I don’t know what you call those little light bulbs.
When I was little, I always got very excited about buying miniature bulbs at the hobby store.
Thank you for reminding me of that, beautiful pictures!
That’s like the bulbs used in backlit displays. I have some that are smaller than 3mm LED lighting one display. It reminds me too of EL backlights which were also quite common.
Yes, they were used in a lot of the items you all mention. Medical equipment, model railroad locomotives, panel lights…. But if you were to walk up to a counter at an electronic supply house, what would you ask for?
These bulbs were used back when there was no other option for a very small light source.
These bulbs are not to be confused with a “Wheat Lamp”, named after it’s inventor, Grant Wheat.
Those lamps were designed for underground mining. Here is the Wikipedia Article on the Wheat Lamp.
Yes, this is a heat sink. The question is, were was the heat coming from and how was this used.
(I could be wrong, but I don’t think Google will help you on this one.)
Before I posted that pic I searched the Internet as though I didn’t know what it was. I could find nothing. Congratulations on your voluminous knowledge.
Creepy looking thing, isn’t it? I can’t imagine that they’re terribly durable. It says these were used in electric railroad locomotives… seems like a harzardous cleanup in the event of a collision.