The Lighting Time Table

To read the entire tutorial, you can just click on the first link and then continue to the next section at the bottom of each page. Or, you can select links below of interest to you.

PRE 1900 SECTION

Overcoming Obstacles
About Early Electric Lighting, Generators, Arc Lamps, The First Edison Socket, Menlo Park, etc.
The First Fixtures
About The Start Of The First Incandescent Lighting Fixtures
Light Reflection
About Early Light Bulbs And Candle Power vs. WATTS
Edison-Bergmann
About Sigmund Bergmann And The Start Of Bergmann And Company Lighting Fixtures
Lighting Break Down
A Quick Break Down Of Different Lighting Time Periods
Styles 1881 to 1884
Bergmann Fixtures And Styles
Other Pre-1888 Styles
About Early Companies That Sold Lighting Systems And The Fixtures That They Sold With Their Lighting Systems
The U.S. Elect. Co.
The United States Electric Company History And Early Items
The Brush Elect. Co.
The Brush Electric Company History And Early Items
Thomson-Houston
The Thomson-Houston Electric Company History And Early Items
Westinghouse
About The Westinghouse Manufacturing Company History And Early Mergers
Mid 1880's Styles
About The Start Of Electrical Supply Houses and how new lighting styles came about
Pre 1900 Sockets
About Early Light Sockets And How To Tell The Difference
1887 New Items
1888 New Items
1890 New Items
1891 New Items
1892 New Items
1893 New Items
1894-1896 Items
1897 New Items
1898 New Items
1899 New Items
Above are catalog items sold in different years. There is no space to duplicate items, so only new and unique items from each year are shown. You would need to view the catalogs for yourself to be complete as I am only highlighting items. You can view catalogs here.

EXTRA INFO
Victor Shade Holder
About The Victor Shade Holder, Atwood And The Standard Holder

I.P. Frink 1899 Items
About Frink & Wheeler
New Wheeler Inverted
Three Links About Mirror Reflector Manufacturers And Their Items And History.
Wheeler Reflector Co.
NEW - A history of The Wheeler Reflector Company and tips on how to tell if mirror has been replaced on a shade

Early Desk Lamps
Some Help In Telling Them Apart

Vitrite And Luminoid
About The Vitrite Holders And Early Vitrite History

Brush-Swan Holder
About Brush-Swan Shade Holders

Cord Balls
My cord pendant adjuster project, as well as a good history about them.

POST 1900 SECTION

About 1900 Styles
This section covers a basic into into the 1900 section covering information about the 1899 transition, electrical code changes, lighting influence, sharing and licensing of patents and then into the new section of electrical specialty manufacturers,

Electrical Specialty Manufacturers
Harvey Hubbell
This section covers some early history periods of pre Hubbell-Grier, Hubbell-Grier, Harvey Hubbell, Hubbell Company. It also covers a number of items that helped change lighting styles,

Benjamin
This section covers some early history periods for the Benjamin Electric MFG. Co, as well as a small section on Dale and The Federal Electric Company
Dale
Federal Electric

This post 1900 section continues to be under current construction

Please Check Back.

THIS PAGE WAS CONTINUED FROM HERE
http://antiquesockets.com/lighting-timetable3.html

Well we made it into 1900 - I do not think I need to inform anyone that putting this page together is a lot of work and has taken up a major part of my free time (of which is almost non existent these days).

This section is by far the hardest section to put together seeing that so much happened during these years.

I will try my best to cover the basics for you, which should provide a good basic understanding of other antique and vintage lighting styles that you will come across.

As you have already learned, early electrical incandescent inventions and fixtures progressed slowly from 1879 until about 1890.

Around 1890 there were some standard changes (such as porcelain insulation) and other factors such as industry growth in the area of generators, power plants, metering, etc. The public view towards electricity had also become more rooted in it's favor because of years of hard fact being published. This aided in silencing the early disinformation spin doctors (that worked for the large gas companies) that were spreading false information against electric lighting. It was also starting in 1890 that many electrical parts manufacturers and supply companies came to life and pushed new electrical inventions up to this point in time, the year 1900.

There was also an organized effort on the part of big business to push us into the electrical era that we now live in.
There were many organizations formed which worked together, setting goals and bringing things to pass (for a good example of this read the NEC section on this site).

You would think that when a book became available on the market that explained simple facts about lighting, that it originated from someone that decided to write a book and share their knowledge. While this is true in many cases, it is also true that some were all part of a plan developed by a committee in a lighting organization to help further business development for incandescent lighting. A good example of this is shown below in the book Standard Lighting:

This is only one example out of many to show how it was big business, that steered and guided us into our electrical era. All of these organizations, societies, councils and associations had some big names as members and board members and was only one of the methods used to to expand growth.

The year 1900 also marks the year of a new period of growth, which in only five years well out weighed the growth in the previous 20 years. I hope that this helps you to understand that to even think about attempting to cover the years 1900 to 1921 here on this web page (even far from complete), will not happen as easily as the earlier years.

