Antique Light Sockets - Research - Sales

The Edison No. 1 socket is basically any socket configuration that uses baseless bulbs and before the invention of the screw base.

The first Edison sockets in 1879 and until late 1880 were wooden sockets that did not yet have the Edison screw base for the bulb. The oldest bulbs had wires sticking out of the end, which were normally folded under or slipped between two metal tabs. These tabs were then held by winding thread around the top of the tabs, which held them tight against the base of the bulb.

These tabs were made from two different materials being either German silver or brass. The tabs on the bulb, would then press against similar tabs inside of the wood socket opening as shown in the picture on your right.

Within a short time (mid 1880), wooden peg type adapters were invented. These adapters were carved out of wood and included metal tabs on the sides of the peg part of the adapter, which fit into the socket. The other end had a hole that the bulb fit into. This adapter provided a much more solid connection for the bulb when pressed into the socket as shown below.

These No. 1 Edison sockets could only be used with the bulb facing upward, as they would easily fall out of the socket if positioned straight down.

In 1879/1880, the No. 1 sockets were sometimes used with a standard telegraph switch (as shown on your right) to turn it off and on, though it included the earliest thumb screw type of switch on the side of the socket (as shown on your left). Note that these thumb screw knobs were made of brass as it is hard to tell from the photos.

Later in late 1880, a new snap switch was invented and installed on to the side of the no. 2 socket which was reminisced as invented with a second (soon to be held) Edison demonstration in mind.

An improvement with the 1-B was made in which the wires no longer connect to the outside of the socket (as seen on the pictures of the 1-A above), but now come down through the bottom hole like you are used to seeing on sockets even today. This was not the case on the No. 1-A version (shown clearly in the picture on your right), even though when simply looking at it and seeing the hole on the bottom and thinking that the wires would come down through it. The wires were connected on the outside to the terminal screws shown above on the sides of the socket and the hole on the bottom was simply to connect it to a fixture with the wires connecting from the outside of the socket.

The No 1-A socket is socket is documented as being in use at the December 31st 1879 Menlo Park demonstration. The No. 1-B version is the socket that is shown in the later patent that was applied for on February 5th 1880 and approved on October 3rd 1882. It was assigned patent no. 265,311.

The number 1-A pictures have been provided by Adam Allerhand (a moderator in our forums), and the 1880's Bergmann telegraph key is part of my collection.

I have two sources that document the Edison No. 1-C socket and so far examples of two possible different configurations of it which are shown below. Please note that the second example has not yet been documented as actually existing in real life. The first and top socket picture below came from an ebay auction from many years ago. The second socket picture (shown below on the bottom) came from photos taken by Tim Tromp of the Dr. Hugh Hicks collection back in 1999. (Tim Tromp is the owner of Kilokat's Antique Light Bulb Site

This No. 1-C sockets have a new design in the thumb screw switch and now a more ornate knob which is different from the earlier 1-A and 1-B sockets. This is easy to compare from the photo's above (in the 1-A section) to the sockets shown directly above and the drawing shown below (example clips on the right).

Also, from the Edison drawing above and the Kruesi drawing below, we get a new possible configuration (one with a hole on the side), and two examples of how it would have been mounted to fixtures.

Also shown below, is a possible variation in design. Notice that in the Kruesi drawing on the right side (shown below) that the shell more resembles the flowing or indented grooved design that we are used to seeing in the Edison No. 1-A and B socket versions. There are no documented examples of this version of the No. 1-C socket existing in real life. It could have just been Kruesi's concept of what it would look like, but then manufactured as the real life examples we now have.

The Electrical Engineer published an article about this same chandelier entitled "The First Incandescent Chandelier" on August 12th, 1891 Vol.12 Page No. 155 (broken link)

The Francis Upton Chandelier Dilemma
I should mention that there is some confusion in my mind about what is being called "The Upton Chandelier" as well as the reference to it being the "First" chandelier. Also, what this was actually meant to mean, as seen in the original 1891 Electrical Engineer article (broken link). We need to first pay close attention to the article itself, since the statements shown above (as well as in other books and publications) are most obviously plagiarized and not "direct quotes" from it. Since some statements found in publications have been made without quoting the source, statements have been made that have been interpreted improperly or hyped in the wrong direction. This now causes there to exist multiple sources seeming to tell the same basic story. Remember that each time it is copied by a new source, it is slightly changed by using add-lib in different directions - which have been made up from their own understanding of their particular individual plagiarized source. If this questionable story originally found in this Electrical Engineer article, is reused over and over again (from what ever version down the tree) without being directly quoted, soon it will be even worse then it is now.

Adam Allerhand put together an excellent color coded comparison chart (broken link) that helps to quickly point out the obvious plagiarism.

It would be important to note that the other chandelier shown in this section (from the Scientific American), is a 'true first' (being documented) in the sense that the fixture wires run through the inside of the tubing and was designed from the start as an "Electric" chandelier. It was not an existing gas chandelier that had been converted to electric. Please do not misunderstand me, I am not saying the the Scientific American was "without a doubt" the first; But what I am saying, is that this one shown in the Electrical Engineer article (the Stieringer/Upton), truly does not directly qualify for this status.

