Slide 1
Historic and Modern
Utilities
Lighting
and
Electrical
Systems
Slide 2
American Home Utilities
• 1800 — With few exceptions, American
homes were hardly technologically
distinguishable from post-medieval homes
– Cooking: open hearth
– Heating: fireplaces
– Cooling: open the doors and windows
– Food storage: (relatively) cold/root cellar
– Lighting: candles, oil lamps
– Washing/bathing: basins, tubs
– Waste: outhouse during the day, chamber
pot (stored under the bed) at night
Slide 3
American Home Utilities, cont.
• 1900 — Most homes contained modern
conveniences unrecognizable to an 1800
homeowner
– Cooking: kitchen range (electric or gas)
– Heating: steam/hot water, or central forced air
– Cooling: electric fans
– Food storage: ice box
– Lighting: electric or gas
– Washing/bathing/waste: bathtubs, sinks, and
toilets connected to water and sewage systems
Slide 4
“Modern Conveniences”
• 1800s — century of enormous progress
• 1805, B. Latrobe, modern = “comfort”
• 1860 huge strides; new technologies only
available to the wealthy
– 1860s, # industrial firms in US increased by
80%, the largest one-decade increase in
American history
• Technological changes not uniform in time or
degree, but even incremental changes were
significant
• Technologies interdependent
Slide 5
“Modern Conveniences”, cont.
• 1889 definition of “modern conveniences”:
“those arrangements and appliances which
make it possible for people to live
comfortably in a larger house, without
seriously increasing the cares which they
had in a smaller one.”
• Home built in 1900 recognizably modern
• 1920s post-WWI building boom
– Jan. 1926 House & Garden, “comfort had been
brought up to perfection”
Was not until the development of mass
production, spurred by the Civil War,
that new technologies became
available to the middle class
Getting water from a pump in the yard
beats a well and a bucket. But locating
the pump inside the house, along with
a sink, is an even greater improvement.
Widespread acceptance of new
technologies dependent on the
creation and evolution of other
technologies. A flush toilet of little use
if there was a water supply, but no
adequate sewerage system through
which to remove the waste.
Gibson, Louis H. Convenient Houses,
with Fifty Plans for the
Housekeeper. New York: Thomas Y.
Crowell, 1889.
Slide 6
Ierley, p. 11
Slide 7
3 and 8. Middletown is Muncie, IN.
4. Major cities include NY, Philadelphia,
Chicago, and Baltimore. Seventh
Special Report of the Commissioner of
Labor, WA, DC, 1894. Water closets
were replacing privies in areas of
concentrated population, but most, if
not all, of these water closets were
shared.
9. US Dept. of Commerce, Real Property
Inventory 1934.
Merritt Ierley, The Comforts of Home:
The American House and the Evolution
of Modern Convenience (New York:
Three Rivers Press, 1999), p. 10.
“Middletown”
= Muncie, IN
“Major cities”
= New York,
Philadelphia,
Chicago, &
Baltimore
Slide 8
Lighting
• Until about 130 years ago, all lighting was open
flame: fire, rush, candle, oil, lard, gas
Whale oil lamp, Argand lamp, solar or
astral lamp — could burn oil or lard,
converted so would burn kerosene
Tallow — solidified fat of cattle or
sheep
Spermaceti (1830s) — liquid wax from
the head of the sperm whale converted
to a solid
Stearine (1850s) — chemically purified
animal or vegetable fat
Paraffin (1860s) — byproduct of the
petroleum industry
Slide 9
Petroleum-based fuels for lighting
• Kerosene invented 1846 by Canadian Abraham
Gesner (distilled oily coal at low temperature, but
later used petroleum)
• Paraffin oil (= kerosene), 1848,
James Young, Scotland, distilled
paraffin oil from coal
• First U.S. oil well drilled in
1859
near Titusville, PA by E. L. Drake.
Produced abundant supply of
Kerosene
kerosene
Lamp,1957
Simplest form of paraffin is methane,
CH4, which is a gas at room
temperature. Heavier members of the
family are liquid at room temperature;
e.g., octane (C8H18), mineral oil, and
paraffin wax (C20H42 to C40H82),
isolated in 1830 by Carl Reichenbach,
and is a solid at room temperature.
