Mercury Vapour lamps operating at high pressure (but below 100 watts per centimetre of arc length) and with arc tubes of quartz glass are classified as the MB style. Mercury vapour pressure is typically around ten atmospheres. The reason for the creation of this second category of mercury lamp was to allow the efficacy to be maintained as high as possible for low wattage sources.
The luminous efficacy of any discharge lamp falls as wattage is reduced. It was not feasible to make an MA style lamp below about 150W because its efficacy dropped so much that it could no longer compete with filament lamps. However if the mercury vapour pressure and power loading is increased, luminous efficacy also rises. This was not possible with MA lamps because the arc tube would melt at the higher temperatures which are present at higher power loading.
Quartz glass having a very high softening temperature was necessary to make the low wattage mercury lamp feasible. Quartz is not an easy material to use though. Its coefficient of thermal expansion is so low that no metal wire can be sealed through it directly. One solution came from the work of Denis Gabor at German Osram and later BTH, who invented the molybdenum foil seal. Moly foil of very thin cross-section expands so little that the quartz barely knows it's there. The edges of the foil are feathered, either by rolling or etching, and these knife edges can deform and bury themselves in the quartz as they expand, without cracking it. An alternative seal based on a stack of glasses having graded expansion coefficients was developed by Cornelis Bol at Philips, but was ultimately superseded by the foil seal.
Following the development of these seals, the first high pressure quartz mercury lamps were marketed in 1936 by Philips. The higher wattage MA lamps continued to be made with aluminosilicate arc tubes until the late 1950's on account of the large price penalty that quartz carried with it in the early days, and that an increase in their power loading did not bring such a large advantage as for the low wattages. Eventually though once the price of quartz had fallen sufficiently, and means had been developed for mechanising the seal production, the MB lamp completely superseded the former MA range. |
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Uncoated Lamps |
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GE |
85W |
H-3 early model with graded seals to tungsten |
1937 |
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GE-Mazda |
100W |
H-4 early model with graded seals to tungsten |
1938 |
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GE-Mazda |
250W |
H-5 early model with graded seals to tungsten |
1943 |
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GEC |
125W |
Osira MB/V first model with moly shrink-seals |
1944 |
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Siemens |
125W |
Sieray Type QH with Siemens Foil Seals |
1944 |
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Mazda |
80W |
MB/V with earliest mechanised seal design |
1947 |
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Mazda |
80W |
MB/V first model with moly shrink-seals |
1947 |
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Crompton |
80W |
MB/U in pear shaped pearl bulb |
~1955 |
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GEC |
125W |
MB/U in pear shaped pearl bulb |
1978 |
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Mazda |
125W |
MB/U in ellipsoidal shaped pearl bulb |
1969 |
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Sylvania |
40W |
H45-AZ Low Wattage Mercury Discharge |
~1965 |
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Osram |
125W |
HQA with new emitter to reduced blackening |
1965 |
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Narva |
125W |
NF125-00 with sintered emitter pellet electrodes |
1972 |
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GE |
100W |
H100/A23 for retrofit into GLS luminaires |
1979 |
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Philips |
400W |
MB/V Long tubular style to replace MA size lamp |
1964 |
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Atlas |
400W |
MB/V Long tubular style to replace MA size lamp |
1970 |
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GEC |
250W |
MB/U short tubular style for new applications |
1974 |
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Sylvania |
400W |
H33-1CD Rough Service lamp with girder frame |
1968 |
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Iwasaki |
2000W |
H2000B High Wattage |
1997 |
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Fluorescent Lamps - Sulphide |
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Philips |
75W |
Philora HPL300 with Sulphide phosphor |
1938 |
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Fluorescent Lamps - Germanate / Arsenate |
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GEC |
125W |
MBF/V with Magnesium Fluoro-germanate |
1961 |
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Sylvania |
100W |
H100/C with Magnesium Fluoro-germanate |
1961 |
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Philips |
250W |
HPL with Magnesium Arsenate |
1965 |
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Narva |
400W |
HQL-G Goldweiss with Mg Fluoro-germanate |
1971 |
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Osram |
50W |
HQL half coated demonstration lamp |
1964 |
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Fluorescent Lamps - Orthophosphate |
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GE |
175W |
Bonus Line H175-39/W Impregnated electrodes |
1963 |
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Westinghouse |
400W |
H400/W with strontium zinc orthophosphate |
1968 |
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Narva |
250W |
HQL-S Silberweiss with orthphosphate coating |
1969 |
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Osram |
400W |
HQL-S Silberweiss with orthphosphate coating |
1969 |
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Fluorescent Lamps - Halophosphate |
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Tesla |
125W |
RVL-B with calcium halophsophate coating |
1971 |
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Fluorescent Lamps - Vanadate |
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Polam |
125W |
LRF with Vanadate and Orthophosphate coating |
1976 |
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Sylvania |
175W |
H175/DX with Yttrium Vanadate coating |
1979 |
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GEC |
1000W |
MBF/U with Yttrium Vanadate coating |
1977 |
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Westinghouse |
100W |
H100/DX with Yttrium Phosphate Vanadate |
1983 |
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Toshiba |
200W |
HFX 200 Japanese style fluorescent mercury |
1990 |
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DuroTest |
175W |
Safe-T-Vapor lamp with internal oxygen fuse |
c. 1980 |
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Westinghouse |
400W |
Safety Lifeguard with internal cut-out device |
1981 |
