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Quiz about The LongLived Lightbulb of Livermore
Quiz about The LongLived Lightbulb of Livermore

The Long-Lived Lightbulb of Livermore Quiz

Fire Station No. 6 in Livermore, CA is home to the world's longest continuously lit lightbulb. Take this quiz to learn its story!

A multiple-choice quiz by pu2-ke-qi-ri. Estimated time: 5 mins.
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Author
pu2-ke-qi-ri
Time
5 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
289,387
Updated
Jul 23 22
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
7 / 10
Plays
779
Awards
Top 5% quiz!
Last 3 plays: LadyNym (9/10), pixiecat (8/10), emmal2000uk (5/10).
Question 1 of 10
1. Long, long ago, probably the late 1890s, in a lightbulb factory far, far away, our lightbulb was born, manufactured by Shelby Electric Co. of Shelby, OH. Our lightbulb is a little bigger than your average modern lightbulb, with a hand-blown glass bulb and a squiggly filament. What was the filament made of? Hint


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Question 2 of 10
2. In 1901, the lightbulb was first installed in a Livermore fire station. The lightbulb's job was to keep firemen from having to fumble with the wicks of kerosene lanterns as they were responding to calls. What was different about fire engines and fire equipment back then? Hint


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Question 3 of 10
3. Our lightbulb did not always receive the special treatment that it does today. Firemen returning from war in the 1940s and 1950s would swat the bulb for good luck! Which wars would they have been returning from? Hint


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Question 4 of 10
4. By the 1960s and 1970s, returning veterans and the next generation found a slightly gentler use for the lightbulb - they used it as a target for Nerf basketball practice.


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Question 5 of 10
5. In 1972, a newspaper reporter looked into the history of the bulb, interviewing old-timers and checking records. Which other compendium of amazing facts also researched and confirmed the bulb's longevity? Hint


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Question 6 of 10
6. In July 1976, the Long Lived Lightbulb of Livermore was transported from the old Fire Department headquarters to the new Station No. 6. What was true about this two-mile excursion? Hint


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Question 7 of 10
7. There are other light bulb Methuselahs in this world, with light, er, life spans which would qualify them for the AARP. Where else could you see one of these light bulb senior citizens? Hint


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Question 8 of 10
8. Old lightbulbs can be big business. In December 2006, Christie's in London put up for auction a long-lost box of 23 lightbulbs which were used as evidence in a crucial patent infringement suit which Thomas Edison won. What was the highest bid for these lightbulbs? Hint


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Question 9 of 10
9. In an effort to cast the light of the Long Lived Lightbulb of Livermore over the whole world, the folks at Station No. 6 set up a lightbulb webcam. Unlike the lightbulb, this webcam was short-lived. What happened? Hint


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Question 10 of 10
10. The Long Lived Lightbulb of Livermore in Station No. 6, will always be a point of pride for the firefighters who work there. What will the long-glowing lightbulb always symbolize to them? Hint



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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. Long, long ago, probably the late 1890s, in a lightbulb factory far, far away, our lightbulb was born, manufactured by Shelby Electric Co. of Shelby, OH. Our lightbulb is a little bigger than your average modern lightbulb, with a hand-blown glass bulb and a squiggly filament. What was the filament made of?

Answer: Carbon

 Sir Humphry Davy, that famous English chemist, invented the first arc lamp in 1809 by running electric current through a charcoal strip to make it glow. Successive generations improved upon the design. In 1854, the German watchmaker Heinrich Globel placed the carbon filament inside a glass bulb; in 1875, Herman Sprengel invented the mercury vacuum pump, which made it possible to create a good vacuum inside the bulb. Thomas Edison was the first to really extend the longevity of light bulbs - the carbonized bamboo filament bulbs he invented in 1880 could last up to 1200 hours. Tungsten filaments, like we use in modern-day bulbs, were not invented until 1906, and did not become cost-effective until 1910.
2. In 1901, the lightbulb was first installed in a Livermore fire station. The lightbulb's job was to keep firemen from having to fumble with the wicks of kerosene lanterns as they were responding to calls. What was different about fire engines and fire equipment back then?

Answer: Fire engines were drawn by horses.

