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.

Israel Holmes served as the first president of Bristol Brass. He was no stranger to the brass business, having started many related companies prior to forming Bristol Brass; and he would be involved in numerous ventures thereafter. Holmes started in the brass business at Scovills in the 1820's. He gained a strong reputation after bringing both brass rolling equipment and skilled brass workers from England during a time when exports of materials and workmen was prohibited.

Holmes was not content working for others, so in 1831 he formed Holmes and Hotchkiss, again traveling to England for men and machinery. Holmes and Hotchkiss was one of the first firms to draw brass wire and form brass tubing in the United States, largely due to the skills of the men he obtained from England. In 1833 he broke away to form the Wolcottville Brass Company in what is now Torrington, Conn. He also had his hand in The Waterbury Brass Company (1845); Holmes, Tuttle and Company (which became part of Bristol Brass) and ultimately set up as a separate corporation - The American Silver Company; Holmes, Booth & Haydens; Holmes, Booth & Atwood, which later became Plume & Atwood after a legal battle with Hiram W. Hayden.

In 1868, The Bristol Brass & Clock Company diversified into the burner and lamp business. On April 28, 1868, they purchased the burner shop of George W. Brown & Company. Brown was an inventor and manufacturer of mechanical toys. Three years after Colonel Edwin Drake struck oil, Brown started making lamp burners. The burner business was so successful, that he quit making toys, and attracted the attention of Bristol Brass management. At the same time, Bartlett P. Luce, a holder of a number of burner patents, came on board as a salesman. He traveled the southern states, proclaiming the attributes of the Safety Burner which he had invented. Luce and his burner was very successful, selling significant numbers to the railways, miners, and lumber camps. This paved the way for a successful lamp business. On July 3, 1902, the company changed it's name to Bristol Brass Co. Its successor, Bristol Brass Corporation, closed down in the 1980's. Thanks for this information goes to The Lamp Works.

Patent No. / Links	Description / Notes	Patent Picture
738099	INCANDESCENT - LAMP SOCKET
Patent Class: 200/51.17	Inventor: Walter A. Church Assigned To: Bristol Brass & Clock Company, of Bristol Connecticut Patent Applied For: 06/20/1902 Patent Approved On: 11/01/1903 Witnesses: S. B. Harper Geo. C. Doherty

Patent No. / Links	Description / Notes	Patent Picture
738294	LAMP SOCKET
Patent Class: 200/51.17	Inventor: Walter A. Church Assigned To: Bristol Brass & Clock Company, of Bristol Connecticut Patent Applied For: 10/18/1902 Patent Approved On: 11/08/1903 Witnesses: Arthur B. Jenkins Erma P. Coffrin