1989 Philips MR16 Blue 50W (12 V)

Philips began developing its own MR16 halogen lamps around the mid-1980s following the weak market penetration of its spun aluminum version introduced a decade earlier. The Dutch released most of the new lamps in 1989 under the “Masterline” brand and all twelve models were fully listed in the company’s literature the following year. While all of them were white light sources with a 3200 K color temperature, Philips also developed colored versions provided with an additional dichroic front window. In the pre-development model shown here, the multilayer filter is designed to transmit blue light. Interestingly, because the lamp is of the wide (38°) beam type, the projected light pattern varies in color due to the angle-dependent optical properties of the front filter. In order to limit this color spread, the Dutch limited the beam angle of their commercial colored Masterlines to 8°, which is also more suited to the demands of accent lighting applications.