 The first hand-pumped fire engines arrived in America during Colonial days (though colonial laws still required that every house keep a bucket of water on the front porch at night!) Those fire engines were designed to be moved by teams of firemen pushing them! Horse-drawn fire engines came into widespread use in the mid-1800s, but gas-powered steam engines were not invented until the early 20th century.
3. Our lightbulb did not always receive the special treatment that it does today. Firemen returning from war in the 1940s and 1950s would swat the bulb for good luck! Which wars would they have been returning from?

Answer: World War II and the Korean War

 A higher percentage of firefighters are veterans than the general population, and fire fighters have a long and rich history of military service. Legend has it that a platoon of fire fighters served under Stoutenburgh in the Revolutionary War, and there were regiments of fire fighters in the Union Army during the Civil War.
4. By the 1960s and 1970s, returning veterans and the next generation found a slightly gentler use for the lightbulb - they used it as a target for Nerf basketball practice.

Answer: True

In 1970, Parker Brothers introduced its original NERF ball with the slogan, "Throw it indoors; you can't damage lamps or break windows. You can't hurt babies or old people." Perhaps the Livermore fire fighters felt this statement needed field testing?
5. In 1972, a newspaper reporter looked into the history of the bulb, interviewing old-timers and checking records. Which other compendium of amazing facts also researched and confirmed the bulb's longevity?

Answer: Ripley's Believe-It-Or-Not

 The Guinness Book of World Records has also declared Livermore's Long-Lived Lightbulb the oldest known working lightbulb.
6. In July 1976, the Long Lived Lightbulb of Livermore was transported from the old Fire Department headquarters to the new Station No. 6. What was true about this two-mile excursion?

Answer: Both of these are true.

 One reason given for the bulb's longevity is the fact that it has almost never been turned on and off. When the light bulb is on, the filament heats and expands; when the filament is turned off, it cools and shrinks. This thermal cycling weakens the filament material, making it more likely to break, and the bulb to burn out. The lightbulb is also only about 4 watts, which may help.
7. There are other light bulb Methuselahs in this world, with light, er, life spans which would qualify them for the AARP. Where else could you see one of these light bulb senior citizens?

Answer: All of these places

 The second longest lived lightbulb is known as the Palace Bulb, installed in the Byers Opera House (later Palace Theater) in 1908, and later moved to the Stockyards Museum in Forth Worth, Texas. The third longest lived bulb is reputed to have been installed in a certain hardware store in NYC in 1912, but it is unknown whether it is still shining.

The fourth longest lived bulb was installed in a fire station in Mangum, Oklahoma in 1926. Unlike our lightbulb, this one is regularly turned on and off.
8. Old lightbulbs can be big business. In December 2006, Christie's in London put up for auction a long-lost box of 23 lightbulbs which were used as evidence in a crucial patent infringement suit which Thomas Edison won. What was the highest bid for these lightbulbs?

Answer: 95,000 pounds

 Most old lightbulbs go for under £100, but one Edison wood-based bulb from 1879-1880 supposedly sold for $6,850. One British lightbulb collector has amassed over 1,500 old lightbulbs!
9. In an effort to cast the light of the Long Lived Lightbulb of Livermore over the whole world, the folks at Station No. 6 set up a lightbulb webcam. Unlike the lightbulb, this webcam was short-lived. What happened?

Answer: The webcam died after three years. Oh, the irony!

 According to legend, the year 1991 saw the invention of the world's first webcam, which showed the world the coffee pot in the Trojan room of Cambridge University's computer science department. Alas, that webcam met its end in 2001. Perhaps future technological developments will create webcams with lifespans comparable to that of our lightbulb.

Then again, would that be a good thing? Light is light, but would computers a century from now be able to understand the input of a hundred year old webcam? I think not.
10. The Long Lived Lightbulb of Livermore in Station No. 6, will always be a point of pride for the firefighters who work there. What will the long-glowing lightbulb always symbolize to them?

Answer: How firefighters are always on duty, always ready to come to the rescue.

 Bud Kennedy, a columnist for the Fort Worth Star Telegram and proponent of the rival Palace Theater Light, once visited the Long Lived Lightbulb of Livermore, plotting "to kick the wall and see if I could jiggle it out of its socket." Being in our lightbulb's presence made him change his mind.

He said, "The guys there consider the bulb a point of pride, as a symbol of firefighters everywhere. Who can argue with that?"
Source: Author pu2-ke-qi-ri

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor Nannanut before going online.
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