Early electric lamp flex

[Rogerxx]

Hello,
I have been here before but so long ago that I got deleted! Thanks for having me back.
An odd question I know but what did electric flex look like in the 1880's?
I have a gilt brass table lamp in the form of a classical column, in the base is a maker's mark "R E & S" within a shield. This is Richard Everard & son who became Everard and company Ltd in 1884, so it seems reasonable to assume that the old mark was then abandoned. I bought the lamp near to Brighton which had an electricity supply from 1882 so it is feasibly a first generation fitting. The cast iron weight in the base has a gap to allow the wire to be threaded through & the joints would not have been gas tight so it is not a converted oil or gas lamp.
The bulb holder it came with was a late 20's or early 30's one which did not properly fit the thread. I have replaced it with the earliest I have, an ediswan bayonet cap which fits. BC bulbs were available at the time. I cannot find much information for pre-1900 electric fittings, the 1883 Brush Swan catalogue ( available online) has a table lamp on page 5 with a simpler capital design than mine and I have been using that as a reference. I have found in one of my junk boxes, a gallery which physically fits, and am seeking a period gas shade of the right shape and size.
There is plenty of old style flex available but I am not sure what colour and whether twisted or not is most appropriate There is only room for 2 core so I plan to use a bus bulb and run it at 24v so I don't have to modify it for an earth.
An advice or information would be welcome.

[Graham G3ZVT]

Originally Posted by Rogerxx

I have a gilt brass table lamp in the form of a classical column

Welcome back.
I'd love to see a picture or two.

[broadgage]

I would suggest any vintage style twin twisted lamp flex, modern production is readily available.
Choose whatever colour you feel to be in keeping with the fitting.

I doubt that true historical accuracy is that important, remembering that in the 1880s that electrical equipment in general and lamp flex in particular were new inventions and not in any way standardised.

Commonsense suggests that the two insulated wires would have been twisted in order to keep them neatly together.

I agree that use of 24 volts is prudent.

Modern "bus bulbs" are almost always INSIDE frosted. Lamps in the early days were either clear or OUTSIDE frosted. Outside frosted lamps are no longer readily available.

The original lamp would have been carbon filament, these are now hard to find, and are almost unknown in 24 volt.
The original bulb would have had an external tip, these are no longer readily available.
It might be worth use of an LED "filament" bulb, these look at least somewhat "olde style"

[Rogerxx]

Hello,
My dating of this lamp is entirely based on the foundry mark in the base & when this changed. I would otherwise have assumed it to be early 20th century. The possible historic importance has put me in conservation mode. The holophane shade is on to give me an idea of what size it needs.
Most antique dealers seem to fit gold or bronze lead which looks nice but seems improbable. I have found cream/white inside Edwardian lamps and old electric shock machines it is often green.
A safe voltage does restrict the choice of bulb, they are a consumable so I am not to bothered so long as the brightness is about right - I'm going to try 24w.

[newlite4]

I think that an appropriate colour would be the sort of dark maroon/violet which is common on early telephones and headphones. Old stock of this type of twisted cotton covered cable is available if you look around for it and it would be safe to use on the 24V supply that you have in mind.
Neil

[emeritus]

Here's scans of some pages from the 1893 GEC catalogue that might assist you. A few points to note:

* 120V was the highest voltage for which bulbs were available at the time. 200- 250 V mains only arrived in the 20th century.

* 1893 was the year Swan's basic patent for the carbon filament lamp expired. He had used his patents to maintain manufacturing exclusivity and GEC (and anyone else) could only sell lamps made by themselves after the expiry of the patent later that year. Until then, they could only re-sell lamps made by Swan. Thus the lamps shown in the catalogue are what would have been available in the UK at that date.

.* Twin flexes were available in both twisted and circular configurations, and in a wide range of colours. ( n.b. note the spelling "color": now considered American, it was commonly spelled that way in the UK until the first World War. Note also that in 1893 flexible wires were still using the Birmingham wire gauge: GEC's installation cables were using SWG ) .

* While GEC standardised on brass threads, the catalogue lists a range of adaptors to gas threads. In a later GEC catalogue, lampholders were also available with gas threads, but this edition only offers brass threads.

* Standard lamps were sold without lampholders or shades, these being left to the customer's choice. So in principle any sort of contemporaneous shade would be authentic.

* The catalogue lists well over a hundred different designs of glass shade, in addition to fabric and paper shades. The scans are a small selection from the range.

* Because the chouce of lampholder was up to the customer, a shade carrier for a fabric shade would be equally authentic.

[Rogerxx]

Thank you, there is a lamp (Solon) very similar to mine and at 14" the same size. The choice of shade is much wider than I expected. I will probably fit a glass one because fabric would have to be a reproduction, will see what turns up. Seems like anything goes.

I have more or less decided on repro maroon flex, I have found some 0.5mm which is rated at 3 Amps.

[broadgage]

I suspect that a lot of early electric lamps used the same shades as existing gas or oil lamps.
Gas light shades are generally fixed at the top and secured by 3 small screws similar to those on your lamp. A vintage or modern reproduction gas light shade should fit.

Oil lamp shades fitted at the bottom and often simply rested on a gallery without any actual fixing. The bottom opening of an oil lamp shade is often 4 inches in diameter.

A wide variety of gas and oil lamp shades are sold by John Moncrief. Many of these fit old electric lights also.

The Holophane type glass shade might not be original, these were more commonly used the other way up, for gas lights or pendant electric lights.

https://jmoncrieff.co.uk/glass-shade...ieff-Gas-Shade

[Rogerxx]

I put the holophane shade on only to get an idea of what size would look in proportion with the base. Holophane Co. Began 1898 and these prismatic shades are 20th century. I have an oil lamp shade with the 4" base, it looks too big.

Most of the shades in the GEC catalogue are 3 1/4" fitting so that is what I'm looking for. The main difficulty is finding a suitable gallery because I really want one intended for an upward facing pre-mantle gas burner.