Science: Flashlamp

Compared to other accessories of modern photography, the noise, smoke and smell of flashlight powder are anachronistic. General Electric told last week of a new fiashlamp, with smell, smoke and noise eliminated.

Instead of the old unwieldy magnesium powder pan, the new flashlamp looks like an ordinary incandescent bulb. Filled with oxygen, the bulb contains a specially coated filament and crumpled sheets of thin aluminum foil. When the circuit is closed the filament lights, ignites the aluminum foil. Each bulb is used only once. The lamp can be plugged in on an ordinary 115-volt alternating current circuit, or can be used with batteries. The flash lasts only 1/100 sec. Being completely self-contained, offering no fire hazard, the flashlamp can be used where flashlight photographs have never been taken before, in trains, aircraft, rainstorms, under water.