You may have heard stories over the years about a famous lightbulb that’s been burning continuously (give or take ten minutes when it was moved a few times) for the last 106 years in a Livermore, California firehouse. Recently, it made news again as a reminder of how well things were made back in the turn of the century before the 20th and 21st century corporate mentality took a stranglehold on American and delivered us inferiority. America should really look at a timeline since the time that Centennial Lightbulb (as it’s called) was first lit in 1901 and take a look at the companies who actually cared about quality in those days. A lot of them didn’t worry if they sold a lightbulb that might last a lifetime and perhaps not sell another from the same person or family. Then again, that was an even better business pursuit in getting people to buy more bulbs for other areas of the house.
Just who was that company that made the bulb still burning today? It was the Shelby Electric Company in Shelby, Ohio that obviously no longer exists and never went national. It’s said the most of the five longest-burning bulbs in America today are said to be Shelby bulbs that had a high-quality carbon filament in it that was virtually indestructible. Even the Edison bulbs didn’t last this long as these did and have. Too bad a company that made something so high-quality probably got squeezed out of business by other companies using slightly lower manufacturing practices so people would have no choice but to come back and buy more.
Sure, it’s no secret that the big companies that produced lightbulbs during the 20th century made the filaments weaker so your standard bulb would burn out within a few months, depending on the use you gave it. Some families like to keep lights on for long hours either as a part of décor or out of convenience working in the home, and it isn’t fun to have to keep replacing your 100 or 60-watt bulb in your lamp after only a couple of months. Of course, the supposed long-lasting bulb from people like Philips and GE actually don’t last any more than six months in reality. Trying putting one in your porch light in wintertime, and you’ll have to shell out over $5 for another one before summer even starts.
But this isn’t surprising, if proof that making a bulb that could last 100 years was over by the time Edison had a monopoly on the industry as well as the other big players. Edison tried to pass off the idea that he could make a lightbulb lasting forever. His “Eternal Light” was first turned on by Edison in 1929 with it later being moved to the Edison Memorial Tower in his memorial museum located in Menlo Park, NJ. It’s widely considered to be a fake, however, and merely a trick of light after burning out years ago.
I bet you never thought Edison (or is supporters after his death) would dupe the public, did you?
The lament on the filament not being made to last…
If America was allowed to use the same cars for a hundred years, I have no doubt in my mind that the ones produced in the early 20th century would have still been running 40 or 50 years after they were bought, give or take some major repairs. Car motors, electronics and any product that involved manufacturing were still high quality–right up to the 1970’s when even my generation remembers buying things that lasted a long time.
One of the best examples in the lightbulb world is Christmas lights. Any of you who grew up in the 1970’s and 80’s probably remember having those large, raindrop-shaped lights that would not only have the special effect of blinking off and on that was perfected later, but also lasting for 20 years. My family had several sets that lasted about that long–while actually discarding because of concerns over the cord being a fire hazard rather than the bulbs burning out. Now, when you buy those cheap pinlight Christmas lights (created to apparently prevent fire hazards), you’ll be lucky if they last a year. And every package you buy promises all the lights stay lit if one goes out. So far, I have yet to see a set that lives up to that promise if not just experiencing a short in the wiring.
Yep, those particular lights I mention above are from usually dependable General Electric.
Then you have the new energy-saving bulbs with the little unappealing looking swirl. When told those last a lifetime, I installed a lot of them in my home about five years ago. The lighting was considerably different (more diffuse) and just didn’t love them to pieces as a lot of people said they did. When they burned out within a few years, I began to suspect that those energy-saver bulbs were close to a sham. If bad for the environment or not, I’ve gone back to the regular bulbs that last only three months.
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Consider the long-ago Shelby Electric Company to be the true ideal of what America once was before the consumer became a pawn to the modern corporate structure of emptying our wallets for inferiorly-made products. True care and craftsmanship in just about everything doesn’t matter in the big business world anymore when there’s too much money to make from a lot of the population who don’t have any remembrance or concept of quality.
I’m just glad the Centennial Bulb in Livermore is a lighted beacon to remind a new generation of what was once possible and for teens today to question why that lightbulb in their bedroom lamp just won’t last past a whole school season.
To show you how many people probably do care now, the website for the Livermore Centennial Bulb had its server crash right after renewed media reports promoting it at the time of this writing.
That’s right, the 1901 lightbulb even outlasted an internet server…
