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Two classics from a bygone era Shown here are two ancient fluorescent mercury lamps in operation, a 1961 Sylvania H38-4JA/C (left) and a 1955 Philips HPL 80W (right), both coated with a magnesium-activated phosphor which results in a distinctly greenish light color that used to be common in our streets from the 1950s and 60s. The light color temperature is a bit different however, the HPL has less red in its emitted light, which thus appears noticeably cooler and better balanced to the eye (i.e., less greenish). [img]https://i.ibb.co/1Gf1PYc8/IMG5915-m.jpg[/img] Keywords: Lamps

Two classics from a bygone era


Shown here are two ancient fluorescent mercury lamps in operation, a 1961 Sylvania H38-4JA/C (left) and a 1955 Philips HPL 80W (right), both coated with a magnesium-activated phosphor which results in a distinctly greenish light color that used to be common in our streets from the 1950s and 60s. The light color temperature is a bit different however, the HPL has less red in its emitted light, which thus appears noticeably cooler and better balanced to the eye (i.e., less greenish).
HPL-HPI_comparison.jpg Eye_MT150D.jpg _IMG5906-m.jpg Hg-Ne.jpg IMG_6186.JPG
Lamp/Fixture Information
Manufacturer:Sylvania (left), Philips (right)
Model Reference:H38-4JA/C (left), HPL 80W (right)
Lamp
Lamp Type:Fluorescent mercury high pressure
Filament/Radiator Type:Thermal discharge in argon and mercury vapor, fluorescence
Base:E39 (left), E27 (right)
Shape/Finish:Bulged tubular (left), arbitrary (right), fluorescent coated
Burning Position:Universal
Electrical
Wattage:100 W (left), 80 W (right)
Voltage:130 V (left), 115 V (right)
Current:0.85 A (left), 0.80 A (right)
Optical
Lumen Output:4.10 klm (left), 2.8 klm (right)
Lumen Efficacy:41 lm/W (left), 35 lm/W (right)
Colour Temperature:4200 K (left), 4800 K (right)
Colour Rendering Index:45 Ra8 (left), 28 Ra8 (right)
Physical/Production
Factory Location:Manchester, NH, USA (left), Eindhoven, the Netherlands (right)
Fabrication Date:September 1961 (left), January 1954 (right)
Application/Use:Streetlighting
File information
Filename:_IMG5906-m.jpg
Album name:Max / Misc lamps and lighting
Keywords:Lamps
Filesize:983 KiB
Date added:29 Jul 2025
Dimensions:1500 x 1127 pixels
Displayed:41 times
Software:Adobe Photoshop CS2 Windows
URL:https://trad-lighting.net/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=936
Favourites:Add to Favourites

Comment 1 to 9 of 9
Page: 1

Ria   [Tue 29 Jul 2025 at 11:14]
I have a couple of those 1955 Philips lamps, same year I was born Mr. Green
Max   [Tue 29 Jul 2025 at 19:08]
And do you ever light them from time to time? I just took a spare one out to enjoy its light... it's definitely not something we see these days, even with aged LED streetlights.
Ria   [Tue 29 Jul 2025 at 20:46]
Occasionally, not all that often, must find one out again Bulb Man Mercury Vapour Lamp
Max   [Wed 30 Jul 2025 at 20:00]
Do you also notice that the greenish hue of its light becomes really apparent only when there are other lamps of a different type running in the vicinity? If the HPL is the only lamp in operation, then the perceived light color has more a daylight tone. That's how far the eye adapts itself to ambient lighting conditions (at least for me). In my opinion, this is quite revealing of the reason why the imbalanced light spectrum of early color-corrected mercury lamps was not that big of a deal back then.
Ria   [Thu 31 Jul 2025 at 00:16]
I'll let you know when we've found one out and lit it. Today we had our 100CP Pointolite lamp on, as I had to replace the lamp out socket on the home made control box as it was shorting one of the lamp leads to earth and tripping the breaker every time we switched it on Rolling Eyes Embarrassed
Max   [Thu 31 Jul 2025 at 11:39]
Funnily enough, yesterday I found the following mention in an old Philips technical paper about that lamp (J. Ouweltjes et al., A new high-pressure mercury lamp with fluorescent bulb, in Philips Technical Review, v.13, n.5, 11/1951, pp. 109-144): "there is no question of any green coloration of the resultant light from the HPL lamps in which this new phosphor is used." Here they are referring specifically to the manganese-activated magnesium arsenate phosphor used in the HPL 80W shown here. They really had no objection about the light color... standards were quite different back then!
Ria   [Thu 31 Jul 2025 at 13:16]
Interesting..! I think I have a copy of that somewhere, will have to look it up. Personally, I love the colour of these lamps.
347vPowerlite   [Sun 24 Aug 2025 at 16:01]
Great shot of two classic MV lamps burning! There might be some places with long forgotten /C lamps still burning. I know of one building with a Sylvania H39KC-175/C left in a recessed can.
Max   [Sun 14 Sep 2025 at 05:34]
Thanks! With your usual "don't fix it till it's broken" approach to lighting maintenance (i.e. on your side of the pond), you certainly have some outliers still burning in the field.

Comment 1 to 9 of 9
Page: 1