Paraffin wax is a white, odorless,
tasteless, waxy solid, with a typical
melting point between 115-154
degrees F. Paraffin wax is used in
crayons, and in modified drywall, where
the paraffin wax melts during the day
absorbing heat, and solidifying at night,
releasing heat.
http://www.douglashistory.org.au/filea
dmin/_migrated/pics/Woman_reading_
magazine_by_light_of_kerosene_lamp_
Port_Douglas_1957_01.jpg
Slide 10
Manufactured Gas
• Coal gas manufactured in the 1600s
• Coal gasified by heating it in enclosed oven
with little oxygen
• Gas produced is a mixture of hydrogen,
methane, and carbon monoxide
• Coal gas also contains significant quantities of
sulfur, ammonia
• Coal gas has to be purified before used
• Constant fuel supply, smelly, very hot
• Aka “town gas”, “illumination gas”
The coal was gasified by heating the
coal in enclosed ovens with an oxygenpoor atmosphere. Gases, including
hydrogen, methane, carbon monoxide,
and ethylene, were generated, all of
which can be burnt for heating and
lighting purposes. Coal gas, however,
also contains significant quantities of
sulfur and ammonia compounds, as
well as heavy hydrocarbons, and so the
gas needed to be purified before it
could be used.
Town gas, a synthetically produced
mixture of methane and other gases,
mainly the highly toxic carbon
monoxide, is used in a similar way to
natural gas and can be produced by
treating coal chemically. This is a
historical technology, not usually
economically competitive with other
sources of fuel gas today. But there are
still some specific cases where it is the
best option and it may be so into the
future.
Most town "gashouses" located in the
eastern US in the late 19th and early
20th centuries were simple byproduct coke ovens which heated
bituminous coal in air-tight chambers.
The gas driven off from the coal was
collected and distributed through
networks of pipes to residences and
other buildings where it was used for
cooking and lighting. (Gas heating did
not come into widespread use until the
last half of the 20th century.) The coal
tar (or asphalt) that collected in the
bottoms of the gashouse ovens was
often used for roofing and other waterproofing purposes, and when mixed
with sand and gravel was used for
paving streets.
Slide 11
Slide 12
Worker shoveling coal at a gasworks
Concord Gas Light Co,
Concord, NH, 1888-1952
In service from 1888-1952, is the last
structure of its kind in the U.S. still
containing its original gasholder. Similar
structures were a common feature in
the urban areas of New England and
upper New York. This one was built to
increase the company's storage
capacity and was retired when a natural
gas pipeline reached Concord.
General view of site looking NW,
Concord Gas Light Company, Gasholder
House, South Main Street, Concord,
Merrimack County, NH
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pnp/habshaer/n
h/nh0100/nh0131/photos/105471pv.jp
g
Slide 13
Manufactured Gas Lighting
• 1790s demonstrations of illuminating gas
• 1807 gas street lighting system in London
• 1816—first gas system for street lighting in
the U.S. in Baltimore; New York’s gas street
lights installed in 1823
• By start of Civil War, 381 cities had some
kind of gas light system, running on “town
gas”
• Street lights: made city safer; shops stayed
open longer; downtown became an evening
entertainment center
Slide 14
Photos by L. M. Drummond
Slide 15
Atlanta Gas Light Company
• April 6, 1855—First gasworks
(coal-burning gas plant) begun
• Dec. 25, 1855—1st gas streetlight
• 1856 –AGL Co. incorporated—Atlanta’s oldest corp.
• 1864—Gasworks burned by Union Army
• 1880—All city’s gas streetlights back on
• 1883—Atlanta had 426 gas streetlights
• 1889—Gas water heating introduced
• 1890s—Gas cook stoves introduced
• 1902—Anthracite coal strike made gas cooking
popular; became more profitable than gas lighting
had ever been
William Helme, Philadelphia, built first
gasworks in Atlanta in 1855.
Slide 16
Atlanta Gas Light Company
1871 Bird’s Eye Map
Slide 17
Philadelphia gasworks; Ierley, p. 138;.
Standard Gas Machine, ca. 1892, Ierley,
p. 140.
