Learning on ScreenNational Story - Pounds Shillings and Sense
Series
- Series Name
- Mining Review 19th Year
Issue
Story
- Story No. within this Issue
- 1 / 4
- Summary
- NoS synopsis: A long-lasting light bulb for underground use
NCB Commentary - Like any big industry, the Coal Board uses a great many different things in huge quantities.
It save money by buying them standardized and in bulk. But there are other ways of saving money - with electric light bulbs, for instance.
In a coal mine changing a bulb is not as easy as it is at home. The electricians have to be sent for. The bulbs are in flame-proof fittings and to open one, six or more screws must be undone and done up again - and it costs more in electricians’ time getting to the faulty bulb and replacing it - than the bulb itself is worth.
So the Coal Board got together with a bulb manufacturer to see what could be done.
They decided to make a special bulb which would burn twice as long - for two thousand hours, instead for one thousand - while reducing the light output by only ten per cent.
The makers wound special filaments and they set out to put the new lamp into production.
The new-style lamps are tested by the makers to check their light output, and by the Coal Board, who make sure that samples from each batch are within specification.
The new approach of buying light bulbs, longer-lasting at the expense of a small drop in illumination, is lopping 75 thousand pounds a year off the Board’s shopping list and £1/2 million off the wages bill. It’s good business for the nation and for the manufacturer, who can design a special item for a guaranteed market - like the nation’s business of mining coal. - Keywords
- Science and technology
- Written sources
- British Film Institute Databases
Films on Coal Catalogue 1969, p.51
The National Archives COAL 32 /13 Scripts for Mining Review, 1960-1963
- Credits:
-
- Sponsor
- National Coal Board
- Production Co.
- National Coal Board Film Unit
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