Sylvania "Thrift-Mate" impedance modifier for TM50 lamp
Sylvania "Thrift-Mate" impedance modifier for TM50 lamp
- Description (Brief)
- This unit (with its original fluorescent tube attached) was intended to replace one lamp in a two-lamp fluorescent fixture. By modifying the impedance of the circuit, a 50% reduction in light output could be obtained with an almost equal power saving. Sylvania marketed this 50% reduction unit and a 33% unit as stop-gap measures in response to the electricity price spikes during Energy Crisis. Characteristics: Medium bi-pin base with fiber insulator. Coil-core transformer to provide current for electrode warming, a 2 microfarad capacitor, and a bi-metal switch are housed in a two-piece, clam-shell style plastic housing. Lamp given to donor by co-inventor William Roche in 1996. (Interview on file). See also, US patent 4,163,176 to Cohen, Paget, Roche, Sadoski, and Bessone; and Impedance Modified Fluorescent Lamp by Cohen and Sadoski in Journal of the Illuminating Engineering Society, April 1979, page 179.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Object Name
- lamp component
- Date made
- c1979
- date made
- ca 1979
- ca. 1979
- maker
- Sylvania Electric Products Inc.
- Measurements
- overall: 5 in x 1 5/8 in; 12.7 cm x 4.1275 cm
- ID Number
- 2003.0030.05
- accession number
- 2003.0030
- catalog number
- 2003.0030.05
- Credit Line
- from Harold D. Wallace, Jr.
- See more items in
- Work and Industry: Electricity
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
Nominate this object for photography.
Our collection database is a work in progress. We may update this record based on further research and review. Learn more about our approach to sharing our collection online.
If you would like to know how you can use content on this page, see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use. If you need to request an image for publication or other use, please visit Rights and Reproductions.