Standard Gas
Machine, ca. 1892
Home production of
“illuminating gas” was
only for the wealthy
Philadelphia Gasworks;
engraving from Gleason’s
Pictorial Drawing-Room
Companion, 1853
Slide 18
Gas Production
• Gas-producing (“gasification”) plants were
located in remote, industrial sectors of
towns because of the smell
• Gas had to be scrubbed (filtered) to get rid
of odors and noxious byproducts (ammonia,
tar, sulfur gas)
• Usually the gas works was located at a low
elevation relative to the rest of the city
because gas is naturally lighter than air and
would rise through the mains
Slide 19
Slide 20
Gas lighting was superior to anything that
preceded it, and it was a way to
demonstrate that a city was up-to-date
Naturally Occurring Gas
• ca. 1000 B.C.—Oracle of Delphi, Mt. Parnassus,
Greece; natural gas escaping from cracks in ground,
ignited by lightning
• Chinese 1st to use naturally occurring gas—bamboo
pipelines
• 1626—Native Americans lit natural gases, Lake Erie
• 1821—first natural gas well dug in Fredonia, NY
• 1858—Fredonia Gas Light Co. formed, 1st in US
• 1859—first US oil well also produced natural gas,
piped 5.5 miles to Titusville, PA
• 1885—Robert Bunsen invented burner that mixed
natural gas with air, creating a flame safe for
cooking and heating
Interstate Power Company
manufactured gas plant in 1930s,
Clinton IA, serving eastern Iowa and
southern Minnesota.
http://www.engg.ksu.edu/CHSR/outrea
ch/tosc/sites/clintonimages.html
The Center for Hazardous Substance
Research, Kansas State University
Cleanup and revitalization of these
brownfield sites
The Manufactured Gas Industry in
Kansas, by the Kansas Dept. of Health
and Education, 2008
Natural gas is a naturally occurring
hydrocarbon gas mixture consisting
primarily of methane, with other
hydrocarbons, carbon dioxide, nitrogen,
and hydrogen sulfide. Before natural
gas can be used as a fuel, it must
undergo processing to clean the gas
and remove impurities including water
to meet the specifications of
marketable natural gas.
Slide 21
The term Freedonia was popularized by the 1933 Marx
Brothers movie Duck Soup, as a fictional country. When the film
was first released, the village of Fredonia, New York complained
about the possible negative impact the film might have on them.
The Marx Brothers replied, in typical Marx fashion, “Change the
name of your town. It is hurting our picture.”
Slide 22
Naturally Occurring Gas, cont.
• 1890s—pipelines to Chicago and other cities from
natural gas wells in Texas and Oklahoma
• 1930—natural gas comes to Atlanta
• Post-1945—Naturally occurring gas became widely
used with advent of improved welding techniques,
pipe rolling, and metallurgical advances  ability to
construct long pipelines
• 1950s-1960s—thousands of miles of pipelines laid
throughout US
• Today, US natural gas pipeline network, laid end-toend, would stretch to the moon and back twice
Images from
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2
012/03/30/opinion/30cavettgrouchomarx/30cavett-grouchomarxblog427-v2.jpg.
In the 1960s, Woody Allen, working
on Candid Camera, used Freedonia as a
practical joke by asking passersby what
they thought of the bid for
independence for Freedonia.
In the 1990s, the satirical
magazine Spy pulled a practical joke on
several members of the United States
Congress. Impersonating a New York
radio host (Henry Rose), the magazine
successfully convinced several
newcomers to Congress to comment on
the "ethnic cleansing" in Freedonia,
without their realizing that Freedonia
was a fictional country. Nick
Smith urged caution; James
Talent supported action; Jay
Inslee warned that inaction would be
unacceptable.
Slide 23
Gas Delivery
• Gas distributed via cast iron mains, 2” – 2’ in
diameter in 9’ sections laid beneath city streets
• Gas passed through meter (invented in 1816) to
enter the house; meters were notoriously
unreliable: “You lie like a gas meter”
Old gas meter on building in Xenia, OH;
http://www.flickr.com/photos/2347587
8@N07/2431750431/
Man reading gas meter in basement, no
place, no date;
http://www.corbisimages.com/stockphoto/rights-managed/BE073206/manreading-gas-meter-in-basement
The Atlanta Gas Light Pipeline
Replacement Program is a 15-year
project to replace more than 2,700
miles of bare steel and cast iron natural
gas pipeline in Georgia, replacing them
with state-of-the-art plastic and steel
pipes. The program will be complete in
2013. In late summer 2011, we began
environmental studies and surveying
for the new Eastside Pipeline project.
This pipeline will be a new 24-inch
coated steel transmission line,
approximately 28 miles long, that
connects our Riverdale liquefied natural
gas facility in Clayton County to a
connection point in our transmission
system near the intersection of Buford
Highway and Clairmont Road in DeKalb
County.
Atlanta Gas Light recently received
approval from the Georgia Public
Service Commission for a plan to
support the development of a network
of privately owned compressed natural
gas (CNG) fueling stations in Georgia
and issued a Request for Proposals
(RFP) for interested parties to
participate.
Slide 24
Bradley, OK, maybe?
