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TABLE OF CONTENTS       HISTORY       THE TIMELINE       MANUFACTURER'S HISTORIES       THE PATENT PAGES       

THE PRE-ELECTRIC ERA      VINTAGE ADVERTISING         THE LIGHT SET GALLERIES         RELATED LINKS

         FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

The Timeline, page 2

DATE SIGNIFICANT       EVENT CLICK TO ENLARGE PICTURE
1922  The round globe lamps are discontinued by General Electric, in favor of the now popular cone shape.
1922 The Japanese begin offering huge quantities of figural lamps molded in milk glass. Paint adhered better to this glass, and when it did flake off the light was still a bit more attractive than the clear glass type. These milk glass lights did not have the superior detail of the Austrian and German lamps, but due to the fact that they were machine-made, their cost was far less. Within a few years, the Japanese figurals dominated the market.  Milk Glass Figurals.jpg (69556 bytes)
1923 Lester Haft, an employee of the C.D. Wood Electric Company, invented the "Tri-Plug" or  "Tachon" connector for Christmas lights. It was intended to facilitate the interconnection of several  strands of lights. There were two versions, one for the familiar bladed plugs and the earliest form for screw-in type connectors. The bladed plug form is pictured here. 

Tri Plug or Tachon Device.jpg (64702 bytes)

1924 The smooth cone lamps by General Electric and Westinghouse are replaced by the slightly smaller ribbed or textured variety. These lamps continued to be made, virtually unchanged, until the early 1970s.  Ribbed Cone Quartet.jpg (56678 bytes)
1925  A trade association is formed by 15 of the firms then engaged in Christmas lighting manufacture. All of these companies also held licenses for the Tri-Plug connection device. The trade group is named The National Outfit Manufacturing Association, or NOMA.
1926 The above named trade association members officially merged into a single company, becoming the now-famous NOMA Electric Corporation. It was the largest Christmas lighting company in the world, and is still in business today.
1926 Eugene Kukla invented a small wooden bead, usually painted red (and sometimes, but rarely, found in green and even blue) that was attached below the outfit light sockets and served to hold the lamp upright on tree branches. It was a common but incorrect belief that Christmas light bulbs would burn longer in an upright position. NOMA became the owner of the rights to manufacture the beads through the 1926 merger, and trademarked them as "Berry Beads".  Berry Bead.jpg (34850 bytes)
1927 General Electric first used the large, intermediate size base for their new outdoor Christmas light bulbs. The outfits consisted of 7 lamps, and were wired in parallel so that the failure of a single lamp would not affect the rest. The earliest of these lights are round, but by 1928 they were the familiar swirled or flame shape. Also, the early lamps were painted on the outside, but later issues feature a scratchproof inside color. These lamps are still made today, although they are once again smooth rather than textured, and the color is on the outside. It is interesting to note that General Electric and the various Edison Electric distribution companies sponsored many neighborhood "decorating with color-light" contests in an effort to induce sales of the new outfits. Their strategy worked quite well, as within several years communities all over the United States held friendly decorating competitions at Christmastime.  C-9 round and flame.jpg (82758 bytes)
1928 General Electric offered the first mass marketed parallel wired candelabra base indoor lighting outfits. These sets had a distinct advantage: when a lamp burnout occurred it would not affect the rest of the lights. Conversely, a major disadvantage of the outfits was their high manufacturing cost. Parallel wired indoor lighting sets did not become popular until after the end of World War II.  Clemco 1935 outside.jpg (39833 bytes)
1932 General Electric offered bell shaped lamps for the first time. These are called by collectors "MAZDA Bells".   Mazda Bells.jpg (51093 bytes)
1935 General Electric introduced their new candle shaped lamps. These lamps had a major disadvantage in that the filaments often burned quite close to the glass envelope, creating a circular burn spot in the paint of the lamp.  Mazda Candles.jpg (71618 bytes)
1939 March of this year saw the formation of NOMA Electric Company Limited in the United Kingdom, a company still in business and still manufacturing Christmas lights today. See the links page for more information on this company.
1945 General Electric drops the use of the trademark name MAZDA on its light bulbs. 
1946 Sylvania first introduced their fluorescent Christmas lights. An unattractive milky white in the  box, they glow with wonderful pastel colors when power is applied. The sets were expensive, selling for $6.95 (around $50.00 today), and were not big sellers. 

fluorescents operating.jpg (9357 bytes)

1946 NOMA first markets their famous Bubble Lights. Unable to hold a patent on them, many other companies offer their own bubbling light sets by 1948.  Bubble 1947 NOMA Box inside.jpg (27259 bytes)
1950 This year saw the introduction of the now universal miniature or "Fairy Lights". First  produced in Italy, other countries soon followed, including Germany, Holland and Japan. The earliest of these sets have no bases and are direct wired into the light string. Later sets used tiny screw-in bases, with companies finally progressing to the familiar plastic base push-in lamps. 1950 Japanese Fairy lights.jpg (56689 bytes)
1951

General Electric switches to the use of aluminum for their lamp bases. Most of the other lighting companies soon follow. 

C-6 Aluminum Cones.jpg (29327 bytes)
1952 The sale of figural lights dwindles, and it will not be long before they are no longer offered for sale. Milk Glass Figurals.jpg (69556 bytes)
1953 Several companies offer "expanded" series wired light sets, consisting of 15-20 miniature base lamps that were smaller than the traditional cone lamps. They did not remain on the market long, as the midget or "Fairy" lights were gaining in popularity.  Transformer Set.jpg (37885 bytes)
1955 This year saw the first widespread appearance of "Twinkling Lamps", candelabra based units with the flasher built in to the lamp. Introduced in Japan, General Electric and Westinghouse soon offered their own varieties, both with transparent paint. The earliest of the flashing lamps have a larger globe size than normal, and have inside, solid color paint.  NOMA Twinklers.jpg (33018 bytes)
1956 Low-voltage transformer outfits appear on the market. These were high-quality outfits, and were run from a transformer, which to some made decorating a bit difficult.  They sold for about $7.00 a set, which was expensive for the time, and was probably one reason they disappeared from the market quickly. 

Expanded light set.jpg (39970 bytes)

1958 General Electric first offers the globe shaped Lighted Ice bulbs. A popular offering, these  lamps can still be found today.  Lighted Ice single.gif (83948 bytes)
1970 By this time, almost all Christmas lighting outfits are foreign made. NOMA is no longer the major company it once was, and Americans are lighting their trees almost exclusively with imported miniature lights.

wpe3.jpg (22712 bytes)

END OF CATEGORY

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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

         FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

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:

  • The original subject matter content and illustrations on the OldChristmasTreeLights.com? product description pages are Copyright (c) 2001 by Bill Nelson.
  • All updated HTML code, editorial comments, and reformatted illustrations on this web site are Copyright (c) 2010, 2011, 2013, 1014 by Paul D. Race.
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