The oldest (eternal) light bulb online. Eternal incandescent lamp

Residents of the American city of Livermore are preparing to celebrate the anniversary of the world's oldest light bulb. For 110 years now it has been shining almost without interruption, writes The Telegraph. A four-arm light bulb installed in a fire station in Livermore, California, entered the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest existing light bulb on the planet.

A businessman gave it to local firefighters in 1901. Since then, the light bulb has faithfully served fire fighters. The days when it suddenly stopped shining seem to be remembered by all Livermore residents by heart: one day in 1903, a week in 1937 and during rare power outages in the 30s - 70s of the XX century. According to Livermore energy scientist Lynn Owens, the mysterious light bulb has baffled many scientists. “No one knows why an ordinary four-arm light bulb did not burn out in 110 years. Scientists from all over the country came to look at it, but no one could come up with a single, even remotely plausible version. However, we did not let anyone touch it,” - said the energy worker.

The hundred-year lamp is the name given to the longest burning lamp in the world. It is located in the fire department of Livermore, California, and has burned continuously from 1901 to the present. The fire department says the lamp has burned continuously for at least 113 years and has only been turned off a few times during that time. Unusual high resource The lamp was mainly ensured by operating at low power (4 watts), in a deep low-voltage state, with a very low efficiency. Due to its longevity, the "Hundred Year Lamp" was included in the Guinness Book of World Records and is often cited as evidence of the "planned obsolescence" of later-production incandescent lamps. The lamp has its own offsite, where you can look at it online at any time of the day through a special installed cameras. The lamp was produced by the privately owned Shelby Electric Company, which disappeared in 1912 as a result of its takeover by General Electric.

The lamp was created in accordance with the work of Edison's competitor, Adolphe Chaillet. Its filament was made of carbon (it is 8 times thicker than modern lamps). There is a version that this explains the incredible longevity of the lamp. At the beginning of the 20th century, manufacturers decided to abandon similar technology manufacturing and similar incandescent lamps have not received mass production.
The "Century Lamp" originally had a power of 30 or 60 watts, but currently It is very dim, giving off about the same amount of light as, for example, a 4-watt night light. The lamp was made manually at the Shelby, Ohio facility in the late 1890s. There is evidence that the lamp was used in at least four places. It was originally installed in a fire department building in 1901 and was later moved to a garage in downtown Livermore that belonged to the fire and police departments. When the fire departments were merged, the lamp was moved again, this time to the newly built city hall, where the fire department was moved.

Her unusual longevity was first noticed in 1972 by reporter Mike Dunstan, talking with Livermore old-timers. He published an article in the Tri-Valley Herald that said, verbatim, “Lamplight may be the oldest.” Dunstan contacted Guinness World Records, Ripley's Believe It or Not, and General Electric Corporation, who confirmed that this was indeed the longest eternal light bulb, which is reliably known. In 1976, the fire department moved to another building. The legendary lamp was removed by cutting its wire, as it was feared that unscrewing it could damage it. The lamp was cut from power for just 22 minutes when the handover ceremony took place, while it was in a specially designed box and with a full escort of fire engines. "Ripley's Believe It or Not" made a statement that a short forced interruption in the operation of the lamp could not affect the record for the duration of continuous burning. In 2001, the 100th anniversary of the lamp was solemnly celebrated. In addition to shutdowns during the move, there were other short interruptions in its operation (for example, for a week in 1937 for repairs, as well as during random power outages).

On the evening of May 20, 2013, already under surveillance special webcam, the light went out. The public was inclined to think that she had burned out. The next morning an electrician showed up to confirm this assumption. However, it was determined that the light bulb did not burn out when its power source uninterruptible power supply was replaced by an extension cord. It turned out that the power supply was faulty. About seven hours later, the light came back on. The Centennial Lamp is currently under the care of the Centennial Light Committee, the Livermore Fire Department, the Livermore Heritage Guild, the Livermore National Laboratory, and the Sandia National Laboratory. According to the Department of Livermore fire service the “Hundred Year Lamp” will continue to burn no matter how much time passes before it burns out.