The presence of
the gas meter
dates the photo to
no earlier than
1941
Slide 25
In Lancaster, PA, gas
meters on Marion
Street were installed
outside, sparking
protests among
homeowners and
historic
preservationists
(9/3/2012)
The Pennsylvania Public Utilities
Commission has proposed changes to
the way it regulates the installation of
natural gas meters and other
equipment—changes that could have a
dramatic impact on the visual character
of Philadelphia and other historic
communities across the state. Under
the proposed new regulations, all gas
meters and pressure regulators would
be installed on the outside of
customer’s properties, and interior
meters (which are very common in
older and historic rowhouse
neighborhoods) would be relocated to
the exterior within the next ten
years. Placement of the new
equipment would be at the sole
discretion of the utility company, with
little warning or consultation with
property owners. The proposed new
regulations include certain exemptions
for historic properties, but the language
used is vague and potentially
ineffective. Unless these proposed
regulations are revised, thousands of
historic structures could be adversely
impacted.
Images:
http://articles.philly.com/2012-09-
03/business/33549654_1_outdoormeters-indoor-meters-steel-servicelines
Slide 26
Slide 27
Gas Meters on contributing
building in a Savannah historic
district
Gas Within a Building
• Pipes within houses were mostly wrought
iron, later cast iron
• Smaller diameter pipes near burners were
brass, tin, pewter
• Changed the treatment of interior spaces
– Before, furniture was re-arranged to catch the
best light
– But gas lighting was fixed, so table was
placed under the light, and chairs set in place
around the table
Gas meters in a historic district in
Savannah; 2012 image:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/2271150
5@N05/7720572130
Slide 28
Slide 29
1847 & 1860
gasoliers
Open flame gasolier from
http://education.gtj.org.uk/en/blowup
1/19908
1847 gasolier (bottom left) in room
adjacent to the Members’ Reading
Room, the Athenaeum, Philadelphia.
http://www.rushlight.org/reports/repo
rt_041808.html
Other gasoliers and wall lamps in the
reading room were electrified in 1923,
and the glass has been replaced (right)
http://www.philaathenaeum.org/ppex
hibits/exhibit3/e30002b-1.htm
1883 wall gas fixture, Ivy
Hall, Atlanta, GA
Gas Fixtures
• Maximize light and use gas
efficiently
• Very dim: 17-20 candlepower = 25-watt
nightlight
• Earliest and strictly functional fixture—the
inverted “T” with naked burners at each
end, controlled by stop-cocks
Slide 30
Gas lighting, late 1800s
http://officemuseum.com/Office_Man
_with_Postal_Scale.jpg.
Office with man, numerous small filing
cabinets and boxes, a postal scale, and
gas lighting. Boxes in the upper left
corner are labeled "Foreign Invoices:
J.E.R" and "Domestic Invoices,
Sundries: J.E.R." J.E.R. may stand for
Jersey Eastern Railway, which operated
from 1873 to 1929 on Jersey, an island
in the English Channel.
Slide 31
Invention of
vulcanized
rubber for tubing
by Charles
Goodyear in
1843 led to
development of
gas desk lamps
Gas ceiling and desk
lighting. Middleton, CT,
1880s
Slide 32
• 1885 Welsbach gas mantle
patented
– Carl Auer von Welsbach
(1858-1929)
– Circular Bunsen burner with a
fiber mantle
– Light could be directed down
into a room
– 1890 upgrade
(using thorium)
• Whiter, brighter light
• 15 times as much light
as a naked gas burner
http://officemuseum.com/Photo%20G
allery%201860s1880s/1880a_OM_Two_Men_in_Office
_with_Gas_Lighting_half_T_Y.jpg
Two men in an office, stereoview by
George Wainwright Hennigar (18321910), Middleton, CT. Photo includes a
map of New England, gas ceiling and
desk lights, a lion head seal press, and a
barometric ink stand that was patented
in 1861-64. George Hennigar operated
the Hennigar Studio from 1861 until his
retirement in 1890, when he turned
the business over to his sons, Morton
and Howard, who renamed the studio
Hennigar Bros. The gas used for
illumination was produced from coal or
oil.
Mantle—thumb-shaped mesh bag
impregnated with thorium, which
incandesces (produces light when
heated) at high temperatures. The
burning gas would heat the bag, which
would glow brightly. Gas mantles,
now often made with non-radioactive
yttrium, are still used in propanepowered camping lanterns.
Slide 33
Problems with Gas Lighting
•
•
•
•
Slide 34
Pipes made noise
Burning gas left soot on walls, ceilings
Gas had distinctive, unpleasant odor
Burners had to be properly adjusted to
provide the correct mixture of gas and air,
or the gas would not burn cleanly and
compounds like carbon monoxide could
poison the residents
Problems with Gas Lighting, cont.