After 1906 and up to 1910, things change so rapidly that it would be almost impossible to document in any detailed fashion.

By 1921 There were so many new inventions, lamp manufacturers, electrical supply houses (and catalogs), wiring specialties businesses, jobbers, etc., that we are talking multiple thousands of items through the years.

Then added to this, we have different manufacturing methods of items such as glass, lead, copper foil, hammered copper, etc., etc.. Then lighting styles and periods (mission, deco, etc), the rise and fall of now well known makers (tiffany, handel, miller, whaley, morgan, duffner, wilkinson, etc., etc.). Those that had started as corner lamp shops or reflector companies (frink, wheeler, etc.) that had made their livelihoods and then retired (In some cases sold or handed down to the family and still alive today as a family owned business such as klem).

Now keep in mind that most had pamphlets and catalogs through the years, which means new and changed items in many cases yearly. Trust me when I say that I can not even include a small percentage of the material that I have here on this page without making it a lifetime project.

It is for these reasons that this new 1900 to 1921 section will be designed after a much different style and cover hit and miss on different types of lighting items, as well as Electrical Specialty manufacturers that had a direct effect on lighting styles (see "Electrical Specialty Manufacturers Flourish" below).

THE TRANSITION OF 1899 TO 1900
This is an awesome time frame. There is so much history to be found in this one single year, and then following into the early years of 1901 to 1906 complete the transition of many key historical events and new lighting styles.

New Electrical Code Changes Styles
The first thing that came about were major changes to the electrical code that was to go into effect April of 1899.
By 1900 the early socket shells (short ornate and long skinny) were no longer made because they did not meet the new code requirements for full insulation. While it took a few years to completely get rid old stock, most new fixtures being sold in and after 1900 were sold with the new fatboy style sockets.

Lighting Influence
It is note worthy that different styles or movements such as "Victorian Style Lighting", "Art Nouveau" and "Arts and Crafts" all play a part in this time frame, as well as some examples of "Eclecticism" (pronunciation) because of early jobbers assembling less expensive fixtures that could be termed as 'adaptations', trying to capture the spirit of some early styles.

Sharing And Licensing Patents
In the early days of lighting inventions, close guard was kept on products as a general rule.
You would rarely find multiple manufacturers of one item or invention. In like manner in the early days you would also commonly find a note of a catalog company being a "Sole Distributor" of one single item. While this worked in the early years, as more competition and inventions began to flourish, it was more rarely seen. Most all of this seems to change in about 1897 when General Electric became less concerned with patent wars and began to target more on bringing everyone together. By 1900 you start to see more licensing taking place which makes this section and identifying different lighting items much more difficult. An example of this would be two inventions which started being licensed by other manufacturers about the same time frame which was Bryant's patent for their wrinkle shell and Hubbell's patent for their detachable chain guide. Within only a few years virtually all manufacturers (Arrow, Weber, P&S, H&H, GE, Paiste, etc., etc.) were using Bryant's wrinkle shell together with Hubbell's detachable chain guide.

Before long many inventions and items were being manufactured by a mix of different manufacturers, or ordered in quantity and then used along with their own styles and inventions. I do not need to tell you how confusing this can sometimes be when trying to ID an item.


Electrical Specialty Manufacturers Flourish
In the previous years 1890 until 1900 electrical parts manufacturing companies flourished. The major part of their success was their electrical catalog distribution system and catalog turnkey businesses. The year 1900 marks the point in time that more specialty manufacturers started flourishing. During this time, many new wiring specialty businesses started popping up and joined the frenzy. Electrical and Wiring Specialty businesses had such an impact that large catalog distributors added "Wiring Specialty" or "Electrical Specialty" sections to their catalogs containing selected items from different manufacturers.

Not all of these specialty businesses had a direct effect on lighting styles in a large way, but I can not help from bringing up the first that I will cover which I feel had the largest impact, Harvey Hubbell.

It was Harvey Hubbell that had invented the first successful pull (string) socket. His first pull socket was manufactured in 1895, patented in 1896 and sold by the Bryant Electric Company as early as 1895. Later (in 1897) the socket (with an Edison base) also started being sold by the General Electric Company in their catalog.

Hubbell has got to be the best example of an electrical specialty manufacturer that started electrical specialties with only one single item; and then to overcome all obstacles and survive into our present day as one of the largest electrical and lighting manufacturers in the world.

Starting with the pull "chain" socket (1899 to 1900), Hubbell had a HUGE effect on lighting and fixture styles throughout all of these time periods. He also continued having an effect with many of his other unique inventions such as his unique type of shade holders, early clusters, use of acorn finials, pull chain extenders, etc.

