Compact fluorescent lamp having a partitioned envelope

A low-pressure electric discharge lamp comprising;

• an elongated envelope of vitreous light-transmitting material that has a sealed portion and contains an ionizable medium and a pair of spaced electrodes,
• conductor means extending into said envelope and connected to the respective electrodes, and
• an elongated partition assembly within said envelope having a plurality of panel segments that define a continuous discharge channel which extends between the electrodes and longitudinally traverses the envelope a predetermined number of times in retroverted fashion,
• the panel segments of said partition assembly extending longitudinally along and inwardly from the walls of said envelope and being so shaped and arranged that they divide the envelope interior into a plurality of interconnected sectors and also form an elongated centrally-located chamber that constitutes the core of said partition assembly but is not part of the discharge channel,
• the size of the core chamber defined by said partition assembly being correlated with that of the envelope and being such that the maximum cross-sectional dimension of the core chamber at a given location is from about 25% to about 85% of the maximum cross-sectional dimension of the envelope at the same location so that the discharge is displaced outwardly toward the envelope walls as it traverses the respective envelope sectors formed by the partition panel segments,
• one of said electrodes being disposed at a location within the envelope that is remote from the sealed portion thereof and the associated conductor means being hermetically joined to said sealed portion and extending therefrom along the core chamber of the partition assembly to said remote electrode so that said core chamber thus also serves as a conduit for said associated conductor means.