• If a gas pipe leaked, or a valve was left
open, enough gas could build up in a room
to cause an explosion
• Contaminants in gas, such as hydrogen
sulfide, cyanide, and napthalene, could
make residents seriously ill after inhaling
them
Slide 35
Gas lighting being converted
to electric in 1890s
J-style
lamp,
electric and
gas, ca.
1908
Inman Park United Methodist
Church, 1898. Gas light above;
electric light below; both now
electric.
Slide 36
Compare Gas & Electric
Fixtures
Gas inverted “T” arm
fixture, ca. 1880 (has
been converted to
electric)
Ca. 1880 gas inverted T arm fixture
Ca. 1905 electric 2-light pendant
http://www.rejuvenation.com/catalog/
categories/restoredantiques/lighting?&e%5Bpaging%5D%5
Bper_page%5D=219
Electric 2-light
pendant fixture,
ca. 1905
Slide 37
Office in the
Department of
the Navy,
Washington, DC,
ca. 1890;
Combination gas
and electric
lighting
Slide 38
Gas space
heater,
Avary-Fulton
House,
Decatur, GA
http://officemuseum.com/IMagesWW
W/Navy_Dept_Strohmeyer__Wyman_
NY_NY_4.jpg
Avary-Fulton House, Decatur, GA
Photo by L. M. Drummond
Slide 39
Gas space
heater
connection
close-up,
Avary-Fulton
House,
Decatur, GA
Slide 40
Slide 41
Avary-Fulton
House,
Decatur, GA
End of Manufactured Gas—
Natural Gas & Electricity
• By 1870s, electric street cars in many cities
• 1879: Thomas Edison perfected
incandescent bulb, competition with gas
lighting
• Electricity — no odors or soot
• Electricity from gas-powered generator
good for farms, far from city gas mains
Avary-Fulton House, Decatur, GA
Photo by L. M. Drummond
Avary-Fulton House, Decatur, GA
Photo by L. M. Drummond
Slide 42
Gas & Electric Street Lights
1920, Saratoga Springs, NY
Slide 43
End of Manufactured Gas;
Switch to Natural Gas & Electricity
• 1960 — U.S. had nation-wide system of
natural gas pipelines
• Europe continued to use manufactured gas
until 1980s when natural gas discovered in
the North Sea
• Some gasworks converted to production of
electricity
• Some gasholder buildings converted to
office, living, retail spaces
Slide 44
Environmental Legacy of
Manufactured Gas
• Although relatively clean-burning at the
consumer end, gas was anything but clean
to make. By-products included:
– Coal, ash, clinkers, coal and oil tars,
lampblack, ammonia, cyanide compounds,
and emulsions of oil and tar in water
David E. Nye, Electrifying America, pg.
55.
Slide 45
Environmental Problems with
Manufactured Gas
• Some manufacturing by-products could
be sold or re-purposed
• Others were stored or disposed of on site
 contamination of water and soil with
ammonia, tar, coal tar, lime, iron
shavings, contaminated wood chips and
ground corn cobs from purification
process
Slide 46
Coal tar, lampblack, sulfur, and
ammonia could be used as feedstock
for the chemical industry. Coal tar
could also be used as fuel in the
furnaces. Coal ash and cinders were
often used as inexpensive construction
fill or to treat icy roads in the winter.
Manufactured Gas Making a
Comeback
• “Syngas” being considered as America seeks
energy independence
• Gasification of coal, oil, or biomass to make
hydrogen, which burns without releasing
pollutants or greenhouse gases
• Companies now developing technologies to
make syngas economical and “clean”
• If biomass, rather than natural gas or coal, is
used, gasification can be made carbon neutral
Slide 47
Natural Gas in the U.S. today
• Shale gas = natural gas trapped within
shale formations
• Production of shale gas has rejuvenated
the natural gas industry in the U.S.