The nightmare of all copro-economy ideologists, the most old light bulb incandescent, was installed back in 1901 in the USA in the city of Livermore, and since then it has been operating for more than 111 years. Its power is only 4 W, it hangs in the garage of the fire department, serving as technical lighting for equipment. Over the past 50 years, the light bulb stopped working the only time for 22 minutes in 1976, when, for reasons fire safety she was transferred to another facility.

The Livermore light bulb was donated by local energy company owner Dennis Bernal and was installed on its first workplace back in 1901. First, she illuminated the barn in which the firemen's horse-drawn carriages stood. She was then moved several times from one fire station to another. She can currently be seen at Fire Station 6 at 4550 East Avenue.
Unusual long term life not only turned the lamp into a local landmark, but also allowed it to take its place in the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest and working lamp in the world. The list of evidence that the Livermore lamp is indeed such a long-liver includes local newspaper archives. In addition, the lamp was examined by General Electric engineers.
The lamp was manufactured by the Shelby Electric Company, which was absorbed into the General Electric Corporation in 1912. The lamp body was handmade by master glassblowers and the filament was made of carbon.

This is probably the only light bulb that has its own website on the Internet.

The Wright brothers had not yet taken their first plane into the air, but the light bulb was already on. It illuminated fire crews back in the days when humanity was just preparing expeditions to the north and south poles. A lot has happened and changed over these 111 years.


You can look at the light bulb through a webcam.


The funny thing is that since the webcam was installed a few years ago, it has already failed twice and had to be replaced. And the light continues to burn...


The filament coil is made in the shape of the word ON. As firefighters joke, if you turn off the light bulb, it will glow OFF.


The Livermore Lightbulb is overseen by a whole community committee called the Livermore Lightbulb Centennial Committee. The committee plans to continue to keep the lamp operating for as long as possible.

However, do not forget that the light bulb is not in a museum, but in an active fire station.


California is fortunate to have a municipal fire department due to its frequent fires. Not all states can boast of this.


There are only three fire engines, and these are far from the latest models.


But everything is shiny, maintained in working order, and even combat clothing is ready to be worn while on the move.

In America there is a cult of fire hydrants. They are everywhere. If someone were to park next to a hydrant, there would be no problem. And a fine will be issued and the car will be towed to a parking lot. On the other hand, the abundance of fire hydrants makes it possible not to use exclusively tank trucks, but to equip some vehicles only with pumps for pumping water. This significantly reduces the weight of the vehicle.


There is also a Livermore police mobile headquarters in the fire department garage. It was on this bus that when emergency situations generals sit in the coolness and command their subordinates. But by all indications it is clear that this bus does not leave the garage often.


Livermore is also a wine region. After saying goodbye to the firefighters, we drove past the Livermore National Laboratory and went on a winery tour. But that's a completely different story.

Edison's oldest incandescent lamp that never stops burning is 116 years old!

Amazingly, it was turned on back in 1901, when the first airplane in history had not yet taken off, and since then it has never stopped working. This uniquely American landmark has been located in the fire station of the Californian city of Livermore for more than a century.

She, as you might guess, is listed in the Guinness Book of Records. This happened in 1972, shortly after local reporter Mike Dunstan learned from station employees about the unusual longevity of the old lamp.

The “centennial bulb,” as it is commonly called in the United States, even has its own official website (centennialbulb.org), at home page where you can watch an online broadcast of an amazing light source. A webcam installed specifically for this purpose transmits a photo of the light bulb to the Internet every few minutes. Every day, hundreds of curious people visit this resource in the hope of seeing that the “hundred-year-old lamp” has finally gone out (why do they need this?), but this has not happened yet.

The webcam was installed here in 2010, and since then it has broken down twice, but the amazing lamp is timeless.

The miracle device was made by hand in the 1890s by the American Shelby Electric Company. The glass for the 60-watt light bulb was blown in the traditional way. Its carbon filament, which is 8 times thicker than the spirals of modern lamps of this type, was created using the technology of Thomas Edison, but under the auspices of Adolphe Chaillet, Edison's direct competitor.

