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Origins Edit

Before the flash bulb, artificial lighting in photography was carried out with blasting and smoking flash guns using explosive magnesium- or aluminium powder. In 1893, Chauffour made an ancestor of the flash bulb; this had magnesium ribbon in a glass bulb, and was fired electrically- but this had been designed for underwater photography. The first recognisable flash bulb was invented in 1925 by the German physician Paul Vierkötter - using flash powder in an evacuated light bulb, fired by a lamp filament. Later that year, Vierkötter made a low-pressure-filled bulb. The first actual flashbulb was the Vacu-Blitz, made in 1929 by the German company Hauff-Leonar AG on basis of a patent from Johannes Ostermeier. This patent describes the application of ultra-thin alumnium foil (0,5µ) in a glass bulb with a low pressure oxygen atmosphere. It was the first flash bulb design, which could be reproduced on a larger industrial scale. General Electric and Westinghouse acquired license rights for  Ostermeier's as well as Vierkötter's patents, followed shortly thereafter by Osram from Germany. Until the late thirties the European market was dominated by the Osram Vacublitz and G.E.C.'s Sashalite bulbs.

Hauff PP

In the US, the first foil bulbs were marketed under the trade names Mazda, Westinghouse and General Electric. The wire-filled bulb was developed by Mr. van Liempt from Philips in Holland on basis of an aluminium-magnesium alloy called Hydronalium, which had an enormous strength and ductility. This allowed the high-speed production of fine flash wire (32µ) with superior uniform burning properties, which was dispersed directly into the glass bulb. The Philips Photoflux flashbulbs with Hydronalium wire were launched in the Netherlands 1932. Wabash Photolamp Corporation introduced the Hydronalium wire filled bulb on the U.S. market in 1937, under the trade name Superflash.   [1] The Hauff-Leonar Vacu-Blitz

Individual Bulbs Edit

HB 11

In the very beginning, flash guns didn't even exist and therefore the first flash bulbs had small E10 fittings, which were screwed into an ordinary pocket flash.The shutter was opened, the flash was fired and the shutter was closed again, as simple as that. When the first flash guns appeared on the market, the Edison E27 Screw became the standard, followed by cheaper bayonet fittings. Later on in the fifties, costs were further lowered by the introduction of smaller powerful bulbs with wire contacts emerging from the glass, thus eliminating the expensive fitting.




Synchronisation Edit



Flashbulb types Edit


Multiple Systems Edit


Individual disposable flash bulbs had several disadvantages:

  • Taking another picture required the whole process to be repeated.


There were three major systems: Flashcubes, Magicubes and Flipflash.

Flashcubes Edit


Magicubes Edit


Flipflash Edit



Philips Topflash Edit


Polaroid Flash Bar Edit


Sylvania Flip Flash Edit


Links Edit

Glossary Terms

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