• Supplies of natural gas 77
billion cubic feet for the
week ending 10/11/2013
• Total stocks now stand at
3.654 trillion cubic feet
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/na
tural-gas-prices-slip-after-us-supplydata-2013-1022?link=MW_latest_news (from Wall
Street Journal)
Shales are fine-grained sedimentary
rocks that can be rich sources of
petroleum and natural gas.
http://www.eia.gov/naturalgas/ US
Energy Information Agency
Slide 48
Electrical Lighting
Slide 49
Home Technology Evolution
• House evolved during 1800s
– Small structure with a few rooms
– Larger, multi-storied building with rooms
segmented by function
• Home was industrialized before electricity
– By 1880s, normal to receive water, gas, and
(for some) steam heat from outside the home
– Electricity was just another addition
• In 1910, only 1 in 10 American homes had
electricity
• By 1930, most urban homes were wired
Slide 50
Carbon Arc Lamps—1st electrical
lighting
• Carbon arc lamp demonstrated ca. 1807
by Sir Humphrey Davy
– Two charcoal sticks approx. 4” apart with a
2000 cell battery to
create electrical arch
– Produced harsh,
brilliant light 200
times more powerful
than contemporary
filament lights
– Not practical for small
interior spaces
Number of rooms increased while
family size shrank. Three distinct kinds
of spaces in the late Victorian house:
(1) space for presenting the ideal home
to guests and family; (2) spaces for the
production of domestic goods; and (3)
spaces for privacy. Each family member
should have their own bedroom (except
small children).
Slide 51
Carbon Arc Lamps
• Not practical until a reliable source of
electricity existed — best was Charles F.
Brush’s electrical dynamo (1876)
• 1879 — Brush lit 20 arc lamps in Monumental
Park in Cleveland, OH. City quickly added arc
street lighting—first electrical street lighting in
the U.S.
• 1880 Brush Electric Company provided street
lighting on Broadway in New York City
Slide 52
Slide 53
Ca. 1895 image of man changing a
carbon arc lamp, unknown location,
General Electric Corporation.
Electric Incandescent Lighting
• 1875—Woodward and Evans patent light
bulb; Thomas Edison purchases patent
• December 1879—Edison’s first public
demonstration of incandescent light bulb
– Carbonized bamboo filament sealed in pearshaped bulb of clear, evacuated glass with a tip
where it had been sealed
– Gave off orangey light about same brightness
as incandescent Christmas tree lights
• July 21, 1881—Atlanta City Council
contracts for electric streetlights
• Sept. 4, 1882—Edison’s Pearl Street
Station (lower Manhattan) goes online;
provides light to customers within area of
one square mile
• 1883—Georgia Electric Light Company
installs 1st electric streetlights in Atlanta
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi
a/commons/7/76/Edison_bulb.jpg
Slide 54
Electric Incandescent Lighting, cont.
• Nikola Tesla (1856-1943), disgruntled Edison employee,
developed alternating current motor in 1883
– Invented high tension power transmission lines
– Designed first great hydroelectric power plant at Niagara
Falls, NY
• 1886—George Westinghouse installed first alternating
current system in Great Barrington, MA
• 1889—first electric street cars in the U.S.: Joel Hurt’s
line from Edgewood Avenue to Inman Park in Atlanta
• 1892—Edison Electric merges with other companies to
become General Electric
• 1897—National Electrical Code (NEC) established
Slide 55
War of the Currents
• Edison’s direct current distribution system required power to
be generated close to where it was consumed. Voltage
throughout the system was the same, therefore safer, but
separate lines are needed to serve appliances of different
voltages (e.g., motors and electric lights)
• Alternating current allowed high voltage transmission to go
through a transformer to allow low voltage usage (e.g., home
lighting) as well as high voltage usage (e.g., industrial
motors). Fewer and larger generating plants could serve an
area. However, higher voltages were unsafe
• 1887—State of New York asked Edison about best way to
execute condemned criminals; he advised using AC, and
gave public demonstrations executing animals
• 1888—George Westinghouse hired Tesla as consultant
• War of the Currents won by Westinghouse when he got the
contract to provide AC electric lighting to 1893 Columbia
Exposition in Chicago
Slide 56
Grimmestad Land and Loan Office, Belview, MN,
ca. 1895
http://officemuseum.com/Photo%20G
allery%201890s/1899b_Minnesota_18
95_pf026901_Y.jpg
"Grimmestad Land and Loan Office,"
Belview, Minn., c. 1895. Photograph
includes desk phone, seal presses, wall
clock, wall safe containing ledgers,
kerosene lamp, and stuffed deer head.
Slide 57
Electrical Systems
• Electric generators would not work 24/7,
so gas and electric lighting combined; in
use through World War I
• Bare, clear-glass light bulbs at first; frosted
bulbs and shades in use by 1920s
• Historic electric fixtures, like gas, were
lower than today’s ceiling fixtures
– Gas had to be lit and extinguished
– Electric had to be turned on (fewer wall
switches)
Slide 58
Slide 59
Norfolk and Western Railway Office, 1890s
Electric lighting in the National Weather Service
Office, Buffalo, New York, 1899
http://officemuseum.com/Photo%20G
allery%201890s/1899d_Virginia_Tech_
nw3845_Y.jpg.
