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It's getting to that time of year again when I start going through the 2 big
boxes of non working Christmas lights and start attempting to fix them. I've
been doing this since age 6 and gotten pretty good at it, from splicing
wires to replacing sockets. However, I look at the huge variety of Christmas
lights I have and can't help but be curious about them. One box, the
biggest, is crammed with those smaller series-string lights. The other has
the larger ones, such as the c-7 and c-9 size. I also came across numerous
strings made of cloth wire in there and a few 8-light sets with c-6 bulbs. I
have been accumulating these for the best part of 2 decades and got a ton of
them from the Salvation Army. Now for my (many) questions: 1. When did they first come out with those little green plastic series
string lights that are common today? 2.I have a very strange set of Christms lights that have really, really tiny
screw-in bases. These are about the size of an ordinary series Christmas
light. When were they made? I may have a pic or two. 3.When did they stop making the c-6 size bulbs -same base as a screw-in
pilot light- and strings? 4.Several series strings have odd bulb sockets that resemble an outlet or
some whacky shape, and won't accept a modern-day bulb base (in this and
future cases I mean the little green thing you shove the bulb into and jam
into the socket). Are these still available? I can't find them on eBay. I
can make a few scans... 5. The older series string bulbs often had decorative bases on them, ranging
from ones resembling flowers to these nasty sharp ones with points all over,
probably intended to look like a star or something, (ever stepped on one of
those at 3 AM?). Can you still get these anywhere? 6. Way back then they came out with 'fluorescent' Christmas lights, which
seem quite unusual. How did that work? The ting's no larger that a golf ball
and the base just has the wires going to the mains. 7. I have noticed that over the years, c-7 bulbs had a slight shift in
design. Originally, the sides of the lamps came to a triangular curve near
the base. This curve has since moved up to about the middle of the bulb. Any
ideas why? 8. Final question! Do any of you have old Chritmas lights you want to get
rid of? I desperatly need parts, as my supply was cut off when I moved to
Texas. |
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- General Electric produced the first C-6 size base series string
lighting outfit in 1901. The set came in a large wood box in either 8
or 16 sockets made of white porcelain, the connector was also made of
white porcelain featuring a standard Edison screw in base (the blade
type plug in use in America today was not invented yet). The set
featured hand blown hand set carbon filament lamps made in the Edison
factory which G.E. now owned. The Christmas lighting outfit cost $12.00
in 1901 which was equal to two or three weeks wages for the common man. Cotton covered 8 socket series string lighting outfits were being
made by 1902 by a variety of American manufacturers - all featuring
carbon filament lamps. Rayon covered 8 socket series string lighting outfits appeared in
the 1930's - all featuring tungsten filament lamps. (Note: none of the old 8 socket series strings or 7, 15 or 25 sockets
C-7 1/2 or C - 9 socket size 120 volts strings should be used, because
all featured rubber insulated electrical wire which will have
deteriorated from age). Milkglass figural lights were made in Japan from approximately 1922
thru 1954 (I have two hardbound annual hardware store catalogs, one
dated 1925 and one dated 1927 which show photos, price and descriptions
for a wide variety of the Japanese figural lights. The figurals were
originally carbon filament in their earliest form, sold for .05 cents
each in W.T Grants, Woolworths, etc. The prices were .10 and .15 cents
in 1954. In addition, large painted clear or milkglass Santa Claus
bulbs were made beginning in the 1920's - in 1954, the milkglass 120
volt large Santa bulbs sold for $1.00. The earliest figural Christmas lights were made in Germany and
Austria - clear glass was hand blown in molds, carbon filaments were
handset and the lamps were exhausted and sealed by hand. The lamps were
very popular in America, but disappeared from the scene at the start of
WW I (the Japanese began crude production of clear glass painted figural
lamps during the war) In the 70's, I had a "Uncle Sam" figural Christmas tree light made in
Germany which featured a very primative tungsten filament - a series
string of 10 figural lamps were meant to operate on battery power, as
many homes were not electrified in the 1910 era. Today, the most valuable early Christmas tree lights or bulbs are the
early figural lights made in Germany and Austria - and, a type of fancy
cutglass star Christmas light made in America. The stars came in single
or double row cutglass faceted 'points' in 15 volt, C-6 size base, 120
volt C-7 1/2 size base and 120 volts standard Edison base made by the
Matchless company. A quick check of E-bay shows the extreme prices paid
for one of these lamps. Also, the fluorescent Christmas lamps made by Sylvania in the late
40's and early 50's are rare and valuable. The question was asked "how
do they work"?
The lamps operate on 120 volts A/C, contain Argon gas and mercury
vapor which produces ultraviolet light - which in turn causes pastel
colored phosphers to fluores. The phospher colors were blue, green,
yellow and orchid. I had a single string of 7 Sylvania fluorescent
Christmas lamps back in the 80's, and I let a local light bulb collector
talk me out of 'em (he begged and pleaded - and coughed up early
handmade standard carbon filament lamps in trade). If anyone is interested, I have about 75 early milkglass figural
light bulbs packed away - all are C-6 size base, most are tungsten
filament and working. The most valuable are comic strip character bulbs
like 'Little Orphan Annie', her dog 'Sandy', and Kayo, Smitty and Moon
Mullins from the Moon Mullins comic strip. The set of 8 comic strip
character bulbs were made in 1938 and included Dick Tracy and Betty
Boop. |
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