Fig. 65 is a cut of the ordinary Edison lamp and socket. One end
of the filament is connected to the metal screw ferule at the
base. The other end is attached to the metal button in the centre
of the extreme bottom of the base. Screwing the lamp into the
socket automatically connects the filament on one end to the
screw, on the other to an insulated plate at the bottom of the
socket.
The resistance of such a filament hot is about 200 ohms, and to
produce a good light from it the battery or dynamo ought to give
an electromotive force of at least 100 volts. Few voltaic cells or
accumulators have an electromotive force of more than 2 volts,
therefore we require a battery of 50 cells joined in series, each
cell giving 2 volts, and the whole set 100 volts. The strength of
current in the circuit must also be taken into account. To yield a
good light such a lamp requires or "takes" about 1/2 an ampere.
Hence the cells must be chosen with regard to their size and
internal resistance as well as to their kind, so that when the
battery, in series, is connected to the lamp, the resistance of
the whole circuit, including the filament or lamp, the battery
itself, and the connecting wires shall give by Ohm's law a current
of 1\2 an ampere. It will be understood that the current has the
same strength in every part of the circuit, no matter how it is
made up. Thus, if 1/2 of an ampere is flowing in the lamp, it is
also flowing in the battery and wires. An Edison-Swan lamp of this
model gives a light of about 15 candles, and is well adapted for
illuminating the interior of houses. The temperature of the carbon
filament is about 3450 degrees Fahr--that is to say, the
temperature at which platinum melts. Similar lamps of various
sizes and shapes are also made, some equivalent to as many as 100
candles, and fitted for large halls or streets, others emitting a
tiny beam like the spark of a glow-worm, and designed for medical
examinations, or lighting flowers, jewels, and dresses in theatres
or ball-rooms.
The electric incandescent lamp is pure and healthy, since it
neither burns nor pollutes the air. It is also cool and safe, for
it produces little heat, and cannot ignite any inflammable stuffs
near it. Hence its peculiar merit as a light for colliers working
in fiery mines. Independent of air, it acts equally well under
water, and is therefore used by divers. Moreover, it can be fixed
wherever a wire can be run, does not tarnish gilding, and lends
itself to the most artistic decoration.
Electric lamps are usually connected in circuit on the series,
parallel, and three wire system.
The series system is shown in figure 66, where the lamps L L
follow each other in a row like beads on a string. It is commonly
reserved for the arc lamp, which has a resistance so low that a
moderate electromotive force can overcome the added resistance of
the lamps, but, of course, if the circuit breaks at any point all
the lamps go out.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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