| 1917- This ad from the
Triangle Electro Trading Company shows an unusual add-on festoon of
five celluloid low voltage lamps, meant to be operated in place of a
single lamp on an eight light series wired string. Celluloid was
extremely flammable, and few of these lamps survive today due to
their fragility. |
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| 1917- This ad mentions
the first ever set of Christmas lights offered by the C.D. Wood
Electric Company. Later on, this company would become a major player
in the Christmas lighting industry. |
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| 1917- An ad by the Import
Sales Company, forerunner of Diamond Electric. |
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| 1917- Sponsored by
Spahr's, this advertisement is for metal light reflectors for use
with Christmas tree outfits. |
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|
1918- This image from a 1918
Sears and Roebuck catalog shows their Christmas lighting festoon,
complete with junction box. Notice the high prices of the fancy
fruit and figural lamps quoted in the ad. Also note that the sockets
are described as not easily broken, indication that they were made
of composition rather than porcelain. Image kindly provided from the
collection of Gordon Thompson. |
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| 1918- This image, also
from the 1918 Sears and Roebuck catalog, shows their feather tree,
offered in three sizes. Describing their large tree, the ad states:
"This is the tree we suggest you buy," an interesting
recommendation. Image kindly provided from the collection of Gordon
Thompson. |
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| 1921- Counter or wall
card by the M. Propp Company. |
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| 1921- The Triangle
Electro Trading Company placed this ad showing their improved line
of electric Christmas lights. |
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| 1921- This Owl Flashlight
company ad shows their "Interchangeable 8's" lighting outfit. |
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| 1921- General Electric
ran this ad for the Arborlux transformer powered outfit in 1921.
Consisting of 21 parallel-wired black sockets and a rather bulky
transformer, the set would continue to light even though one or more
lamps in the setup failed. Very few of these sets remain today. |
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| 1921- Liberty placed this
ad, showing their indoor lighting outfit. |
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| 1921- Benjamin Electric issued this ink blotter,
advertising one of their adapters which allowed multiple connections
through a single ceiling fixture. The rather roughly-worded "poem"
reads as follows:
Watch out for Dear Old
Santa Claus
Tonight he's on his way
His pack contains electric irons
And toasters, too, they say.
He wasn't agoing to carry them
He was looking like he'd fight.
He said you couldn't stick 'em on
Unless you lost your light.
But yester noon he saw an ad,
(Gaze on his happy mug),
He knows that Ma can use her iron
And light with a Benjamin plug.
It is interesting to note that many fires were
caused during the late teens and early 1920s by people unknowingly
overloading their house wiring by using the new, modern electric
appliances in this way. The house wiring was intended only for
low-amperage lighting circuits, and was not intended for the very
heavy current draw of modern conveniences such as toasters, waffle
irons, clothes irons and the like. The picture of the actual
Benjamin plug has been kindly shared with us from the collection of
web site visitor Cliff S. from Evening Shade, Arkansas. |
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| 1922- this advertisement
for GE's Arborlux outfit is for a smaller set, consisting of 17
lights. The 1921 ad above features 21 lights. |
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|
Web
site
visitor Ross Stoval recently
wrote to me, and kindly shared some wonderful images from his
electrical catalog collection. All of the images are large and
require an extended download time, but the information on the pages
is well worth the wait. This collector would like to sincerely thank
Ross for his kind sharing of information and for the excellent
images he provided. |
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|
1908 Sears |
1924-1925
United Electric and Supply |
1924 B-R Electric |
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1925 United Electric and Supply |
1927 Sears |
1929-1930 Propp |
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