GE 1kW Sportlite PAR64 (CSI PAR64)

1 x GE 1000w compact source iodide PAR64 metal halide lamp.

This is a newer design of lamp which features Stellox PCA lead wire heat shields instead of the pressed metal cups used on the earlier Thorn lamps (which can also be seen in my gallery) and the reflector is semi dichroic.
The area around the lead wires has a dichroic coating instead of the solid aluminised finish found on the earlier lamps as this was found to cause arcing during ignition from time to time.
The whole reflector was not made dichroic because that would lead to a dangerous build up of heat within the luminaire!

It's interesting to note that when these were made each arc tube was tested and the results logged for quality control purposes. This one has an arc tube with a serial number of 6072. Other markings on the lamp also signifies what batch of tungsten was used for the electrodes.

These lamps are seriously bright at 1.5m CD which is perfect for floodlighting things from quite far away!
Back in the 1970's and 80's these were very popular for lighting up sports stadia in compact luminaires and also other things like statues and buildings where the lighting point had to be quite far away.

This was quite expensive (but still a hell of a lot cheaper than they go for in retailers) but since I only had one other Thorn one which I didn't really want to use too much, I decided I might as well bite the bullet and order one while I still could.
I had to import this from the U.S.A which despite the shipping costs still worked out a lot cheaper!
Funny that, a lamp made in the UK, shipped to the USA where it spent the next 20 years until I brought it back home :)