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.

Catalogs and Switch Terms

In the early Bryant catalogs there are terms used for their socket switches. These terms are "Bryant No. 1 Key Socket" and "Bryant No. 2 Key Socket".
The term first started being used in the 1895 catalog when the duck bill switch (shown below) made its first appearance on a Westinghouse base socket and called the BRYANT "NO. 2" KEY SOCKET. So, in the 1895 catalog we have TWO Westinghouse base turnkey sockets -- offered as "NO. 1" and "NO. 2" which are one each of the patent design switch and the duck bill switch.

This new Westinghouse base socket was the first socket picturing a duck bill switch. Previously all catalog pictures were using the first patent design of the switch.
By the time of the 1899 catalog the duck bill option was passed on the the Thomson-Houston base sockets and termed as NO. 1 and NO. 2 as well as a Brush-Swan base termed as NO. 2. However because of the contact rings used and examples of these sockets on hand, we know that the T-H base NO. 2 switch started being sold in 1897.

So what does all of this mean? Bryant had two socket switches, the patent design switch shown below and hereafter referred to as Switch NO. 1 and the duck bill design shown directly below and hereafter referred to as Switch NO. 2.

The BRYANT NO. 2 Switch Contact
NON-BRYANT Y SHAPED BENT TAB As shown above, almost all of these post 1895 Bryant porcelain switches use this duck bill type switch mechanism. When the key is turned, the bottom contact is forced upward (as shown above) and makes contact with the terminal. There are no patents found as of yet in any Bryant catalog or elsewhere for this switch. It is clear that Bryant started using it around 1895, but it is also clear that another unknown company was also manufacturing sockets of this design. This mystery company is known to use this Y shaped tab on some T-H based sockets as well as Edison based sockets of which Bryant did not sell at this time. It is also easy to tell the difference between a Bryant porcelain switch and another manufacturer by the socket shell. Bryant used a non-standard shell for their porcelain sockets. To see how to tell the difference between a Bryant short ornate shell, see the non-standard shell type section. The BRYANT NO. 1 Switch Contact The only exception is shown to your right and is less common though it is found in Bryant catalogs from 1895 through 1901. This method of making contact is simple and to the point. When you turn the key, the key post makes contact with the tab and completes the connection. The post itself is the conductor, unlike the switches shown above that use the post to force the tab against a terminal to complete the connection. This is also the contact method that was used in the original 1890 Bryant patent. Because of this, it will be the same type contact method used on the older pre-1891 (brick red) vulcanized fiber switches. An example of this is shown on the switch to your left (broken down for better viewing).
The Key Handle	The Bryant Patent Date Stamped On The Shell	The Contact Rings (T-H Base Sockets Only)
The black handle (shown above) started being used with porcelain switches around 1891. The 1895 Bryant catalog shows that handles still did NOT have the Bryant name stamped on them. The 1897 Western Electric catalog still shows the unmarked handle, while the 1898 Western Electric catalog starts showing some of the handles stamped with the Bryant name on them. This provides us with the date of 1898 as the start of the transition period for this new variant. The last Bryant catalog using these type switches was the 1901 Bryant catalog.	Both the long and ornate shell designs were offered from 1890 until 1901. Some had the Bryant name and patent date stamped on them and others did not. There does not seem to be any pattern as to why. The new 1899 electrical code stated that the company name and power ratings needed to be stamped on the socket shell. Since these sockets were in the 1901 catalog, it is assumed that these were grandfathered overstock. However, if we are wrong, there will be signed Bryant shells of this type with power ratings on them. If you see one, please contact us.	The round contact ring shown above (after 1894) will always use two screws to hold them in place on the T-H porcelain switches. (note that pre-1896 porcelain and fiber switches uses two rivet posts) The 1895 Bryant catalog still shows ONLY the round contact ring. In an 1897 Western Electric catalog we find Bryant switches being shown with both the round and the oval contact ring. This shows us the transition period for this new variant, as well as providing us with the date of 1897 as the beginning of it. The oval ring and this type socket, is last seen in the 1901 Bryant catalog.

1891 Bryant Westinghouse Socket	1891 Bryant Westinghouse As Shown The Catalog	1891 Bryant Westinghouse Patent
The Bryant Westinghouse base socket was first patent applied for March 9 1891, which also provides us with the date of the first documented use of porcelain in Bryant socket switches. The patent (no. 457,072) was approved on August 4 1891. The Bryant Westinghouse design is unique in that there is only one single contact prong to hold the Westinghouse style bulb. Other NON-Bryant sockets use two prongs as a standard, which clamp around the center contact pin on the Westinghouse bulb base. With this single prong design, makes it easy to ID a Bryant Westinghouse base socket. Note that Bryant patented their two prong design in May of 1893 Pat. No. 502,655 which was used on newer bases around that time. However there may had been a lot of overstock as the Bryant catalogs show these older switches still using the single prong design for many years later.