bottom.
- Date made
- ca 1983
- date made
- ca. 1983
- maker
- Philips
- ID Number
- 1999.0324.02
- accession number
- 1999.0324
- catalog number
- 1999.0324.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Modular compact fluorescent lamp
- Description
- After the withdrawal from the market of their miniature metal-halide lamp, General Electric began offering compact fluorescent lamps as replacements for energy-efficient incandescent lamps. This 1995 "Biax" compact fluorescent lamp is designed for both commercial and residential markets.
- The unit has a modular design. When the electrodes fail in the tubes, the tube assembly can be replaced without having to also replace the ballast and electronics housed in the adapter unit. Unlike the Philips PL design that uses a thin bridge weld to connect the two tubes, the Biax lamp folds the tube at the top. The connecting section sags a little, creating a space at the top of each tube-leg for mercury to condense.
- The screw-in adapter unit is a feature of Biax lamps sold to consumers. Commercial users typically buy lighting fixtures that come equipped with the ballast and control electronics, as well as the special plug-in sockets.
- Lamp characteristics: Unit consists of a 5 watt, twin-tube lamp with a base adapter that contains a ballast, starter, and screw-base. Lamp: S plastic G23 single-end base with two brass pins. Two tungsten electrodes, mercury fill. Two parallel, phosphor-coated tubes with "sagging bridge" connection. RE 827 phosphor. There is a seam around outside of the tube. Tips of tubes (above bridge) allow areas away from the arc where mercury can condense. Adapter: A nickel-plated brass medium-screw base with glass insulator and plastic housing. Socket for G23 base on top and a magnetic ballast inside housing. 1993 GE catalog notes that the starter is in the lamp base--not the adapter.
- Date made
- ca 1995
- date made
- ca. 1995
- maker
- General Electric Company
- ID Number
- 2003.0030.07
- accession number
- 2003.0030
- catalog number
- 2003.0030.07
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Incandescent lamp with tantalum filament
- Description
- By the late 1890s, carbon filament lamps were no longer the hand-made devices demonstrated by Thomas Edison. He and many others had refined them into mass-produced, reliable products. But the energy efficiency of carbon lamps remained poor, leading researchers—especially in Europe—to seek better filament materials. In 1902 Germans Werner von Bolton and Otto Feuerlien invented a filament made from element number 73, tantalum. Tantalum lamps produced 5 lumens per watt (lpw), much better than the 3.2 lpw of the carbon lamps of that day.
- The electrical resistance of tantalum was lower than carbon, though. In order for the total resistance of a tantalum lamp to match the total resistance of a carbon lamp, it had to have a much longer filament. In order to support the longer filament inside a bulb of reasonable size, von Bolton and Feuerlien used a series of hooks attached to the lamp's central glass stem. The filament wound up and down within the bulb. Though the design looked complex, it worked well and was later adopted for the tungsten filaments that replaced tantalum around 1910.
- This particular lamp was made by the inventors' employer, Siemens and Halske. Tantalum lamps became the first metal filament lamps offered for sale in the U.S. and in 1909 became the first lamps to carry the trade-name Mazda.
- Lamp characteristics: Brass medium-screw base with skirt and porcelain-dome insulator. A tantalum filament with 11 upper and10 lower support hooks. The support hooks are angled in order to keep tension on the filament, which tended to sag during operation. The stem assembly features soldered twist and crimp connectors, a Siemens-type press seal, and a cotton insulator. Tipped, straight-sided envelope.
- Date made
- ca 1907
- date made
- ca. 1907
- maker
- Siemens & Halske
- ID Number
- EM*239147
- catalog number
- 239147
- accession number
- 46578
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
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