Not only did Hubbell have an effect on styles, but how electrical devices of every kind were used. His many inventions and industry firsts can be equivalent to books of today like the "For dummies" type of books being written today. It was his inventions that made even plugging in an electrical appliance a simple thing with the invention of the first separable attachment plug. (And here) This was before we had the common wall socket of today.

(Note that the ornate acorn style shown on your right was used on pre Hubbell-Grier company sockets)

It was not long before many other manufacturers started coming out with their own versions of pull sockets. In the early years the acorn finial was mostly only found on the Hubbell pull sockets, being a sort of trademark on Hubbell sockets while other manufacturers used different styles of balls or tassels. The acorn finial became a trademark of quality for high end lamp makers and within time was also used by other manufacturers. Later Hubbell also started offering a choice of different finial designs (1923) and by much later years acorn finials were removed from their catalogs. Today the original old Hubbell acorn pulls and old sockets are highly sought after by collectors of high end mosaic lamps and other early lighting devices.

Hubbell had been manufacturing his pull "string" socket from 1895 to 1899. Some time in the year of 1899 (likely before or close to October, 1899) Hubbell designed a pull "chain" switch that was evidently only sold for a short time by the General Electric Company. The switch was the same basic design as the 1895 pull string switch, with a modification for the chain in place of the string. It also used a chain guide close to that which was later applied for patent by Hubbell 05/17/1909 (patent no. 956354). This new socket used a Bergmann style shell with a new cap designed to pass the new electrical code (which allowed room for the wireman's knot to be tied inside the shell). Evidence of other shells for this type switch is also found (pre-Hubbell catalog era) in a Hubbell patent applied for Jan. 28, 1901 (patent no. 679316) where a shell is shown with a Hubbell switch in use where the chain guide bell was not attached to the shell. (Also note that the same shell is shown using a turn key switch). By the date Oct. 9th 1899 Hubbell had already developed his complete pull "chain" and socket shell designs (as shown above with the ornate acorn finial), both being pre Hubbell-Grier Company and catalog era). The points and evidence of collaboration between Hubbell and GE for this socket are: Firstly, the socket shell is un mistakably a Bergmann style fat shell body which is unmarked/unsigned which places it before the year 1900. This shell is not found in any G.E. Catalogs using this cap design, it was made special for this application. The new cap gave the room needed for the wireman's knot that was now required in the electrical code in late 1899. General Electric was selling the Hubbell pull "string" socket since 1897, while Hubbell did change the "string" socket by reducing the size of the porcelain switch plates and adding insulation to the long skinny shell in 1899, (the only known manufacturer to insulate a long skinny shell tube) but, it still did not leave room for the wireman's knot in the cap. Since a new design was needed for G.E. To continue to sell pull sockets, this was likely an early solution to their problem. Next, the insulated lining in this shell was oversized in thickness to be able to accommodate the smaller switch and fit into the shell properly. The electrical code only required 1/32-inch thickness. This was UN mistakably designed as a quick force fit job. The switch also uses slits on the Edison threads which is from an old 1890 (pat no. 425741) Edison/Bergmann/EGE patent now owned and used by General Electric. The center contact on the switch is of a type unknown and not seen on any other Edison based sockets manufactured G.E. Or any other manufacturer from any time frame. The chain guide bell is also of a unique design (inner and outer rim angle and hole) not found on any other sockets through all time frames and manufacturers.

HUBBELL-GRIER COMPANY TIME FRAME (1901-1902)

Some time close to July of 1901 Hubbell went into a partnership with two brothers (Edward and Thomas Grier) that worked for the Bryant Electric Company. The new company was called The Hubbell-Grier Electric Company and the first catalog was released December 1st 1901. There were contentions early on with how business was being done and the Greir brothers sold their stock in the company to Hubbell and went their separate ways. By late 1902 distributor catalogs and ads started showing "Harvey Hubbell" sockets and the HG logo stopped being used and was replaced with the globe logo a couple of years later.

The socket shown here and those shown on the clusters below, would be marked/signed The Hubbell-Grier Electric Company. The logo shown in these catalog pictures on both the sockets and clusters was only used in the catalog pictures and not stamped on the real items.

The clusters shown below (and socket above) come from the first Hubbell-Grier catalog published in 1901. This catalog was not made for the trade, it was distributed to to members of the Manufacturers Association such as Bryant, MESCO, Marshall Sanders, General Electric, Perkins, Paiste and the Peru Electric Mfg. Co. It was also distributed to members of the Jobbers Association. At this time Hubbell did not sell directly to the trade, anyone wishing to make purchases needed to contact a manufacturer authorized to sell Hubbell products. Because catalogs were not given out to the general public at this time, the 1901 Hubbell-Grier catalog shown above is a rare item with only two in existence that I know of. One is currently owned by the Hubbell family that bears the name of G. F. Hadely signed on the cover. (Harvey Hubbell's half brother), and the other was shown in the publication The Handel Lamps Book by Carole Goldman Hibel, John Hibel & John Fontaine - Published by Fontaine Publishers 1999. On page 77 of the book, the Hubbell 1901 catalog picture is used for image page 6 and 7, and a 1904 Hubbell catalog for page 3 to show the Hubbell logo.


