Item 74874 - Bulb with carbon filament, ca. 1905

Item 74874 - Bulb with carbon filament, ca. 1905
Contributed by Maine Historical Society
Item 74874
Bulb with carbon filament, ca. 1905
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The inside of this lamp has a coating of carbon, the result of carbon vaporizing off of the filament, hitting the cooler sides of the bulb and depositing itself there, reducing the amount of light available from the bulb.

This problem kept light bulb inventors and engineers working to develop more efficient filaments, which they did with the tantalum and tungsten filaments.

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