INTERESTING
NOTES ABOUT SOME OF THE BUBBLE LIGHTS
ALPS-
This company was a Japanese manufacturer, and their bubble light was
most uncommon. Instead of using a plastic base like the other
makers, the ALPS product was actually an outside-painted figural
lamp with a bubble tube attached to the top. This arrangement did
not prove to be very effective, as the lights gave poor service
life, and the heat transfer between the figural lamp and the bubble
tube was quite poor. In addition, the bubbling tube was simply glued
to the top of the base, which made the configuration quite delicate.
My personal belief is that ALPS purchased at least some of their
bubbling tubes from the NOMA company, as several examples in my
collection have the glass slug within the tubes, a feature exclusive
to NOMA products. After production of these lights ceased, the glass
bases continued to be offered as figural lights, and apparently NOMA
bought back their bubble tubes, as I have found a few NOMA bubblers
with the typical flared bottom bubbling tubes that were apparently
made for the ALPS lights. Exact production dates for the lights is
not known, but it must have been a very short time. Despite the poor
quality and inexpensive appearance of these lights, they are highly
desired by collectors and are considered by most to be some of the rarest of
all known bubbling lights. The ALPS Company also issued the Snow
White and the Seven Dwarfs figural light set, along with toys and
mechanical Christmas, Space and Fantasy themed battery operated
figures during the late 1940s and 50s, and into the early 1960s.
(BACK to picture)
ClemCo Snap-On- Made for only three years, these very hard to find lights
were extremely susceptible to heat damage and were often discarded.
The plastic would distort so badly that the unit would no longer
clamp over the lamp. these were sold as snap-on models, meaning the
plastic body would simply snap over an existing C-6 or C-7 lamp on
the tree. (BACK to picture)
Holly-
These lights were made of a very heavy-duty and extremely heat
resistant plastic that was thicker than the plastic of any other
maker. The handy tree clips were an integral part of each bubbling
lamp. (BACK to picture)
NOMA
Biscuit- The first bubbling light sold to the public,
and the most common of all. There are slight production variations
available to serious collectors, but most commonly found are the
post 1950 bubblers that have no glass slug in the bubbling tube. A
true classic, which all other companies tried to imitate, with
varying results. NOMA discontinued manufacture of the lights in
1960, but continued to sell factory stock until their bankruptcy in
1965. (BACK to picture)
NOMA
Rocket- Manufactured for only two years (1961 and
1962), NOMA briefly tried to take advantage of the population's
rising interest in the American space program of that time. The
plastic was quite susceptible to the high temperatures of the light
bulb that was used, and most often these examples will be found
damaged due to heat distortion. Dr. Bill Laughlin kindly wrote to
me recently, and provided the following information about the Rocket
lights: The NOMA Rocket bubble lights were designed by Frank Pettit,
who previously had worked for the Lionel Corporation, maker of the
famous trains. Mr. Pettit worked for NOMA LITES from 1959 to 1962 as
their design director. His designs included color wheels, tree
stands, various Christmas decorations such as angels and carolers,
and the highly collectible NOMA Rocket Bubble Lights. He also
designed the well known Lionel Model 455 Oil Derrick, which used a
standard bubble light tube to simulate oil. Dr. Laughlin reports
that the book: It Comes From Within-The Frank Pettit Story,
published by the Myron Biggar Group, has pictures of the derrick and
references Mr. Pettit's work with NOMA LITES. (BACK
to picture)
NOMA
Saucer- For unknown reasons, NOMA briefly changed to
this style of bubbling light in 1948. It soon became evident that
the saucer shape was far too easily damaged by heat from the
contained light bulb, and NOMA promptly switched back to their
famous biscuit shape in 1949. (BACK to picture)
NOMA Snap-On-
This product was an effort to make a bubbling light that would snap
over existing lights with either a C-6 or C-7 glass envelope size.
Although an effective product, it suffered the fate of most of the
early 1940s-1950s plastics-heat damage. The lights would warp to the
point that the parts that clamped the unit to the light bulb would
not stay together. (BACK to picture)
NOMA
Tulip- This bubbler is
NOMA's offering of a parallel wired candelabra base light, sold in
sets so that if one or more lamps failed, it would not cause the
entire string to go dark. The top half of the base of these lights
is the saucer that was unsuccessfully used in the 1948 series wired
bubbling lamps. NOMA discontinued manufacture of the lights in 1960,
but continued to sell factory stock until their bankruptcy in 1965.(BACK to picture)
Paramount Biscuit- After
NOMA lost their patents on the bubbling lights, Paramount offered
their own style of biscuit bubbling light starting in 1950. Quite
similar in shape to NOMA's bubblers, the lights continued to be
manufactured virtually unchanged until 1972. Earlier offerings from
Paramount were the saucer shaped lights also pictured and discussed
on this page below. (BACK to
picture)
Paramount Oil- The earliest bubbling lights sold by
Raylite/Paramount were what the Company called Kristal Snow Animated
Candles. The tubes of these bubblers contained oil instead of the
methylene chloride used by NOMA, in an attempt to circumvent their
patents. The first year's (1947) production of these lights used
white top and bottom base halves instead of base halves that matched
the ring color, and the
tubes themselves were a bit longer than what is shown above.
