Method of making a unitary tubular generally U-shaped discharge vessel, particularly for compact fluorescent lamps

摘要

To prevent weakened corners when forming a U-shaped discharge tube with sharp corners (28, 29) during a bending operation from a straight tube, two glass tubes (1, 3) having a wall dimension suitable for a compact fluorescent tube are fused to a central tubular glass element (2) of thicker wall dimension so that, upon bending into U-shape with sharp corners (28, 29), the thicker wall portion can stretch and form the essentially right-angle corners of requisite wall thickness. Preferably, during the heating steps for forming the glass, the initially straight glass portions (1, 2, 3) are rotated.