Norfolk and Western Railway
office. Picture includes Remington
typewriter, rubber stamp rack, and
electric lighting.
http://officemuseum.com/Photo%20G
allery%201890s/NOAA_1899_wea0130
4_.jpg
"The Local Forecast Office," National
Weather Service, Buffalo, NY, 1899. The
U. S. national weather service was set
up in 1870. Picture includes typewriter
and electric lighting.
Slide 60
http://officemuseum.com/IMagesWW
W/1910_Phila_Bank_by_Wm_H_Rau_1
9.jpg
Second floor
hallway, First
National Bank of
Philadelphia, 1910
Note floor heating
grate, cast iron
radiator, electric
lighting, electric fan
Slide 61
Incandescent
Lamps
Variety of bulb
shapes, glass
types, & bulb
bases
1888 Edison
bulb, 16 cp
Westinghouse
1889, 16 cp
1900 Edison
outside frosted,
10 cp
General Electric,
1906, wattage
unknown
Philips, 1920, 25 watts
Slide 62
Most Common
Pre-1900
Sockets
Note key switches
Edison
Westinghouse Thompson
-Houston
Edison
T-H Adapter
CP=candlepower
Slide 63
Maxfield
Parrish cover
for 1931 GE
Mazda Lamps
calendar
Early GE
ads; 1911
and 1924
“Mazda ”— chief
deity of
Zoroastrianism;
source of light and
embodiment of good
Slide 64
Wiring Systems in the 1800s
• Easy to retrofit electricity into existing building, esp. wood
frame
• Exposed system on the wall/ceiling surface using wood
cleats
– Wires were easily abraded, broken
• Snake wires through existing iron or steel gas piping, or
install metal piping
– Rigid conduit was excellent barrier, but difficult and
expensive to install
– Had to be grounded and coated on interior to inhibit rust
– Pipes often contained moisture and rust  degraded the
insulation
• Wiring in plaster
– Good concealment
– Difficult to locate faults
– Messy to repair
– Lime from plaster corroded insulation creating shorts
Slide 65
1920s advertisement for wiring
an “already built” house
1911 ad;
http://www.amazon.com/GeneralElectric-Mazda-LampsLight/dp/B005DGUBR8
1924 Saturday Evening Post ad in color;
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1924-GEEdison-Mazda-lamp-bulb-color-AD/200454896002
1931 Maxfield Parrish calendar cover
art;
http://www.sappho.com/art/maxpar01
.html
Slide 66
1914 advertisement
Leila Ross Wilburn plan book, Southern Homes
and Bungalows, p. 57
Slide 67
Wiring Systems
• Knob-and-tube wiring system, 1890s1930s
– Two-wire concealed system
– Non-conducting porcelain knobs hold wires 1”
off surface
– Porcelain tubes used when wires penetrated
joists, studs, or crossed other wires
Slide 68
Knob
Tube
Cleat
Slide 69
Slide 70
General Office of the Consumers Biscuit Company,
New Orleans, 1917. Note electric lights, ceiling fan,
surface ceiling wiring system.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi
a/commons/9/98/Office_of_Consumer
s_Biscuit_Co_New_Orleans_1917.jpg
Wiring Systems
• Surface wiring system, 1900-1930s
– Cheaper and easier to install than knob-and-tube
– Wood molding carried 2-3 wires in grooved strip
attached to the wall; covered with decorative cap
that looked like picture molding
– Not for use in concealed or damp locations
– Wood moldings not allowed in most places by
1930s
Slide 71
Wiring Systems
• Modern Surface
Raceways
– Metal and non-metallic
channels, boxes,
connectors
Power from inside-the-wall line from
receptacle via interior wiring to
outside-the-wall extension box, up the
surface channel to the surface mounted
light switch. Wall studs prevent an
electrical box from being mounted
inside the wall. Instead, surface-mount
channel attaches to a special box
mounted directly on the wall, and
wiring in the channel connects the
switch to power.
