two matching original and fully functional 1894 chicago stock exchange building interior trading room skylight edison screw base single hairpin filament light bulbs

BLDG. 51 MUSEUM COLLECTION
In stock
SKU
UR-23530-15
edison general electric, harrison, nj.

 

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set of nearly identical all original and intact late 19th century sullivan and adler-designed chicago stock exchange interior trading room edison screw base light bulbs or "lamps" fabricated by the edison general electric company, harrison, nj. the "tipped" mold blown lamps were removed from keyless sockets mounted above the building's trading room art glass skylights shortly before demolition in 1972. the majority of the trading room ornament, including the incandescent light bulbs was salvaged by richard nickel, john vinci, tim samuelson and others for future reconstruction at the chicago art institute. the artificial light provided by the light bulbs was not adequate enough to effectively illuminate the skylights so the electric lamps were turned off and largely forgotten until being rediscovered over 70 years later. the same exact light bulbs were used in each of the ornamental monogrammed plaster segments located directly below the ceiling. the two matching light bulbs were given to me by tim samuelson for use in illuminating the bldg. 51's original and intact plaster segment, housed in an oak wood frame with keyless ceramic sockets mounted in the two holes flanking the fanciful monogram. a total of 5,500 lamps used to illuminate the interior spaces of the chicago stock exchange building, completed in 1894. the lamps were supplied by the central electric company, which at the time was the exclusive western agent of western electric supply company, st. louis, mo. the edison screw base lamps were fabricated by the edison general electric, harrison, nj. the edison light bulb was improved upon, both in material and design, with modified changes being introduced nearly every year between the late 1880's and early 1890's. in 1893 a light bulb known as the "new type edison lamp" was introduced and was produced until 1900. prior to 1893 any and all edison lamps were outfitted with filaments made from carbonized bamboo fibers, a notoriously difficult material caused by the large variations in performance. in 1893 the edison factories adopted the squirted cellulose filament, which was a man-made carbon fiber that tremendously improved both strength and uniformity. the platinum lead wires were connected to the newly developed hairpin filament with a carbon paste first introduced in 1886. the base of the light bulb was first introduced in 1888, with the number of threads increased and refined further in 1893. the insulator was originally plaster of paris, but by 1890 the lamps were treated with a more durable porcelain insulator. the soda lime glass bulb or "envelope" was blown into a mold versus free air, a technique first introduced in 1892. the lamp power of light bulbs used in the stock exchange trading room were approximately 75 watts.

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