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Antiqe Christmas Lights
Watch HD Videos of thes various Lights
Bubble
Lights
The
Matchless Star
Outdoor
Christmas Lights
120V
Indoor Christmas Lights
Carbon
and Tungsten Lights
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New Bubble Lights ORDER NOW
Made in the USA.
www.ChristmasByCarlisle.com
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the Video
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This 10-foot tree was purchased in 1981 in order to demonstrate the different
types of lighting that have been developed during the 20th century. It had
to be fireproof so that real candles could also be used, and strong enough
to support several bushels of wire. This combination could only be found in
Nuremberg. It took solid steel German engineering. The tree is controlled
by a 10-channel dimmer board.
For the beginning of electric lighting, from 1900 to 1922, 24 carbon
lamps are displayed. Then about 90 C6 series lights invented at GE in
1922. Next,82 glass Matchless stars made from
1935 to 1941 in Chicago. Series C6 bubble lights of various types 1942 to
1956. Sylvania Fluorescent bulbs made from 1946 to 1950. Hundreds of the
familiar little white lights, originally from Italy during the late 1950s. A
huge variety of the 120 volt C7 indoor lights made from 1934 to the
present. Mini lights with colored plastic covers invented by Dick
Malinowski at GE in 1973. For the singing of Rudolph the tree lights up
with deep red inside painted C9 outdoor lamps. This process was invented by
Marvin Pipkin at GE in 1932.
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These carbon filament lamps were the first type of incandescent bulb,
invented by Thomas Edison in 1879. They were used on Christmas trees as early
as 1882. These lights were very expensive and complex to wire up. So they did
not become very widely used. There were some special occasions when many were
attached to a tree. One of these times was at a New York hospital for the
Christmas of 1891. A wealthy benefactor paid electricians a small fortune to
have several hundred colored bulbs attached to a large tree in the children's
ward.
The first manufactured light strings were made by the Ever-Ready Electric
company in 1903. By this time Edison's lamp works had been purchased by a
company called General Electric. In 1907, Ever-Ready started making the eight
light series string. This became a standard that lasted for 58 years. Carbon
Christmas lamps were made in North America, Europe, and Japan until and a bit
beyond 1930.
These four Christmas lights have tungsten filaments developed at GE in
1916. They burned brighter and cooler than Carbon lamps. This round shape was
only made for six years.
These new cone shaped Christmas lights were introduced by GE in 1922. They
had the cool tungsten filaments that would allow for beautiful colored shellac
paint to be applied. These were the lamps that started the revolution of
giving up on candles. In 1928, a set of eight lights cost 23 cents. GE sold
24 million of them that Christmas. About that time a mold with flutes was
made at GE. Over the years several fluted designs were used. In 1970, GE made
the last bulbs of this type at their plant in Mexico.
In 1926, Marvin Pipkin was a chemist at GEs NELA
park lamp research lab in Cleveland. He invented the inside frosted bulb. His
next project was to develop a colored coating that could be sprayed on the
inside of a 25 watt lamp. All light bulbs had the colored paint on the
outside, which tended to fade in the sun or peel off. It took over a year to
make this wet colored silica dust process work. For the Christmas of 1927,
Marvin put his magic in outdoor C9 Christmas lights. GE was the only lamp
company with this type of light for many years. It gave them a huge boost in
the Christmas business.
Pictured
is a set from 1948 with this interior paint.
In 1934, the C7 115 volt filament was
invented at GE. It was incorporated into a Christmas light bulb for indoor
use. These were more expensive than the series lights and took a while to
catch on during the Great Depression. After WW II in 1946, they surged in
popularity. This basic light is still in use today in various shapes. Here is
a set from 1938.
The crystal Matchless Wonder Star was designed and assembled in Chicago. The
glass points were made in Czechoslovakia. They were sold for only six years,
1935 to 1941. They came in four sizes and in double or single row. The stars
never really made any money for the Matchless electric company, but everyone
loved them.
In 1938, Carl Otis of Albany, New York, came up with the idea of a
bubbling Christmas light. He sent
rough prototypes out to 10 companies in the business. Only one
responded, It was NOMA. This decision proved to be the smartest thing they
ever did. In 1942, during WW II, they managed to make enough parts for a
small test run. They wanted to know if people would buy these after the war. So
about 68,000 lights were made. They were only sold in Illinois and New York. All
of them were gone in a week. So, they had no hesitation pouring money into
production equipment for these lights in 1945. We know that a few were made
then. The NOMA Bubble Light was formally introduced in 1946. They proved to
be the biggest hit in Christmas lighting in history. NOMA alone sold 150
million series bubble lights in five years. This is a set from 1946.
