I knew I had to get this lamp when I saw it, it's just too old and weird looking. I need to replace the power cord but it is completely functional. It's pretty dirty right now but I think I can clean it up with some steel wool or something.

It sort of looks like a basic reading lamp, but upon closer inspection one notes the presence of two heating coils. So is it some sort of sunlamp?

Here's the dial. Apparently it's a "Sperti Irradiation Lamp" which of course means it "combines Ultra violet and infra red" light. Um, okay. I guess you're supposed to use some kind of 'ultra violet' light bulb for it but I'm using a 40 watt. If you turn the dial to "Infra Red" the coils heat up something fierce and it gets kind of scary. I thought I turned the lamp off earlier, but I had actually turned on the heating coils. When I came back a few minutes later, my room was boiling (I mean, more than it is usually).

I gotta look up more info about this. I found this site, which details "Turn of the Century Electrotherapy" items, including some mentions of the Sperti company, but I haven't found anything specific to this item. From the design I'd say it dates back to the 40's at least. Anybody out there an amateur electrotherapy enthusiast?

Comments [ ]