This post was first published on 23rd December, 2011.
It’s December! The month of the Holy festival of Christmas. The whole world has geared up for the big celebrations. Christmas is celebrated as traditional birthday of Jesus Christ, the central figure of Christianity. Christmas trees, Christmas lights, Christmas Carol, Christmas cakes and so on are some inherent parts of Christmas celebration. The focus of my blog is on Christmas lights.
The tradition of Christmas lights was started by the people who lived in the 17th century. They used to attach small candles to branches of the Christmas trees using wax or pins. But there was a risk of fire in this method. Further, Mr. Edward Johnson, resident of New York, United states, introduced electric lights as Christmas lights, in the year 1882. Edward was vice-president of Edison’s electrical company and an assistant of Thomas Alva Edison. Mr. Edward hand wired 80 red, white and blue lights and wrapped them around a rotating evergreen to use as Christmas light, the scintillating evergreen providing a visual treat to the viewers. First humane Christmas light set was introduced by American Eveready Co. in the year 1903, with the light set comprising screw-in bulbs and plug for wall socket.
First patent attempt on the Christmas lights was believed to be made by General Electric (G.E) in the beginning of 20th century. G.E introduced first set of pre-wired sockets, which they named as “festoons”, in the year 1903. But the patent application was rejected by the court on the grounds that the idea is based on knowledge, every wireman possessed. Mentioned below is a patent related to Christmas lights.
Mr. Carl.W.Otis of N.Y, United States, filed a patent application titled “Ornamental Illumination Device” which was issued on 4th September, 1945 (US 2383941). The invention was a light which was made of a sealed glass tube with a bubbling liquid inside. The liquid inside the glass tube was able to produce bubbles when heated, and was so called bubbling liquid. Further, a special plug was attached to the bottom of the glass tube to make sure that the chemical liquid is as close as possible to the heat source, which in turn helped the bubbles disperse more quickly and evenly. Later Mr. Carl sold manufacturing rights of this invention to a company called NOMA Electric, who then gained popularity and profit by manufacturing and selling the bubble lights in bulk. Now, the bubble lights are available in variety of colours, sizes and styles.
Whatever is the storyline, it is a fact that the Christmas lights add fun and joy to the Christmas celebrations.
We wish all the readers a merry X’mas and a Happy new year.
Christmas is the season for kindling the fire of hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart. ~Washington Irving
Image from lamppost
Author: Naveen
