World's longest-lasting light bulb, 110+ years!

[BUTCH1]

This bulb was donated to the Livermore California fire Dept in 1901 by Dennis Bernal, a pioneer in the area who owned the Livermore Power and Light Co. it's in the Guinness book of records as the longest-burning bulb and it's still going strong. Successive fire chiefs have regarded it as their talisman. "Nobody wants that darn bulb to go out on their watch," said former fire chief Stewart Gary. "If that thing goes out while I'm still chief it will be a career's worth of bad luck." Another captain joked that no one even dares to dust it, and anyone who so much as touches the bulb risks getting "your fingers chopped off." Previous chiefs have had standing orders that if any firefighter, for whatever reason, accidentally broke the light, that person would suddenly find plenty of time to update his résumé.
Link to Snope's, http://www.snopes.com/science/lightbulb.asp
You-tube vid, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4zHBFh_5j8
Pic of bulb,

Bulb-cam,http://www.centennialbulb.org/cam.htm

 

[Ruptga]

That poor light bulb, all alone in a strange world, all its relatives long dead. It's lonely on the right side of the bell curve.

 

[brianmanahan]

That poor light bulb, all alone in a strange world, all its relatives long dead. It's lonely on the right side of the bell curve.

like tom hanks in the green mile

 

[BUTCH1]

That poor light bulb, all alone in a strange world, all its relatives long dead. It's lonely on the right side of the bell curve.

Not only that it's entire species have now stopped being made!.

 

[twinrider1]

I'm surprised it hasn't been taken out by a surge or brown out. I wonder if they've added a power conditioner to make sure it receives clean power.

 

[Imp]

Could study the bulb... but it's outdated tech and considered inefficient.

 

[bruceb]

We had a couple of light bulbs in our garage that came from NYC Transit (subway) ... you could not kill them. Subways run on 600VDC so they would put 5 bulbs in series. In a normal house the voltage is a nominal 115VAC or and I bet these bulbs were a more of high durability design to withstand the subway tunnel environment.

 

[OutHouse]

last night our power went out for a hour and we had candles lit. i told my 17 year old son, Just think, just a mere 100 years ago this is what our house would look like every night. up until the light bulb the only source of light man had was fire.

hell my dad as a kid lived in the deep woods of Arkansas and didnt get electricity until the 1930's.

 

[Craig234]

Hundreds of years ago, in England, only the wealthy could afford candles. When their candles ran out, they'd sometimes pay their servants with the remaining wax.

 

[Mayne]

I can see Tom Hanks playing the part of the old light bulb sadly.

 

[Newbian]

Could study the bulb... but it's outdated tech and considered inefficient.

And it wouldn't be something they would use in their products as then they would not make as much money instead of making lights that last a short time.

 

[lxskllr]

last night our power went out for a hour and we had candles lit. i told my 17 year old son, Just think, just a mere 100 years ago this is what our house would look like every night. up until the light bulb the only source of light man had was fire.

hell my dad as a kid lived in the deep woods of Arkansas and didnt get electricity until the 1930's.

When it gets cold out, I sometimes light using only fire(oil lamps and candles). The warm light goes well with cold weather.

 

[lxskllr]

Thread made me decide to fire up my oil lamp. I have the windows open, and it's breezy and cool. Pretty dusty. I'll clean it up tomorrow...

 

[Red Squirrel]

I remember hearing about this a long time ago, crazy that it's still going!

 

[John Connor]

I believe the bulb is a carbon filament so that's why they last so long. If they made all bulbs like that companies wouldn't make money.

 

[brianmanahan]

I can see Tom Hanks playing the part of the old light bulb sadly.

and he would win an oscar doing it!

 

[BUTCH1]

I believe the bulb is a carbon filament so that's why they last so long. If they made all bulbs like that companies wouldn't make money.

Probably true, I have to LOL at the paranoia of not letting it die during my tenure, don't touch it!, don't even THINK about touching it!, leave the dust alone dammit!...

 

[KillerBee]

I remember hearing about this a long time ago, crazy that it's still going!

I remember seeing a Sunday comic 'Ripley's believe it or Not' back in 70's and thinking BS
glad to know it's true and still going

 

[lxskllr]

Probably true, I have to LOL at the paranoia of not letting it die during my tenure, don't touch it!, don't even THINK about touching it!, leave the dust alone dammit!...

I'd be the same way. It's a cool thing to have, and nothing good will come from handling it. It's not like any of the chiefs are remembered for *anything*, so you could only be remembered for the being the guy who killed the lightbulb :^D

 

[Red Squirrel]

One of these days someone who is new is randomly going to change it for a LED bulb thinking they're doing everyone a favour. "I cleaned all the fire trucks, oh, and while I was on top of a truck figured I'd change that old rusty bulb for a LED check it out it's so much brighter now, I dropped it by accident but I cleaned all the glass up"

 

[BUTCH1]

One of these days someone who is new is randomly going to change it for a LED bulb thinking they're doing everyone a favour. "I cleaned all the fire trucks, oh, and while I was on top of a truck figured I'd change that old rusty bulb for a LED check it out it's so much brighter now, I dropped it by accident but I cleaned all the glass up"

Uh, no. This bulb even has it's own "bulb-cam" pointed directly at it and is hooked up to a UPS along with a sign that reads "The centennial bulb". Anyone coming into that station will be told rule #1, "DON'T TOUCH THE BULB!"

 

[TennesseeTony]

I have seen a few other 'everlasting' light bulb reports. The common theme is running them at half the intended voltage, or less, and almost never cycling them off. A good seal is paramount of course, so not all will survive, regardless.

 

[zinfamous]

That's awesome.

That poor light bulb, all alone in a strange world, all its relatives long dead. It's lonely on the right side of the bell curve.

And this is awesomer.

 

[JEDI]

This bulb was donated to the Livermore California fire Dept in 1901 by Dennis Bernal, a pioneer in the area who owned the Livermore Power and Light Co. it's in the Guinness book of records as the longest-burning bulb and it's still going strong. Successive fire chiefs have regarded it as their talisman. "Nobody wants that darn bulb to go out on their watch," said former fire chief Stewart Gary. "If that thing goes out while I'm still chief it will be a career's worth of bad luck." Another captain joked that no one even dares to dust it, and anyone who so much as touches the bulb risks getting "your fingers chopped off." Previous chiefs have had standing orders that if any firefighter, for whatever reason, accidentally broke the light, that person would suddenly find plenty of time to update his résumé.
Link to Snope's, http://www.snopes.com/science/lightbulb.asp
You-tube vid, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4zHBFh_5j8
Pic of bulb,

Bulb-cam,http://www.centennialbulb.org/cam.htm

so why weren't there more Livermore lightbulbs sold last century?
would have been great marketing: my lightbulb lasts for decades where as theirs only last for 1000hrs

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

It's an incandescent being run at like 12 watts. You could do the same thing with most any incandescent as long as it wasn't garbage. Crank it up to normal voltages and see how long it lasts, then replace it with an LED bulb.