Today I was getting millstone manor ready for the XMAS throngs (18 for lunch on boxing day!) anyway as part of this exercise I cleaned the lava lamp that is in our 'drawing room' - dank place we only use on hi days and holidays. I turned it on and by the time I had cleaned the room, polished the grate and hovered round it was bubbling away merrily. Then a thought struck me - the lava lamp needs an incandescent bulb to make it work, generate the heat to create the motion for which these lamps are famous. I had a look at it and wondered if the bulb went whether I could get a new one or would have to replace it with an LED and a small heating element (thus defeating the drive for eco lighting)! Extending this a little further I wondered what other devices of fond memory might have to be re-engineered because the incandescent lamp is in its final phase of life - or is it? Any ideas? (PS this is not an excuse to discuss the finer points / merits or otherwise of government policy or, heaven forfend, the machinations of  much maligned / meddling (delete as appropriate) bureaucrats in Brussels.)

Afaik these never went away, ostensibly for trade. TLC sell them for one.

 

For Lava Lamps you get can them from the original manufacturer Mathmos.

http://www.mathmos.com/mathmos-replacement-bulbs.html

 

Ferdinand

I remember years ago my parents had an electric fire. There was an incandescent bulb in it and the hot air rising from it made a circular grate rotate like a propeller to create a strobing effect on the back panel.

 

Apparently these are flicker vanes and then there was an orange bulb that shone through them to create a flame effect.

Edited December 20, 20169 yr by AliG

13 hours ago, Ferdinand said:

For Lava Lamps you get can them from the original manufacturer Mathmos.

http://www.mathmos.com/mathmos-replacement-bulbs.html

Yes thanks Ferdinand - good to know you can still get them but my question was aimed at finding other objects that use the heat from a bulb, not available from an LED, to make something amusing such as @AliG mentions.

I ended up on youtube watching a man cook a turkey with an incandescent lamp and 4 DL DVDs.