The secret of the longevity of the “hundred-year lamp”

The old woman’s unusually high resource is explained by the fact that in those days manufacturers worked conscientiously and created durable lamps, that is, they strived for this without yet focusing on the sophisticated and deceptive needs of the market.

It's no secret that today industrialists practice the so-called, that is, they produce any products, including light bulbs, with deliberate short term services so that they break down as quickly as possible, and customers run to stores for a replacement. By the way, it was incandescent light bulbs that became the first product that was deliberately made to be of insufficient quality for long-term use. For this purpose, at one time, manufacturers of incandescent lamps even gathered at an international consultation, where they agreed to reduce the service life of Edison’s lamp to a certain number of hours (compared to the previous short period). And only the USSR at that time did not participate in this deal of the century, which is why Ilyich’s light bulb was practically unburnable for a long time (the older generation born in the USSR still remembers this well).

The secret of the longevity of the “hundred-year lamp” also lies in the fact that it is never extinguished, that is, there are simply no off-on cycles. Namely, they are known to most often lead to burnout of incandescent light bulbs.

And finally, although the lamp in Livermore initially operated with a specified power of 60 watts, today this figure is only 4 watts, which, you see, is extremely low for effective lighting, but is economical in terms of the longevity of the lighting device.

In 2001, firefighters solemnly celebrated the centenary of “America’s little pride.” At the same time, a kind of “hundred-year light bulb committee” was created, dealing with the issue of preserving its functionality for as long as possible - at any cost. It would be better, of course, if the manufacturers modern light bulbs They also cared about the durability of their products...

It's safe to say that the light bulb is one of the most important inventions in history. Most of us take those little glass balls for granted until they burn out. Then we just get irritated.

But in 1901 things were very different. Only 3 percent of Americans had electricity back then, so when the volunteer fire department in Livermore, California, received its first light bulb, it was a big deal.

The light bulb was a gift from the Livermore Hydroelectric Company. It made work much easier when fires broke out in the middle of the night. Now firefighters no longer stumbled in the dark, but could see all their equipment. Harnessing horses to hose carts has become much easier.

In 1906, the fire department moved to a new building. The firefighters gathered all their equipment and carried it down the street. And, of course, they took a light bulb with them. It was the only light bulb with me, and besides, it was still burning. In fact, they kept it on 24/7 without interruption. This was already quite impressive, considering that the average American incandescent light bulb has a lifespan of 1,000 to 2,000 hours.

But there's more... When the hose carts were replaced by fire trucks, the light bulb continued to illuminate the garage, hanging from the roof on a long cord. Finally, in 1971, the chief fire department Jack Baird asked a reporter to find out everything he could about a mysterious light bulb that never burns out.

As it turns out, this particular light bulb was invented by the American Shelby Electric Company, founded in the late 1890s by a French immigrant named Adolphe Scheile. He was quite a remarkable person - he graduated from the French and German academies and worked as something of a professional showman. To prove the superiority of his product, Scheile took several types of light bulbs, screwed them into the board of a theater sign and turned on the electricity at full power.

The result was always the same - every light bulb exploded... except his own. Thanks to these demonstrations, the Frenchman could boldly claim that his product lasted 30 percent longer than any other light bulb in the world. This continued until his company was bought by General Electric.

In the 1970s, Jack Baird was impressed by the durability of the Schile lamp. Therefore, when the firefighters moved again to a new location in 1976, the light bulb was transported with honors. She was placed in a special red box and escorted with sirens and flashing lights.

The "Hundred Year Light" is still burning at Fire Station No. 6. With very few exceptions (power failure, relocation, and repairs), it has been in operation for over 115 years.

As you might expect, this eternal lamp has been attracting a lot of attention for a long time. It was shown in the famous program “MythBusters” and was included in the Guinness Book of Records. George W. Bush even visited him on his 100th birthday. This lamp also has its own webcam.

