THE NOTEBOOK

Hi, All! Welcome to my notebook, where you'll find notes and pictures of work currently in progress. From new outfits, research efforts, etc., here is where you'll find hints of things to come on the website.  Thanks for stopping by!

Due to several requests from site visitors, all new lights and outfits added to the site will appear on this page, with the very newest items listed first. All new sets added to the site in the past three months will appear on this page, with subsequent pages of this section featuring works in progress and research projects underway. Thanks to all for your suggestions and helpful comments!

 

 

07/15/2003 Here is an exciting new addition to my collection, and also a bit of a mystery.

     

This circa 1907 box of Santa Claus Electric Candles is about half the size of any of the sets like this that I have seen before. It contains a single festoon of eight miniature based sockets, while the more typical outfits contain two three festoons. I believe that there are two possible explanations for this set. First, and probably the most likely, is that it was simply intended to be sold as a single festoon set. While this is the only box of this size I've ever seen, that could simply mean that few of these were made. Other collectors I've contacted about the set have not seen one of this size either. The other possibility is that it could be either a trade sample or salesman's sample set. I think that this is unlikely, however, as the outfit contains two extra lamps for use as replacements, a practice that I would consider to be a bit unusual in a sample offering. I will of course continue my research on this fascinating little set.

 

08/25/2002- Ostrich, a frequent site visitor and fellow collector, has kindly provided me with some very helpful information concerning the stamp on the box of figural lights pictured below.  Ostrich explains that "JIS" refers to "Japanese Industrial Standard", a quality certification system. The letter "C" refers to the fact that the product being certified is electrical in nature, and the number "7505" is the specific standard to which the product is being certified.

08/22/2002- This countertop box of figural lamps is from Jack D. Fink and Company, Brokers-Importers, Albany, Oregon. It is marked on the bottom "Made in Occupied Japan", dating it to 1946-1952, the beginning of the waning years of figural light sales in the United States. An interesting stamp affixed to the box cover, shown in the close-up below, is a bit mysterious to me. Further research is underway to determine its meaning.

    

 

08/04/2002- A most interesting find here! Although seemingly a simple mid-1960s General Electric advertisement, it contains a tidbit of information that helped to solve a big mystery for me. I was always confused about who actually made the first lighting string or festoon in the early 1900s. It is known for certain that General electric sold the first prewired outfit, and although not proven, it was also assumed that they actually made the socket string. But it was the American Ever Ready company who applied for the first patent concerning pre-wired festoons, and it was not granted, as the courts found the festoon to be more the "applied skills of an ordinary wireman" than an actual invention. GE certainly made the junction boxes that were used on the festoons, devices that allowed addition festoons to be added to the set. Since these junction boxes carried the General Electric name, it is easy to assume that they made the actual socket strings as well, which are unmarked as to manufacturer. But this ad, pictured below, proves to me once and for all that GE did NOT make those early festoons! The ad plainly says that GE is now offering lighting sets that are 100% GE made for the first time. Certainly if the Company was the first to make prewired Christmas lighting strings, that fact would not have been lost by GE, and the ad would have stated "For the first time in more than 60 years, GE offers lighting sets entirely made by us in America..." or something to that effect. For this advertisement to read the way that it does, it seems to me to be almost conclusive proof that the first prewired lighting outfits sold in the United States (actually in the world) were offered by General Electric using their lamps and a festoon manufactured by The American Ever Ready Company. The ad dates to November, 1963.

 

07/25/2002- This 1954 set from Royalites is their number 207, described in their catalog as follows: "120 volt candelabra base set with 7 assorted color GE C-7 General Electric bulbs, ROYAL KLIPS, female connector and extension plug. Packaged in NEW full-view cellophane-window box, handsomely designed and printed in full color." This was a new box design for Royal electric, and the "Deluxe" nomenclature on the box is actually referring to the packaging, not the set itself. Sadly, this was the only year the set was actually manufactured, for the Christmas lighting division of Royal Electric burned in 1955 and was never rebuilt.

 

07/27/2002- Due in a very large part to the help from friend and fellow collector Fred Fox, work has begun on a Canadian Lighting Outfit page of the website. You can see its beginnings HERE.

 

07/26/2002- Here is a box of replacement bubbling lamps from Paramount. This box is identical to its  cousin which contains 9 lights and a lighting string except for the smaller size and the nomenclature stating "For Use With Any Series Type Wiring Set". The patent numbers listed on the back of the box are for oil type bubbling lights (2,412,171), the Paramount Stars which use the same base retaining method as do the bubble lights (2,248,117), and an interesting patent for an apparently never-produced "ribbons of gas" type bubble light (2,412,379). Another indication of an early issue box is that it also says "Other patents pending", indicating that the more common methylene chloride version of the light had not yet been patented. The box contains only two remaining original lights, but I look forward to collecting a full set one by one. The grease pen pricing information of the box cover indicates that the set was a countertop item, selling the lamps individually rather than as a box of ten (.39 ea or 3 / $1.00). The box cost the dealer $2.00.

    

 

07/26/2002- The cover of this NOMA set of C-9 outdoor lights gives no clue as to the unusual variation in the contents. A overpasted white label describes the use of spring loaded sockets, a new development for NOMA. The set is American made, and well weatherproofed for outdoor use, including the berry beads, which are plastic instead of the more common wood. The inner flap of the box describes the set as a model 3000, but the end of the box says it is a 3005. A look through the NOMA catalogs reveals that this outfit is a first year (1933) issue, as by 1934 the sets did not incorporate the berry beads and were referred to by NOMA as "red cap" outfits, whereby the wires passed through the sockets without solder joints. Also, 1934 and later sets had a properly printed inner flap with no overpaste label. It is unusual to be able to date an outfit to a specific year of manufacture.

outside view	inside view	overpasted label close-up view

 

07/20/2002- This box of Japanese replacement Christmas lights is a countertop display. Customers could purchase the lamps singly or in sets of ten, which would come out of the display in a tray to hold them securely. The heavy cardboard box shows evidence of both years of use and being well taken care of. The lamps are carbon filament, indicating an early 1920s time frame. Some of the lamps are smooth cone, while many others are ribbed snow tips.
    

06/28/2002- Here are two new outfits for the collection. The first, a marvelous 32 volt outfit from Zelco, is the first one from that company to find its way to my collection. CLICK  HERE for more information on it.

The second unusual outfit is an unbranded set that proudly features Westinghouse's Detector brand of light bulbs. CLICK  HERE for more on this outfit. I suspect that the set was distributed by Reliance.

NEXT

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