There are no Hubbell patents for either of the two clusters shown above. Clusters of these types were being sold in other electrical catalogs at this time, so it is possible that Hubbell made a deal with another manufacturing company and was attaching his Hubbell-Grier sockets on to third party clusters. It is also possible (but unlikely) that a deal was made allowing Hubbell to manufacturer other owned designs. The Hubbell Pull Cain Coupling Rosette shown above (pat. no. 701269 Applied for Sept 4, 1901) came in 2,3,4,5 and 6 pull chain options and was made for these early Hubbell-Grier and later Hubbell clusters. The design of this invention was so that all lights could be turned off or on at the same time by puling straight down on the middle chain, or pulling to one side or the other to turn off one or more lights. (Note that the patent picture for the rosette patent (linked above) shows the a cluster close to the design of the first cluster shown in the images above)

Other methods of pulling more then one socket at a time was used and invented through these time periods. While some professional and others more primitive, such as one that I found on a quality high end Handel copper foil inverted hanging lamp from about 1904.

As shown on your right, this lamp used an acorn pull that comes down through a hole. The problem was that this pull needed to operate three sockets.

Handel devised a method to do this by using the hand crafted sturdy wire piece as shown on your right.


This device connects to all three sockets and the middle chain that comes down through the shade connects to the center and then drops down through the acorn on the shade.

While Handel could have used Hubbell's Coupling Rosette, in his case they chose to rather use their own hand crafted gizmo along with these Hubbell sockets.

Shown here on the left is a cluster with four Hubbell-Grier sockets that still have their original 1901-1902 Hubbell solid type acorns. (Andhere)

When a cluster used the Hubbell Coupling Rosette, the acorns needed to be cut off the chain.

Someone could also remove the original pull chain (with the acorn), and use a new chain (without a finial) from the socket into the rosette, but this was rarely done because of the fact that threading the chain back into the sockets was a task that took some time and experience. I remember as a young child my mother trying to fix the chain on one of these type sockets for over an hour, then turning it over to the man of the house to give him a try at it for almost another hour. I remember it well because at the age of about 5 years old I asked to let me try (which only got huge laughs and a firm no).

On this cluster, a hand crafted soldered together copper piece like the one above is used (shown below).




This cluster uses an 18 3/4 inch flat white opal shade with a cluster holder that can be used to adjust the reflector at any height above the cluster. (Some had the preference of using the reflector a foot or more above the cluster).



This fixture is for sale at 3850.00 and comes with a matching set of 4 antique looped filament bulbs with labels marked Boston Inc. Lamp Co. Danvers Mass. 16 C.P., The 18 3/4 (19 inch) opal reflector shown, the cluster with four sockets marked "The Hubbell-Grier Electric Company", five old Hubbell 1901-1902 acorns and antique Hubbell style canopy.







Note that the cluster shown above does not match the advertised Hubbell-Grier clusters in that the bottom wiring plate threads/screws into place. The pictures in catalogs of this time showed the cluster cap snapping on.

HARVEY HUBBELL COMPANY TIME FRAME (1902-1906) The first catalog to the trade that I am aware of was Catalog No. 9 published in August, 1906. If there was a catalog each year, it could be the the first catalog to the trade would had been 1905 the date that Hubbell incorporated and also officially documented their first Hubbell Globe trademark with the patent office. Known Hubbell Catalog History Catalog No. 1 - Electrical Specialties Manufactured by The Hubbell Grier Electric Co. December 1, 1901 Catalog No. 9 - Electrical Specialties Manufactured by Harvey Hubbell, Incorporated. August, 1906 Catalog No. 11 Hubbell Electrical Specialties Manufactured by Harvey Hubbell, Inc. August, 1911 Catalog No. 15 Hubbell Electrical Specialties Manufactured by Harvey Hubbell, Inc. January, 1914 Catalog No. 16 Electrical Specialties Manufactured by Harvey Hubbell, Inc. March, 1917 Catalog No. 17 Electrical Specialties Manufactured by Harvey Hubbell, Inc. 1921 Catalog No. 18 Hubbell Electrical Wiring Devices Manufactured by Harvey Hubbell, Inc. 1925 & Copyright 1925 Catalog No. 21 Hubbell Electrical Specialties 1933-34 Catalog No. 23 Hubbell Electrical Wiring Devices Manufactured by Harvey Hubbell, Inc. Copyright 1937 Catalog No. 24 Hubbell Rugged Wiring Devices Harvey Hubbell, Inc. Copyright 1939 Catalog No. 25 Hubbell Rugged Wiring Devices Harvey Hubbell, Inc. Copyright 1941 Catalog No. 28 Hubbell Rugged Wiring Devices Harvey Hubbell, Inc. Copyright 1947 List Prices and Index Applying to Catalog No. 28 - Effective January 25th, 1954 (new pages were issued after 1954 to add to the catalog) Catalog No. 29 Hubbell Rugged Wiring Devices Harvey Hubbell, Inc. Copyright 1963 Catalog No. 30 Hubbell Wiring Devices. Undated, but on introductory page: "New Underwriters' Laboratories, Inc. Requirements Effective January 1, 1965 Have Changed Ratings And/Or Terminal Identification Markings on Some Of The Wiring Devices in This Catalog." Catalog No. 32 Hubbell Wiring Devices Harvey Hubbell, Incorporated - (no date) (Please let me know if you have anything to add to the list above)