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Thorn |
125W |
MBF half coated demonstration lamp |
1986 |
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Fluorescent Lamps - Warm and Deluxe Colours |
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Sylvania |
400W |
H33-1-GL/WDX Warm Deluxe colour |
1973 |
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Sylvania |
100W |
H100/N Warmtone with Vanadate + YAG + dye |
1982 |
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Westinghouse |
400W |
H400/R Beauty Lite with high red ratio |
1982 |
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Philips |
400W |
HPL Deluxe with Coarse Grain Vanadate coating |
1983 |
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Philips |
80W |
HPL Comfort with Coarse Vanadate + YAG coating |
1993 |
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Osram |
50W |
HQL-B Super Deluxe with Vanadate + Gold Laquer |
1993 |
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Fluorescent Lamps - Yellow |
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Westinghouse |
400W |
H400/Y Caution Yellow with external lacquer |
1969 |
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Osram |
250W |
HQL/5 Caution Yellow with external lacquer |
~1965 |
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Reflector Lamps |
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Philips |
125W |
HPLR E40 Cap Reflector with Arsenate Phosphor |
1969 |
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GEC |
125W |
MBFR/U Mercury with Ellipsoidal Reflector |
1977 |
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Thorn |
400W |
MBFR/U Mercury Fluorescent Reflector |
1988 |
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Iwasaki |
50W |
HR50W/S Mercury Spot Reflector Lamp |
2001 |
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Sylvania |
100W |
H44GS-100 Mercury Sealed Beam Reflector |
2003 |
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Meda |
250W |
HML250-PR Side Reflector Streetlighting |
c. 1960s |
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Narva |
125W |
NF125-21 Street lighting with ellipsoidal reflector |
1979 |
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Philips |
400W |
HLRG Horticultural with ellipsoidal reflector |
1975 |
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SELZ |
400W |
DRLF400-1 Horticultural with ellipsoidal reflector |
1983 |
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Self-Ballasted Lamps |
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Mazda |
200W |
MBT/V with shrink seals and pearl outer bulb |
~1945 |
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Philips |
250W |
ML500 First model mercury blended |
~1940-45 |
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Osram |
165W |
HWA 302 German lamp in pearl outer bulb |
1958 |
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Bumix |
860W |
"Jupiter" variable colour mushroom-shape |
~1950 |
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Philips |
160W |
ML Mixed Light Clear pear-shaped |
~1955 |
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Thorn |
160W |
MBT Sunlight Clear mercury blended |
1987 |
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Philips |
160W |
ML with new design for automatic production |
2003 |
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National |
100W |
BH100 with preheated arc tube electrodes |
2001 |
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DuroTest |
750W |
Self-Ballasted Lamp of high efficiency design |
~1960 |
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XingJi |
500W |
HMB Halogen-Ballasted Mercury Vapour |
2003 |
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Philips |
160W |
MBTL with Magnesium fluoro-germanate |
1960 |
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Atlas |
250W |
MBTF with Yttrium Vanadate coated bulb |
1970 |
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Osram |
500W |
HWL with isothermal bulb shape |
1974? |
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GE |
160W |
E-Z Lux low voltage HSB160/PS30/M |
~1980 |
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DuroTest |
450W |
Fluomeric with special high efficiency design |
1970/78 |
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Philips |
160W |
MLR mercury blended reflector style |
1984 |
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Ultraviolet Erythemal |
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GE |
100W |
S-4 Sunlamp with Graded Glass Seals |
1940 |
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Osram |
300W |
Ultra-Vitalux Sunlamp Blended Round |
1941 |
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Osram |
300W |
Ultra-Vitalux Sunlamp Blended Reflector |
1957 |
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GE |
275W |
RS Sunlamp Blended Reflector |
1947 |
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Sylvania |
275W |
RS Sunlamp Blended Reflector |
1966 |
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Philips |
500W |
Biosol MLU Sunlamp Blended Reflector |
1953 |
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Philips |
300W |
Ultraphil MLU Sunlamp Blended Reflector |
1968 |
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Ultraviolet Actinic |
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Philips |
125W |
HPR Actinic Printing in Reflector Bulb |
1984 |
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GE-Thorn |
5kW |
MB high wattage photo-printing lamp |
1991 |
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Ultraviolet Blacklight |
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GE |
100W |
H100-BL4 Purple-X Blacklight Woods Glass |
1971 |
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Osram |
80W |
HQV Blacklight Woods Glass |
1964 |
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Thorn |
125W |
MBW Blacklight Woods Glass |
1974 |
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Philips |
125W |
HPW Blacklight Woods Glass |
1985 |
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Philips |
125W |
HPW-TS Blacklight with UV-A Phosphor |
1991 |
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Iwasaki |
400W |
H400BL Blacklight Woods Glass |
1994 |
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SELZ |
125W |
DRUFZ 125-1 Blacklight Woods Glass Reflector |
1983 |
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Projection & Special Application |
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GEC |
80W |
MB/D Projector lamp with handmade arctube |
1942 |
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GE |
85W |
H85A3/UV Lab-Arc Ultraviolet Source |
1952 |
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Mazda |
80W |
MB/D for monochrome slide projection |
1962 |
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Mazda |
125W |
MBL/D with diaphragms for laboratory use |
1967 |
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Philips |
125W |
HPK 125 for laboratory use |
1975 |
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Mazda |
40W |
MBM Coal Mine lamp for compressed air system |
1950 |
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