Abstract:
An incandescent lamp having an extended operating life with a high operating efficiency in terms of lumens per watt. The lamp incorporates a rectifying diode (40) in series with the filament (26) and the filament (26) has an operating temperature less than 2550oC. A reflector (28) is mounted in the neck portion (14) of the lamp for reflecting visible light outwardly through the bulb portion (12) of the envelope (10) and for minimizing convection currents in the base (32) of the lamp. The diode (40) is disposed between the reflector (28) and the lamp base (32).