A complete list of cluster and cluster switch patents that can be found on clusters are: 701269, 734875, 734876, 817642 and 872065. While clusters and the fixture parts shown above and more shown below) were no longer sold by Hubbell after the 1914 Hubbell catalog, Hubbell continued to have a large effect on our lighting time table with other inventions. The pull socket alone was enough to add to any fixture, but during Harvey Hubbell's life time he never stopped surprising the industry with new inventions.


The clusters above were sold starting in 1902 and the first two are still shown in the Hubbell 1914 catalog. It is unknown when the third cluster was no longer offered. After the 1914 catalog Hubbell no longer sold clusters or finishing parts such as canopies or the type of shade holders for clusters shown here.















The reflector shown above and on your right is an example of the first cluster shown in the catalog pictures above. This example is shown using a 20 inch flat opal reflector and over sized antique light bulbs.
(For a good idea of the bulb size, compare the bulbs against the sockets)

Some of the more early clusters are marked and dated while other later clusters can be found with no marks or signatures at all (only signed Hubbell sockets). Shown below is an example of a cluster marked "Hubbell Standard Pull Cluster" PATD. May 27 1902"
It is also marked "Patents Pending". This May 27th patent was for the Cluster Rosette, not the cluster. Dating this cluster is easy as the patent for this cluster was approved on July 28, 1903. So this cluster would had been made between these dates.



When you have a cluster that is UN marked, the best way to date it would be to use the normal methods of dating found on this page and by comparing changes made to the switches during different time periods.

Early Hubbell clusters can be found in different configurations as applied together with different styles of lighting at the time.

While most clusters were used together with large white opal reflectors, you can also find some examples of these clusters being used inside of different lamp manufacturers chandeliers.


You can also find clusters in use with different style shades such as the Handel flat sloped shade pictured on your right which I hung over this cluster as an example.

The cluster shown on your left, has an ornate finial and does not use a chain rosette.

This cluster was purchased as parts from an old broken chandelier made by Handel.

It is unknown if the Handel lamp company added the finial after market, or if Hubbell sold it to them this way.

Though it is not yet found in any Hubbell catalogs, Hubbell had made special parts for lamp makers in the past. An example of this would be signed socket shells and turn keys for the Miller lamp company.

Hubbell also made an un cataloged ornate threaded holder ring that has been found on shade holders attached to Hubbell sockets marked "Miller Lamps" as shown below.




OTHER HUBBELL ITEMS - ORIGINATING TIME FRAME (1902-1906)


Original Hubbell canopies is a touchy subject. Do you have an original Hubbell canopy or not? It is hard to tell because this style canopy was made by other manufacturers through to the late 1920's. There are however some points of interest that I can point out for you.

Notice that Hubbell sold a unique Extension Ring (shown above). Notice that the extension ring also has a flat lip at the top. Most all other canopies made by other manufacturers had this flat top lip on their regular shade holders. Now, notice Hubbell's regular holder - It does not have the flat lip, it has a curved or rolled lip. This rolled lip is what I look for to be more politically correct when matching a canopy to an early Hubbell fixture, but I should also tell you that these are hard to come by and are quite rare. By 1914 (which is the last Hubbell catalog selling canopies) it looks like Hubbell may have changed the design to a flat lip. While it is hard to tell from the catalog pictures, it is a remote possibility.

Notice on the Hubbell style that there are four RIBS and the fourth rib becomes the lip.
On other manufacturers canopies of this style the fourth rib is the flat lip which means that there are really only three ribs on non Hubbell canopies (three ribs and a lip). I should also note that there are other manufacturer canopies with less or more ribs along with a flat lip, but that is another topic only dealing with Hubbell canopies right now.

The next point to consider when looking to identify an original Hubbell canopy would be how the extension would have needed to be attached. In all of my time looking for and collecting these styles of canopies, I have (to this date) only found ONE that would qualify as a Hubbell canopy (using the guide lines below) and it was purchased from me by Hubbell Lighting when they were putting together a museum and training center in South Carolina last year. I am looking for others like this, so if you come across anything please let me know.

