Lightbulb Burns For 96 Years

[matcom]

<snip>

DALLAS (Reuters) - They sure do not make things anymore like the Texas lightbulb that sold for a few cents and has burned for 96 straight years.

The North Fort Worth Historical Society will have a birthday party on Tuesday for its famous household fixture -- a lightbulb that has burned continuously since Sept. 21, 1908. The bulb was first illuminated when a stagehand at a local opera house flicked a switch and posted a sign that the light over a stage entrance was not be turned off.

"We have no idea why it has lasted so long. That is the wonderful mystery of it," said Sarah Biles, the administrator of the museum where the bulb burns, complete with its own independent power supply.

The Texas bulb is about 40 watts and made of thick glass that houses a sturdy carbon filament.

Despite having lasted 96 years so far, the Texas lightbulb does not hold the record for the longest continuously burning bulb in the world.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=573&ncid=573&e=7&u=/nm/20040921/od_nm/odd_lightbulb_dc

[MrBenchley]

1. Byron the Bulb!

Can Slothrop be in Dallas these days?

[underpants]

2. East German lightbulbs

I know I have related this story here before but here goes:

In the early 90's one of the most demanded items in East Germany were western lightbulbs (and toilet paper-think government made TP beforehand). The western bulbs gave off a much more forgiving hue. The problem was that almost and entire generation had never had to changed a lightbulb because the East German models were not designed with "planned obsolescence"-they never burned. The story that appeared in Stars and Stripes said that many calls were received by the power company about specific lights going out, they didn't realize that the bulb had burned out.