This light bulb is 107 years old, and still burning!
At 107, still a real live wire
The low-watt firehouse bulb has been burning continuously since 1901. It’s generated awe and respect, even among the backers of a Texas rival.
By John M. Glionna May 05, 2008
Five years after his retirement, ex-firefighter Tom Bramell still likes to visit Station No. 6 for old times’ sake, whistling in amazement at all the changes – the strange faces and slick high-tech engines.
But one thing remains exactly the same, and it’s what Bramell misses the most about his firefighting days. The sturdy little object hangs from the ceiling in the firehouse’s engine bay, emitting its familiar faint orange glow.
He calls it the long-lived lightbulb of Livermore.
That’s actually something of an understatement.
At 107 years and counting, the low-watt wonder with the curlicue carbon filament has been named the planet’s longest continuously burning bulb by both Guinness World Records and Ripley’s Believe It Or Not.
As objet d’art and enduring symbol of American reliability and ingenuity, it’s been lauded by senators and presidents.
It boasts a website – www.centennialbulb.org, drawing a million hits a year – a historical society and even a webcam that allows curious fans to check on it 24 hours a day.
The Livermore lightbulb, you see, never gets turned off, which many suspect is the secret to its longevity.
Hanging 18 feet above the floor at the end of a black cloth-covered cord, the little light with the filament the width of a No. 2 pencil is unprotected by any lampshade.Firefighters won’t even dust it. Touch it, jokes one captain, and “you get your fingers chopped off.”