The unique Hubbell extension ring part No. 5367 shown in the catalog picture above, could have surely used these three indents around the inner diameter (and protruding out of the outer diameter) of the canopy to snap into place.

It could be that Hubbell sold all of their early canopies with the indents that would be needed to clip on the extension ring, but I have found rounded lips without them. OR it could be that Hubbell sold canopies before the invention of the extension ring (we will know more as we fill in our older Hubbell catalog collection). So at this point in my research I can not say that all rounded lips are Hubbell, but what I am almost 100 percent sure of is that rounded or flat lip canopies with these small indents are original Hubbell canopies. There is no other practical reason (that I am aware of) for the three small indents around the rim of the canopy with any other manufacturer but Hubbell (used for the extension).

It is in my opinion that there are possibly three (maybe four) types of Hubbell canopies to watch out for.
Canopies with the rounded top lip (post 1901 and pre 1914)
Canopies with the rounded top lip with indents (post 1901 and pre 1914)
Flat lip canopies with the INDENTS to fit the extension ring (post 1914 only)
Also note that it is not known at this time if part number 5366 (extended canopy) shown in the catalog picture above, is all one piece, or if it is canopy part number 5364 with the extension (part number 5367) added to it. While it is likely two pieces, it could be that there is another canopy to search for as well (if it was all one piece or welded together because the catalog does not tell us).


These extensions for miniature sockets are rare though they were sold in all of the catalogs up to 1921.
They started out black in color with a mica insulator under the center contact. They changed color to white in 1917.


There was also a possible 1902 - 1905 only item that uses a 1901 porcelain Edison base that was widely discontinued and no longer used for light bulbs after 1901. It looks like Hubbell found a use for these bases as a combination extender / adapter. This item shown in the picture below used a regular (discontinued) light bulb base to adapt a regular base socket to a candle socket. (An extremely rare item).

A side note that needs to be addressed is that there are some porcelain base bulbs in use both pre 1900 and some post 1900. It was in the year 1900 that many bulb manufacturers started using porcelain in the place of plaster for bulb bases. In 1901 black glass started being used and later blue glass, but glass for the common bulb base insulation after 1900. It stands to reason because we do not find this item in the 1901 Hubbell-Grier catalog, or the 1906 Hubbell catalog; or post 1906 catalogs; and the historical facts about the bulb bases, that this was an item offered some time between 1902 and 1905.




This was no longer called the "Dazzlite" in post Hubbell 1906 Hubbell catalogs. Also no more mention of being manufactured under the Hufschmidt patent.

This new invention was offered in Hubbell catalogs as late as 1925, so when dating be sure to use standard Hubbell socket dating methods and date the socket attached to the attachment. Though this item was sold for over 20 years, they do not come up that often. For example, in a two years of paying attention and watching for these on ebay I have only seen two come up for sale. Hubbell catalogs started showing this item attached to a oil lamp after their 1914 catalog as shown below. (In each catalog picture it is shown with Hubbell's current plug for that time period, but they always use the same ornate style oil lamp picture which makes for a nice display).






HUBBELL SHADE HOLDERS - WHERE DID THE IDEA OF UNO COME FROM ANYWAY?
Keeping in mind that Hubbell was a member of the Manufacturers Association and some background history of some of his early statements, it could be said without any doubt that Harvey Hubbell was an early father of the UNO concept (if not the original sole father of the idea).

These holders will have two patent dates on them being July 28-03 which was applied for on March 5th 1902 (patent no. 734874) and Feb.23-04 applied for on June 11th 1903 (patent no. 753077).

After 1906 Hubbell sold two designs of this holder giving the buyer a choice of solid or regular. The regular is shown on your right (the original design) and the solid version on your right (the new design).

These shade holders were unique in that they used a threaded collar that would slide on to the provided bead or rib on found on any manufacturers socket tube.

A picture of this threaded collar is shown below on the Hubbell 1906 catalog page for this holder.



It was the invention of the shade holder above and the threaded collar that seems to have been brought about by his failed attempts to persuade manufacturers in general, to thread socket tubes.

As early as March 5th, 1902 (which is only a patent applied for date, which means that likely much earlier), Hubbell had been expressing the need to do away with shade holders using clamps and clamping screws to hold it to the socket. His 1902 example (patent no. 734874) likely met harsh ridicule in that it connects the Edison threads on the bulb base, to the shade holder (a conductor) and then screws into the light socket now making the shade holder part of the circuit. Take note that in these early days (they did not have black and white wires) it was a common occurrence to wire a socket with the Edison threads as the NON-GROUNDED side of the circuit. You could only imagine what would happen if you were barefooted in a damp basement and the pull chain was resting against the holder when you pulled on it. It could be from reading the patent text on the new holders that this design may had been fixed by threading the center of the holder ring and then threading socket tubes as special order. But in any case, this was all solved with this new holder and invention of the threaded collar (patent no. 753077). The patent text also shows us a bit more interesting history and Harvey Hubbell's real ideas and concepts on this issue.

