|
|
CLICK HERE FOR THE TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE AND LINKS TO ALL PAGES ON THIS SITE TABLE OF CONTENTS HISTORY THE TIMELINE MANUFACTURER'S HISTORIES THE PATENT PAGES THE PRE-ELECTRIC ERA VINTAGE ADVERTISING THE LIGHT SET GALLERIES RELATED LINKS LIGHTING OUTFITS: 1940-1950, page 2 The amazing bubble lights were THE lights to have
during the end of the 1940s. Millions upon millions of them were made.
"Invented" by Carl Otis in the late 1930s, NOMA was not able to
produce them until the latter part of the 40s due to Wartime
In addition to looking at the information in this section, you can CLICK HERE to learn more about the history and invention of the bubbling Christmas light, and CLICK HERE for the bubbling light identification page.
|
In 1946, NOMA first marketed their
soon-to-be-famous famous Bubble Lites in the book-type box pictured here. Carl
Otis, an accountant at Montgomery Ward, actually "invented" the bubbling light in
1938. He sold the rights to NOMA later that same year, but the Company was
unable to market them until after the War, in 1946. Consisting of a glass tube
filled with
![]() |
![]() Outside of Box |
![]() Inner Flap |
|
![]() The Lights |
|
![]() Close-up of Bubble Lite |
AN INTERESTING FACT: Although not shown in the patent drawings, the NOMA biscuit style bubble light was originally intended to have an easily replaceable bulb. The top and bottom halves of the light were held together with metal clips, which allowed for disassembly. The bottom half of the biscuit which contained the lamp was actually made by The Matchless Electric Company, maker of the famous Matchless Stars. It is made of a very different plastic than NOMA used for the top half of the light. You'll easily be able to spot the difference-the Matchless plastic has a satin finish, while the NOMA plastic is quite shiny. In the pictures, the complete bubble light is missing its clips, and has been glued together by a previous owner. The other picture is a close up of the Matchless-produced bottom half with bulb. The Matchless plastic is of a much deeper color than is the NOMA material. The center picture is a cutaway view of the prototype NOMA bubbler. |
Note: This is an archive of the late Bill Nelson's "Antique Christmas Light" web site as it existed in 2001. Except for contact information, link updates, and some information that has been lost, we have attempted to keep the text and illustrations as Bill presented them. However, the original pages included much outdated HTML code and graphic conventions, so we have done a lot of work "behind the scenes" to bring you this archive. Consequently:
OldChristmasTreeLights? and FamilyChristmasOnline? are trademarks of Breakthrough Communications? (www.btcomm.com).
|
![]() | ||||||
Visit our affiliated sites: | ||||||
- Christmas Memories and Collectibles - | ||||||
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
|
- Family Activities and Crafts - | ||||||
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
|
- Music - | ||||||
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
|
- Trains and Hobbies - | ||||||
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() | ![]() |
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() | ![]() |
![]() |
![]() |