10-07-2022, 06:08 AM
Yes, the H.A.M.B. forum mentions aluminizing (sic) as a better alternative to traditional silver plating. Also works on non-metal headlamp reflectors too of course, and there used to be a coffin furniture manufacturing firm here in NZ too that once did one-offs (but not any more).
I actually had a bit of trouble finding anyone that would do the traditional silver-plate, its not the silver plating that's the issue so much; rather its the associated environmental toxicity involved with the parent chrome plating operation that makes it difficult to find one that's still in business.
If anyone is still interested in my USA 21 candle-power headlamp globe thesis, I later pulled out my book of 1925 electrical data sheets and yes, apart from a handful of outliers who specified 18 or 25 c.p. globes, every manufacturer from Apperson to Winton used 21 c.p. globes in their headlamps. Almost all had no dipped beams in the sense we understand it today, one dipped the reflectors like the Lucas dip-and-switch system (without the 'switch' so far as I can tell from the schematic), some inserted a power resistor in series, most that bothered look to have switched out the 21 c.p. globe and switched on a pair of 2 c.p. globes which could either be in separate lamps or inserted in, but off the focal point of the headlamp reflector. I suspect the latter is the reason for the OPs #63 globes being in the OP's pictures with headlamps.
I actually had a bit of trouble finding anyone that would do the traditional silver-plate, its not the silver plating that's the issue so much; rather its the associated environmental toxicity involved with the parent chrome plating operation that makes it difficult to find one that's still in business.
If anyone is still interested in my USA 21 candle-power headlamp globe thesis, I later pulled out my book of 1925 electrical data sheets and yes, apart from a handful of outliers who specified 18 or 25 c.p. globes, every manufacturer from Apperson to Winton used 21 c.p. globes in their headlamps. Almost all had no dipped beams in the sense we understand it today, one dipped the reflectors like the Lucas dip-and-switch system (without the 'switch' so far as I can tell from the schematic), some inserted a power resistor in series, most that bothered look to have switched out the 21 c.p. globe and switched on a pair of 2 c.p. globes which could either be in separate lamps or inserted in, but off the focal point of the headlamp reflector. I suspect the latter is the reason for the OPs #63 globes being in the OP's pictures with headlamps.