This shows some obvious contention and Hubbell's argument towards moving forward and leaving old methods behind, as well as his global desires. The reply he received was that "it was impossible". Who was telling Hubbell that this was impossible? I can only imagine a group of older men hard to change and stuck with the old ways in their minds sitting on the board of the manufacturers association. I believe this to be the time frame of Hubbell's early patent which was border line if not breaking the electrical code standards of 1901. While there were codes to deal with sockets and fixtures, this shade holder was not a 'socket' and I can not find any place where shade holders are covered as becoming part of the circuit. While there was a mention of bulb bases being exposed, this was also a null point in that this was a holder not a bulb base. Stretching the point, it was even loosely termed for bulb bases as it was written "must not be sufficiently exposed" in the 1901 rules. The American Electrician in October of 1904 (broken link) wrote an article entitled "An Inconsistency In The National Electrical Code" which makes for some good reading on this topic - BUT we are talking right now about Hubbell's shade holder. It is clear to me, that Hubbell was able to get by with this bad design, but that it also ended in opposition or was modified soon after the patent was applied for.

Hubbell knew that he was right; and that nothing was "impossible"; so without giving up the fight he pressed forward and on to his next solution to this issue.

Who here is objecting to ears and clamping screws?
It is the same person Harvey Hubbell that is being told that it is impossible.

Who is teaching that the PREFERABLE method of attaching shade holders, is by means of a threaded socket tube? You are right again, the same person that is saying (in my opinion) that because manufacturers as a whole refuse to make "standard shells" with threads, you are forced to have them custom made or use what they offer you.

It could be here that Hubbell is talking about his own threaded 1902 holder since these new holders included both patent dates on them. (Pat no's 734874 & 753077) It could also be that Hubbell threaded the center of the early patent holder soon after the invention, or maybe he is just bringing up the fact that holders are not made of this type or in general use because there are not standard sockets from each manufacturer with a threaded tube. In either case, what Hubbell goes on to say, is that the problem is now solved with this new threaded collar which will work on the sockets of any manufacturer threaded or not.

The most important thing to be gleaned from all of this though, is the fact that it was Hubbell giving the directions of how to solve this general issue by adding threads to the socket tubes.

It was Hubbell explaining how to make what was later called the UNO shade holder (shown on the right) that would work on "standard threaded socket tubes".

Almost a decade later we find his type of shade holder in use by virtually EVERY manufacturer by the year 1917. This all started with the Bryant patent no. 1048377 issued December 24th 1912, but had already been invented in the mind of Harvey Hubbell in 1903.

You will find these early UNO holders marked by different manufacturers names such as Bryant, Hubbell, Arrow, etc. You will also find later holders simply marked UNO with and without the patent date.


In 1905 Hubbell patented a spring lock version of his holder which was applied for patent on September 7th 1904 and approved on June 27th 1905 patent no. 793196

The new spring lock holder will be found with all three patent dates on it of: July.23-03, Feb.23-04 and Jun.27-05

This new spring lock holder did away with thumb screws and was offered in the 1906 Hubbell catalog as shown below.




By 1906 Hubbell used his threaded collar on many of his items such as his wire guards and shades made out of tin, aluminum and steel as shown below. Since the catalog shows these items with the patent date of July 28 1903 (the patent of the first Hubbell holder), it is assumed that these shades used the older shade collar for a short time and before the new holder and collars were invented. He applied for patent on the new holder and ring on June 11,1903.


An interesting note is on the parabola shade shown above is that most early non-UNO versions of this shade were painted and enameled over brass. Later UNO versions were finished over tin and steel though there were still brass options in the catalogs.

Starting in the 1914 Hubbell catalog many more styles were offered (including new long neck options for the new tungsten bulbs) with a variety of different finish options for the outside of the shades including polished brass, what they called 'old brass', painted green and oxidized copper. The insides, frosted with aluminum, polished aluminum, or white painted or enameled on the inside for most shades.

New size options were also offered having options of 8, 10 and 12 inches

HUBBELL SHADE HOLDER CONTINUED HISTORY
All of the shade holder styles covered above and in the 1906 Hubbell catalog, are found in Hubbell catalogs for this lighting table time frame and in catalogs as late as 1925. Below is a short history of Hubbell shade holders. Each holder shown below is dated with the first catalog that it was found in. All of the holders shown below (not the cluster holder) continue through to the 1925 Hubbell catalog. In 1917 there were too many different styles of steel shades which was the boom for this type of outdoor lighting (gas stations, etc.). Because of this there were also examples of which holder goes with each shade. To view this part of the catalog you can click here to view the PDF (broken link).






The wire guards (and locking guards) as shown on your right also started using the new stackable style (called the nesting guard style) that was invented in 1911. The old styles of guards took up too much room on large orders, so this new style was invented that allowed them to be slipped inside of each other for space saving on shipping and storage.

