Some of us have not lived so long or will not live to see the day of 107, but Tom Bramell, a former Livermore fire chief at Station No. 6 still gazes at the worlds longest burning lightbulb.
Bramell said:
Most people just consider it a freak of engineering, but I believe the bulb has stayed alive so many years because the makers gave it a perfect seal, so no air gets inside the bulb to help disintegrate the carbon filament. This bulb operates in a vacuum and it doesn’t burn hot. That’s the secret.
At 107 years, both Guinness World Records and Ripley’s Believe It Or Not have recognized the long-lived lightbulb of Livermore. It was in 1901, when the tiny bulb was first screwed into place inside a hose cart. Manufactured by the Shelby Electric Co. of Shelby, Ohio, the bulb has outlived its maker, which closed in 1914. The lightbulb is with a surge protector and has a diesel generator and a battery as backups. Some 600 people celebrated the bulbs 100th birthday in 2001, now they say they are looking forward to its 200th birthday and since it had survived, even firefighters from World War II giving the bulb a playful swat for good luck and some used it for target for Nerf basketball practice.
Source: LA Times