The photo shown on your right, was taken by Tim Tromp (the owner of Kilokat's Antique Light Bulb Site) at the Henry Ford Museum. You can view a few more high resolution pictures with close up pictures of the sockets and cross arms in this pdf (broken link).

WHY IT CAN'T BE THE "FIRST"

Let me explain: First, you need to take into consideration the original source of the information, which was given to the Electrical Engineer by the new owner of it (Luther Stieringer) who was a big "collector" of Edison relics. Many times with collectors, stories are invented, stretched or simply misrepresented to enhance what they own (or to put it more simply and truthfully - what they don't own). Second, the fact that there were other gas chandeliers in history that were converted to electric is documented fact. There were many such chandeliers and gas fixtures that had been wired for electric. In the December 31st 1879 Edison demonstration Edison had taken two of his gas chandeliers and wired them with No. 1-A sockets pointing straight up. Upton also speaks of a chandelier in a personal letter to his father dated Dec. 28th 1879 - "I had a number of gentlemen in my parlor among them the correspondent of the London times. He made a note of my chandelier" (this was not the one with these No. 2 sockets). There is also another in Menlo Park technical notes from Upton while documenting filaments in his January 2, 1880 entry "217. Burnt 4 days. Chandelier over Griff.s desk. Broke 1/4 inch above regular place, probably bad vacuum. Edison brought this to me."

In the Electrical Engineer article it says "The chandelier of which an illustration is shown on this page is one of the most interesting relics of the early days of incandescent lighting. It is, in a word, the first chandelier ever used for the specific purpose of carrying incandescent lamps."

Not true, but it was possibly the first converted gas chandelier to have the sockets turned in the downward position.

In the Jehl book there is a picture of a four socket chandelier in Vol. one on page 409 shown on your right, in which he says about it:

"First chandelier fitted with electric lamps. It was a gas fixture equipped with the earliest type of sockets and thumb screw switches."

Now, while this looks like it could be "The First Chandelier", you do not need to be a rocket scientist to know that they both can't be.

At least Jehl's has the "FIRST" sockets on it :-)

The chandelier shown here was a gas chandelier made by Mitchell Vance starting with their 1870 catalog in which it was shown on plate No. 7 as shown below.

Because of the sockets used, It would have been converted to electric some time early possibly during or right after 1879.

I have also included a real life picture of one of these 'first' converted gas fixtures (shown below). It is also easy to see from the picture, that it is a second example and not the exact same fixture of Jehl's illustration.

One could also assume that the Stieringer/Upton chandelier was the one that Upton owned and spoke of in his letter of December 28th 1879 which might predate these other converted ones; And then at a later date it was converted again with the new sockets pointing downward in late 1880. But, the problem with this thinking would be; that the picture shown of the Stieringer chandelier was not offered by Mitchell Vance during that time. I am not a Mitchell Vance expert, but I have catalogs to see different styles and parts were being manufactured and used on M.V. chandeliers to compare for dating: 1870, 1871, 1876, 1879, 1880, 1882, 1883, 1887. Some of these parts (on the Stieringer) do not show up at all in the 1880 catalog but do in the 1882 catalog (such as the obvious canopy style). So, assuming that parts were first made; and the time that it would take to produce the new lines; and have them in the catalog for the next year; to be right on target with the statement In the article which says "This fixture was purchased from Mitchell, Vance & Co. originally, and then wired on the spot", and not something that was hanging around for years and converted again.

The point of this being that this Stieringer 'gas conversion' most defiantly was not;

"in a word, the first chandelier ever used for the specific purpose of carrying incandescent lamps"
As reported by the Scientific American with their source being Luther Stieringer.

OR ""the first electrolier wired for incandescent electric lighting" as reported in the book Edisonia in 1904 with their source being obvious plagiarism (broken link).

OR "the first electrolier was wired and placed in service" as reported in the book by Francis Arthur Jones in 1908 with their source being obvious plagiarism (broken link).

My closings on the chandelier topic, would be that if any chandelier was to be called the first "electric" chandelier (used for the specific purpose of carrying incandescent lamps), it would need to be like shown in the Scientific American magazine article dated Jan. 22 1881 (with the wires concealed inside of the tubing). Also, keeping in mind the dating of early 1881; and the information and style of the chandeliers and other parts in the Menlo Park notebooks; this chandelier shown in the Scientific American would qualify as being the first real electric chandelier. There is however NO DOCUMENTATION to positively confirm this at this time as it is all circumstantial evidence. It is simply the first real type chandelier that I have found documented with no information as to where it was used or how many of them made.

Other Dating Methods For The Edison No. 2 Socket

ANOTHER DATING METHOD For The No. 2 Edison Socket
So far I believe we have enough to document these sockets into 1880, but after exhausting myself looking for the socket to be pictured or documented other ways in 1880, I changed my approach and thought along another line.

I remembered that this was a short lived socket, that had been replaced early on with the Edison No. 3 (Johnson's bevel ring socket). If I could find when work on the new socket started, this could possibly also date us into 1880 for the no. 2 socket. This would be because the first would have had to already exist, before starting work on a new one.

Francis Jehl 'reminiscences' ...