Pictured is a 1948 light, with the shorter tube and a clear base
ring. The oil used in these lights bubbles with a very fine bubbling
action, and the tubes contain bits of pumice as a bubbling
activator. This fact makes it easy to determine whether or
not your saucer type Paramount light is oil or methylene chloride,
as the non-oil tubes do not include the pumice bits.
The oil lights are quite rare, and are highly sought by collectors.
See also the note below about the Paramount Saucer lights.
(BACK to picture)
Paramount Saucer- While the battle was raging between
Raylite (Paramount) and NOMA over the bubble light patents,
PARAMOUNT blatantly offered their own bubblers using methylene
chloride, despite the fact that the court cases had not yet been
settled. Once the case was finally decided, NOMA had lost and
Paramount almost immediately offered their own biscuit-style
bubbling lights (see above). See the notes above on the Paramount
Oil lights as well. (BACK to
picture)
Paramount Tulip- This particular bubbling light is
still being made today, although not by Paramount. Beginning in
1951, the Company sold these candelabra base lights in huge
quantities, until the molds were sold to ACLA (American Christmas
Lighting Association) in 1973. Many companies subsequently sold this
base style under their own names, and even today the lights can be
found under the NOMA Nostalgia brand name. (BACK to picture)
Peerless-
The bubblers from Peerless were made after their
well-known Shooting Star cousins, which are described below. After
NOMA lost their patent on bubbling lights, companies were free to
manufacture the lights any way they saw fit. Using the same plastic
housing as the Shooters, Peerless issued these lights with the
now-standard methylene chloride chemical in the tubes, which was by
far the cheapest and most effective chemical to use.
(BACK to picture)
Peerless Shooting Star-
Another effort to circumvent the NOMA patents resulted in the
Peerless Shooting star bubbling lights. Consisting of two dissimilar
liquids, the bubblers allow the formation of many small bubbles,
which subsequently rise rapidly through the first liquid, then fall
slowly through the second, imitating the effects of fireworks. These
bubbling lights are very hard to find today, and are quite
collectible, commanding high prices. The lights were offered in both
miniature and candelabra base lamps, and are most often found toady
with faded colors in the tubes. (BACK to picture)
Polly Snap-On- This bubbler is very similar to the
SEDA Snap On bubble lights, except that all Leo Pollock brand bubble
lights had a reeded or ribbed bubble tube, unique to the company.
Like the SEDA models, these lights were very susceptible to heat
damage and are extremely hard to find today. (BACK to picture)
Reliance Spark-L-Lite-
These lights were not made for long, and were extremely susceptible
to heat damage. In addition, the bottom housing components were put
together with an adhesive that ran and discolored the bases when
heated. Not a very successful product, and hard to find in pristine
condition today. It is interesting to note that the starburst
surround for the lights is almost identical to the starburst
surround found on Paramount Starlights. (BACK to picture)
Renown Biscuit- Made to imitate NOMA's biscuit and
capitalize on their sales, these bubblers usually have shorter
bubbling tubes than most other lights. (BACK to picture)
Royal Biscuit- Made in both solid color and two-color
versions, these Royal biscuits were huge sellers, second only to
NOMA's bubble lights. The solid color lights are earlier than the
bi-color examples. The activator chemicals used in the tubes are
large crystals, which discolor with age. In addition, the base
halves are often misaligned, and many examples can be found with
glue dribbles from sloppy manufacturing evident.
(BACK to picture)
Royal
Crown- These lights were Royal's offering of
candelabra based lights, and both halves of the base were of the
same color, molded to resemble a crown. The bubble tubes are the
largest that were incorporated into any of the bubble lights. Sold
both single and in sets of seven with a cord, these lights were the
ones included with the popular Santa and Snowman bubble light
holding figures described below. (BACK to picture)
Royal Bubbling Figures-
Immensely popular sellers, these figures were sold both as
decorations and for use as children's nightlights. When the Royal
Christmas decoration factory burned in 1955, the molds were sold to
NOMA, who continued to produce them as bubble light holders and as
stand-alone illuminated figures, holding a green plastic (or, later
in production, rubber) Christmas tree instead of a bubbler. The
Santa figure is far easier to find than the Snowman, who sells for
about twice as much to a collector. (BACK to picture)
Santa Lites-
These
inexpensive lights were made in Japan and were designed to closely
resemble the NOMA biscuit shape. The difference can be noted due to
the ring around the middle of the base, where both halves of the
base are joined. A genuine NOMA biscuit will not have the ring. (BACK
to picture)
SEDA-
Little is known about this unusual snap-on type of bubble
light, with a cone shaped base and five holly leaf-like extensions
surrounding the base. These lights were also sold by the Leo Pollock
Company under the "Polly" brand name late in their business years,
circa 1948-1949. Light will snap over either a C-6 or C-7 Christmas
lamp, essentially allowing the bubbling part to last indefinitely.
The holly leaves were quite brittle, and most examples found today
have one or more leaves missing or chipped. (BACK to picture)
USALITE-
Made in both candelabra and miniature base sizes, the bubbling
lights from USALITE were discontinued in 1958, only to be brought
back again for another production run from 1973-1978.
(BACK to picture)
World
Wide- In the mid 1960s, NOMA filed for bankruptcy,
and was taken over by a Japanese company named World Wide. That
company briefly offered these very poor quality bubble lights, which
were quite small and poor imitations of the NOMA biscuits. They had
an extremely short bulb life. (BACK to
picture)
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