Antique Light Sockets - Research - Sales

1896 Silk Tuna line Ball
First used by Hubbell for the first pull socket which was patent number 565541. Bryant sold this Hubbell design from 1897 to 1901. Bryant/Perkins continued using this silk tuna line ball finial on a Perkins switch, until it was finally replaced with the Bryant snaplock ball in 1921.

1899 Hubbell Ornate Acorn
This larger, heavy, solid, ornate Hubbell acorn was short lived. It was the first brass acorn that was used on pull chain switches.

1899 Hubbell Large Ornate Crimp Acorn
This acorn differed slightly from the above and was made as a replacement acorn for the above.

1901 Hubbell Large Flat Tip
This acorn was also a solid heavy acorn. This was the first beta design before using the smaller non-ornate acorn shown below.

1902 Hubbell Flat Tip
It is easy to tell the difference between these and other acorns, because this acorn is heavy and solid while others are hollow and weigh almost nothing. The tip at the bottom is round and does NOT come to a sharp point at the end. This rounded tip is flat at the bottom as if it was hammered and is almost always sharp to the touch around the edges. This tip sticks out almost 1/16th of an inch.

1904 Hubbell Point Tip
These are hollow much lighter finials with a distinct point at the end. These do not have flat tips at the bottom like those before 1904 or the dented tip of those after 1909. The point is sharp and distinct and normally sticks out almost 1/16th of an inch.

1909 Bryant Old Style Ball
This ball finial was used by Bryant starting in 1909. Bryant first started using the point tip acorn on their pull sockets in 1907. Then starting in 1909 switched to this ball finial until changing to the tassel many years later. This ball finial was used on many other sockets starting in the year 1912 and as late as 1952 by GE Co., P&S, Benjamin, Arrow and many others.

1909 Hubbell Punch Tip
These finials are the most common seen today, coming from the more common Hubbell sockets without the chain guide attached to the shell. The acorns are hollow just like those above, but without with a distinct point at the end. These finials have more of a dented or punched out tip. The point is not sharp or distinct at all and normally sticks out just enough to give it the form and appearance of a tip.

1911 Hubbell Crimp Acorn
This acorn was used and sold in Hubbell Catalogs from 1911 until 1928 as a replacement acorn.

1911 King's Pat. Chain Ball
This ball finial has a patent date stamped on the bottom of May 9, 1911 which is patent number 992,001 applied for by George A. King of Scovill Manufacturing Co. on Feb. 7th 1911. It was first made as a new invention of a replacement finial, but within only a couple years was licensed by GE, P&S, Arrow, Benjamin, etc. and found it's way onto many of the major sockets and fixtures of the time.

Shortly after this design a new finial with a hole in the bottom came out so that it could be easily used with a string in place of the beaded chain.

1903Hubbell Removable
These acorns unscrew. Like many other examples of Hubbell's prototypes, the invention was not patented until the final product was decided on. In this case the other removable acorns shown below.

1914 Hubbell Press-In
This acorn was sold in Hubbell and other catalogs as a replacement acorn until 1921. It is much like the 1911 ball by King in the way that it attaches.

1914 Hubbell Removable (Snaplock)
This chain on this acorn is removed by griping the last ball going into the top of the acorn and pushing down lightly. The slip tube will then slide out of the bottom for easy removal. This acorn is called the "snaplock" in the Hubbell Catalogs. It is also the acorn of choice used for silk line cord.

1915 Bryant Snaplock Ball
There is a Bryant patent for this Pat No. 1,083,821 applied for 10/28/1913 approved 01/06/1914. Another patent by Bryant 1,173,896 was filed 03/09/1914 approved 02/29/1916. Another patent by George A. King of Scovill Manufacturing Co. on 12/22/1923 and approved on 01/13/1925.

By 1918 P&S and Benjamin were also using this finial design, 1921 Levloier, 1928 G.E, and was used as late as 1952 by Arrow.

1913 Bryant	1914 Bryant	1923 Scoville

If the finial does not have the slits on the bottom of the base, it is a 1914 Bryant.
If the finial has the slits, but no push down case for the ball to fit into, it is a 1913 Bryant
If the finial has the slits and the chain ball case, it is the 1923 Scoville.

1917 Snaplock Tassel
This was another Bryant design that was used by them early, but ended up replacing the ball finial as early as 1930 and continued to be used post 1948 at which time they were mostly using the thin cheap snapin tassels. Arrow used this design as late as 1952.

1923 Hubbell Removable Acorn
Hubbell used these removable acorns starting in 1923. This finial was at first only used for hard to get to areas such as a candle socket or cylinder lamp. Many of these hard to get into areas were only a few inches from the hole to the socket. However these became quite common and began to be used on newer sockets as a standard by 1927. Soon after only the tassel version was offered that is shown below.

1923 Hubbell Removable Tassel
Tassels using this method started being offered late in 1923 though they became more common during the indicating pull socket era of 1926 to 1930. This tassel was used and sold as a replacement as late as 1958 as shown in the Hubbell catalogs. To see if you have the slide in clamp model acorn or tassel, you can squeeze the clamp tight around the ball with your fingers and then pull up softly. If it is the this removable model it will slide upward as shown in the pictures.

Post 1926 Hubbell Indicating Chain
Indicating pulls started being used in 1926 and shown in the patent for the Indicating Pull Socket patent no. 1736285. The Indicating Pull Socket was one of Harvey Hubbell's last inventions. He died on December 17, 1927. This patent was approved Nov 19th 1929 after his death. His son Harvey Hubbell III, succeeded him as President of Harvey Hubbell, INC.

The indicating pull worked by crimping a larger brass ball cover, over one of the pull chain balls close up to the switch. The switch was designed to hold back some of the chain in the "off" position and release it in the "on" position. Depending on how close that you put the ball to the switch, it could cause the ball to be appear hidden when the switch was off and visible when turned on.

Even though you may find these indicating chains on non-indicating sockets, the chain (if factory installed) dates your item to post 1926 which is when the pull was invented.

Miscellaneous Tassels
While it would be hard to date every tassel that ever came out, it would be a good practice to just use common sense.
If it is a cheap tassel it is likely a cheap undesirable socket. Most of these do not use screws but rivets in the later years when most companies were more concerned with the cost of making the sockets rather then the quality of the socket.

Luminous Finials
For more information or pictures of luminous finials enter this section.
Luminous finials started being offered about 1914 and were still being sold in catalogs as late as 1937