The lamp guards shown above came in different sizes and types from what is shown above, but the images above show the basic shapes and styles to look for.

Examples would be that most each guard has long neck options so that the holder will fit on the shade fitter hole. In other words, the normal guard would not work on a Hubbell shade, you needed to purchase the guard that was made for shades. Some were made for only flat shades while others would work with other style shades.

Also different sizes were made for different size bulb options. The standard sizes would fit the common 15-25-40-60 watt bulbs and then another size wire cage for 75 watt and yet another size basket for long base tungsten bulbs (150-250 watts).

The next most important Hubbell invention that had an effect on lighting styles was the pull chain extender.




The concept of an extender goes back pre-1900 where extenders were made for gas fixtures and their new electric starters. Later for turn key sockets. While these early inventions were more designed to extend down for reach, Hubbell had a different thought in mind which was to extend the pull away from the shade (as well as for reach).

While there are different styles of these Hubbell extenders, some were even made to extend the pull chain on reflector shades up to 20 inches in 1914 and up to 22 inches by 1917.

These extenders played a part in this lighting timetable and can be found being used with most any manufacturers fixtures, shades, sockets and lamps. They simply add an awesome look to a period Frink or Wheeler reflector as shown on your left and above on your right. I have even seen these extenders used on bridge floor lamps. I also found some from an old Hotel that was renovating where they were used to help control some old short style pendants that were placed on high ceiling hallways.

One of the oldest and more rare extender to come by would be the Klein-Hubbell patent which was filled November 6th 1909, renewed and assigned to Hubbell on September 29th 1911 and approved and assigned patent number 1015897 on January 30th 1912.


There may had been an early design of this extender as the patent picture shows to the right, but I has found no examples of it to this date.

The picture on your left shows what I believe is the result of the invention after Hubbell took the patent in 1911.




The next most common design was Hubbell called the Economy extender.

The Economy extender was patent applied for patent on April 9th 1910 and was approved on December 27th 1910 and assigned patent number 979693.

The Economy extender was invented by Hugh Plunkett and assigned to James Barry both of of Boston Massachusetts.

While I can not find any public records that Hubbell took full rights over the patent, it was redesigned by Hubbell and sold in their catalogs until the time frame of our lighting table time frame. It stopped being sold in Hubbell catalogs by 1925.

As shown above on your right, it was marked / signed as a Hubbell item, which also included the same patent date of December 27th, 1910. The original patent shows a different attachment method where it was threaded and screwed on to a socket that provided a removable chain guide bell (shown on the right in the patent picture. Both Hubbell and Bryant were selling sockets at this time with removable bells.



Plunkett had applied for patent on this invention on April 9th, only three months later (December 14th) Hubbell applied for his Detachable Chain Guide patent (943077) which was Hubbell's new method of attaching the removable chain guide bell. Bryant and many other manufacturers started using Hubbell's new chain guide. The new method of attachment was added to this item as shown

It is not known at this time if the original threaded design was ever sold, but if it was, it would be quite a rare item to own as I have never seen or heard of one existing to this date.

The next and final Hubbell extender was the style shown below.


This design was applied for patent on September 21st 1912 and approved on December 24th 1912. It was assigned patent number 1048169.

This is likely the final result of the Klein-Hubbell patent shown above.
The 1914 catalog seems to announce it as a new product in that it states as the opening line in their description for it as "The next design of the Hubbell Attachment..." when it is the first in the catalog line up to describe.

These attachments were sold in different sizes for different size shades. It is easy to spot these sizes if you are viewing them from pictures.

The first size is like that shown above which was made to extend the pull for 8", 10" and 12" reflectors.
The next version of the extender was made to extend the pull on 14" reflectors only.
Another extender was sold that extended only 16" reflectors.
In the 1914 Hubbell catalog the final size added another version of the extender that worked on 18" and 20" reflectors.
In the 1917 Hubbell catalog a new size was added to work on 22" reflectors.

Note that these pull chain extenders were all sold with strings and not chains.
All of these extenders shown using ball chain were after market and added by the consumer.

The most common of these sizes is the one that was made for 8", 10" and 12" reflectors which is the style shown above.

The other oversized versions needed a modification to the extender to give it extra support.

You will notice in the picture on your right that a cross bar was added, which attaches to the ring and extends the length of the supporting arm.

If you are viewing an extender from a picture, you can easily spot the cross bar and identify that is is a more rare extended model. If it does not have the cross bar, you will know beyond a doubt that it is the more common version that was made for 8", 10" and 12" reflectors.

Another note worthy point is that when added to a period fixture, these extenders can add several hundred dollars to the asking price and desirability of the item (making it more unique).

For Hubbell Patents: http://antiquesockets.com/hubbellpatents.html

For more Hubbell items and Hubbell history see the link below:

http://antiquesockets.com/hubbell.html

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