But why is this light bulb so special? How could she hold out for so long? Nobody knows for sure. Some believe that this is all a joke, but such skeptics are in the minority. One of the researchers believes that the reason lies in unique device lamps. As it turned out, the fibers in Shelby lamps are as much as eight times thicker than usual. Additionally, they are made from carbon rather than traditional tungsten.

Of course, this doesn't explain how the Livermore light bulb survived the average human lifespan, two world wars, the rise and fall of the USSR, the invention of the Internet, and the terrorist attack of 9/11. Perhaps the only way to find out its secret is to wait until it completely burns out, and then open it up and study it. But when the Hundred Year Light finally goes out, the world will become a little darker. And less wonderful. Therefore, let's hope that she will enlighten for many years to come.

The hundred-year lamp is the name given to the longest burning lamp in the world. It is located in the fire department of Livermore, California, and has burned continuously from 1901 to the present.

The fire department says the lamp has burned continuously for at least 113 years and has only been turned off a few times during that time. The unusually long service life of the lamp was ensured mainly by operation at low power (4 watts), in a deep low-voltage state, with a very low efficiency. Due to its longevity, the "Century Lamp" was included in the Guinness Book of World Records and is often cited as evidence of the "planned obsolescence" of later-production incandescent lamps. The lamp has its own offsite, where you can look at it online at any time of the day through specially installed cameras. The lamp was produced by the privately owned Shelby Electric Company, which disappeared in 1912 as a result of its takeover by General Electric. The lamp was created in accordance with the work of Edison's competitor, Adolphe Chaillet. Its filament was made of carbon (it is 8 times thicker than modern lamps). There is a version that this explains the incredible longevity of the lamp. At the beginning of the 20th century, manufacturers decided to abandon this manufacturing technology and such incandescent lamps were not mass produced.

The Centenary Lamp was originally rated at 30 or 60 watts, but is currently very dim, putting out about the same amount of light as, say, a 4-watt night light. The lamp was handmade at a facility in Shelby, Ohio in the late 1890s. There is evidence that the lamp was used in at least four places. It was originally installed in a fire department building in 1901 and was later moved to a garage in downtown Livermore that belonged to the fire and police departments. When the fire departments were merged, the lamp was moved again, this time to the newly built city hall, where the fire department was moved. His unusual longevity was first noticed in 1972 by reporter Mike Dunstan while talking to Livermore old-timers. He published an article in the Tri-Valley Herald that said, verbatim, “Lamplight may be the oldest.” Dunstan contacted Guinness World Records, Ripley's Believe It or Not, and General Electric Corporation, who confirmed that it was indeed the longest-lasting light bulb known to exist. In 1976, the fire department moved to another building. The legendary lamp was removed by cutting its wire, as it was feared that unscrewing it could damage it. The lamp was cut from power for just 22 minutes when the handover ceremony took place, while it was in a specially designed box and with a full escort of fire engines. "Ripley's Believe It or Not" issued a statement that a small forced interruption in the operation of the lamp could not affect the record for the duration of continuous burning

In 2001, the 100th anniversary of the lamp was solemnly celebrated. In addition to shutdowns during the move, there were other short interruptions in its operation (for example, for a week in 1937 for repairs, as well as during random power outages).

On the evening of May 20, 2013, already under the surveillance of a special web camera, the light went out. The public was inclined to think that she had burned out. The next morning an electrician showed up to confirm this assumption. However, it was determined that the bulb did not burn out when the uninterruptible power supply powering it was replaced with an extension cord. It turned out that the power supply was faulty. About seven hours later the light came on again.

The Centennial Lamp is currently under the care of the Centennial Lamp Committee, the Livermore Fire Department, the Livermore Heritage Guild, the Livermore National Laboratory, and the Sandia National Laboratory. The Livermore Fire Department plans to keep the Centennial Lamp burning no matter how long it takes before it burns out.

The "Hundred Year Lamp" was officially included in the Guinness Book of World Records as the "longest-lasting light" in 1972, taking the place of another lamp in Fort Worth, Texas. In 2010, the French-Spanish documentary The Lightbulb Conspiracy was released on the topic of “planned obsolescence.”