IEC TR 60887:2010

IEC/TR 60887 ®
Edition 3.0 2010-06
TECHNICAL
REPORT
RAPPORT
TECHNIQUE
Glass bulb designation system for lamps

Système de désignation des ampoules de verre pour lampes

IEC/TR 60887:2010
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IEC/TR 60887 ®
Edition 3.0 2010-06
TECHNICAL
REPORT
RAPPORT
TECHNIQUE
Glass bulb designation system for lamps

Système de désignation des ampoules de verre pour lampes

INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COMMISSION
COMMISSION
ELECTROTECHNIQUE
PRICE CODE
INTERNATIONALE
L
CODE PRIX
ICS 29.140.20 ISBN 978-2-88910-998-2
– 2 – TR 60887 © IEC:2010
CONTENTS
FOREWORD.3
1 Scope.5
2 Terms and definitions .5
3 Basic components of a designation.5
3.1 General .5
3.2 Rectangular bulbs .5
4 Bulb shape classification .6
4.1 Basic shapes.6
4.2 Modifiers .7
4.3 Special shapes.8
5 Examples .8

Figure 1 – Basic bulb shapes.9
Figure 2 – Modified bulb shapes .10
Figure 3 – Special bulb shapes .11

TR 60887 © IEC:2010 – 3 –
INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION
____________
GLASS BULB DESIGNATION SYSTEM FOR LAMPS

FOREWORD
1) The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is a worldwide organization for standardization comprising
all national electrotechnical committees (IEC National Committees). The object of IEC is to promote
international co-operation on all questions concerning standardization in the electrical and electronic fields. To
this end and in addition to other activities, IEC publishes International Standards, Technical Specifications,
Technical Reports, Publicly Available Specifications (PAS) and Guides (hereafter referred to as “IEC
Publication(s)”). Their preparation is entrusted to technical committees; any IEC National Committee interested
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2) The formal decisions or agreements of IEC on technical matters express, as nearly as possible, an international
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The main task of IEC technical committees is to prepare International Standards. However, a
technical committee may propose the publication of a technical report when it has collected
data of a different kind from that which is normally published as an International Standard, for
example "state of the art".
IEC TR 60887, which is a technical report, has been prepared by subcommittee 34A: Lamps,
of IEC technical committee 34: Lamps and related equipment.
This third edition cancels and replaces the second edition, published in 2003. It constitutes a
technical revision. The reason for this new edition is the addition of a new bulb type
designation and drawing.
The text of this technical report is based on the following documents:
Enquiry draft Report on voting
34A/1386/DTR 34A/1391/RVC
Full information on the voting for the approval of this technical report can be found in the
report on voting indicated in the above table.

– 4 – TR 60887 © IEC:2010
This publication has been drafted in accordance with the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.
The committee has decided that the contents of this publication will remain unchanged until
the stability date indicated on the IEC web site under "http://webstore.iec.ch" in the data
related to the specific publication. At this date, the publication will be
• reconfirmed,
• withdrawn,
• replaced by a revised edition, or
• amended.
TR 60887 © IEC:2010 – 5 –
GLASS BULB DESIGNATION SYSTEM FOR LAMPS

1 Scope
This technical report describes a system of nomenclature that provides designations of the
glass bulbs used as envelopes for electric lamps. The application of such designations is
directed towards the descriptions of finished lamps.
2 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.
2.1
bulb
outer envelope of glass or other transparent or translucent material enclosing the essential
components of an electric lamp
2.2
approximate reference line
construction line transverse to the axis through the neck of the bulb defining the approximate
position at which the rim of a cap, such as an Edison screw cap, would meet the neck of a
bulb
NOTE The sole purpose of the approximate reference line is to aid the establishment of technical definitions of
bulb shapes. This line appears in Figures 1 and 2 as a C-D line. No such line exists for pressed glass bulbs.
3 Basic components of a designation
3.1 General
Glass bulbs should be described by a designation consisting of a sequence of letter and
number symbols without spaces, as follows:
a) a letter symbol consisting of up to three letters which describes the bulb shape. The letter
or letters of this symbol may in some cases be a basic shape letter symbol only and in
other cases it may be a combination of a basic shape symbol and a modifier or modifiers.
Basic shapes, modifiers and special shapes are defined in Clause 4;
b) a number symbol which states the major diameter (nominal) of the bulb, in millimetres.
NOTE In some countries, bulb diameter has been stated in multiples of 1/8 of an inch. This practice should be
discouraged and preference given to millimetre units.
3.2 Rectangular bulbs
Rectangular glass bulbs should be described by the letter symbol REC followed by two sets of
numbers. The first number should designate the dimension of the shorter side; the second
number should designate the dimension of the longer side. These numbers should be
separated by the multiplication symbol (×). The dimensions should be in millimetres.

– 6 – TR 60887 © IEC:2010
4 Bulb shape classification
4.1 Basic shapes
The basic shape symbols are listed below. The following descriptive information used in
conjunction with the associated illustration in Figure 1 forms the definition of each shape.
Letter symbol General meaning Explanatory notes
A A bulb shape having a spherical end section
that is joined to the neck by a radius that
a) has a centre outside the bulb,
b) has a magnitude greater than the radius of
the spherical section,
c) and is tangent to both the neck and the
curve of the spherical end section.
NOTE These bulbs do not have any significant straight
portion between the spherical end and the transitional
radius into the neck.
...