http://photos.mlive.com/muskegonchr
onicle/2011/08/channelwebzip_2.html
Metallic channel
http://www.hubbellcatalog.com/hubbe
llpremise/datasheet.asp?PN=HBL2000B
CAIV&FAM=Mraceway
Wire-hider non-metallic raceways;
http://www.newtechindustries.com/pr
oducts/1%22-Non%252dMetallic-WireHider-Raceway-Base.html
Slide 72
Wire & Insulation Types
• Earliest insulation was fibrous wrap (paper,
cloth, yarn); later treated with oil, varnish,
gum to make impervious to water
• In 1892 Thomas Edison patented “electric
conductor” to insulate wire so it would be
waterproof and fireproof
– a) the conducting wire
– b) a cotton braid separator over the wire
– c) an outer covering of rubber compound
Slide 73
Wire & Insulation Types
• Rubber insulation in use by 1900
• Armored cable – Flexible steel conduit
developed 1903 by Harry Greenfield of
Sprague Electric Company of New York
– Galvanized steel strips wrapped in a tube
– Carried 2-3 cloth-insulated wires
– BX not in wide use
until 1930s
Beginning in Edison’s time, the original
residential wiring systems used
conductor insulation made of gumrubber. This “rubber” insulation
was actually a mixture of ingredients
including vulcanizing agents containing
sulfur for curing. These various
additives, especially sulfur, had a very
corrosive effect on the
copper conductor, so the copper had
to be tinned. Rubber was also very soft
when first vulcanized, so a cotton braid
or wrap was added as an outer covering
for mechanical protection. When
rubber insulated conductors
were suitable for outdoor use they had
to incorporate three of these braids or
wraps that were saturated with a
weatherproofing compound.
Greenfield had two experimental
versions, called AX and BX, with X
standing for “experimental”. The BX
was the one that eventually was
produced, and the name stuck.
Slide 74
Wire & Insulation Types
• Synthetic rubber insulation introduced in
1930s
• Non-metallic sheathed cable, invented ca.
1926 by General Cable in Rome, NY, trade
name Romex®
Early cloth braid nonmetallic cable
Modern jacketed nonmetallic cable
Beginning in Edison’s time, the original
residential wiring systems used
conductor insulation made of gumrubber. This “rubber” insulation
was actually a mixture of ingredients
including vulcanizing agents containing
sulfur for curing. These various
additives, especially sulfur, had a very
corrosive effect on the
copper conductor, so the copper had
to be tinned. Rubber was also very soft
when first vulcanized, so a cotton braid
or wrap was added as an outer covering
for mechanical protection. When
rubber insulated conductors
were suitable for outdoor use they had
to incorporate three of these braids or
wraps that were saturated with a
weatherproofing compound.
Slide 75
• Armored cable (BXL) containing lead, for use in
damp locations
• 1950s—National Electric Code required domestic
wiring to be grounded with dedicated third wire
• 1960s—Aluminum wiring, fire hazard
• 1950s—transition of residential wire insulation from
rubber to thermoplastics (PVC)
• Non-metallic cable with thermoplastic insulation
standard since 1960s
Slide 76
Knife (blade)
switch
Sign; reportedly, they still display these
at the historic National Hotel in
Jamestown, CA;
http://www.roadsideresort.com/tags/w
eird-science
Wall key
switch, ca.
1890
Ceiling rosette & bulb, ca. 1910
Brass and
Bakelite wall
receptacle,
c. 1920
Slide 77
Plugs
Edison attachment
plugs, 1880s-1915
Wooden plug,
1915
During the 1950s, the wire industry
began transitioning residential wire
insulation from rubber to the newly
developed thermoplastics (PVC). PVC
had advantages in that it did not suffer
from the brittleness and cracking with
age that was typical of the older rubber
insulation. It also did not have sulfur
additives that could damage the
conductor, so the copper did not have
to be tin-coated.
Hard rubber 2-prong
Spartan plugs, 19151930
Ca. 1930 Bakelite plug
Slide 78
1905 GE Electric Appliance Demo
Slide 79
Fuses
• First used in 1847 to protect telegraph
stations from lightning strikes
• Contain piece of metal through which
electricity must pass
• During unsafe overload, metal will melt,
stopping flow of electricity
• When fuse is tripped, must be thrown
away and replaced
Slide 80
Fuses & Fuse Boxes
Nye, 251.
Ceramic GE fuses with removeable
brass caps. One on left is 1882-1892;
one on right is 1911-1919;
http://www.lite-aray.com/products.html
Fusebox, probably late 1950s-1960s;
http://inspectapedia.com/electric/Old_
House_Wiring.htm
Josiah Wallis House fusebox, ca. 1947
1941 tamper-resistant fuses. The
Edison fuse base design also made it
easy to use a penny to bridge a plug
fuse, and that could be very dangerous.
Slide 81
Fuses & Circuit Breakers
• Distribution boards, fusebox, breaker
panel, service panel—where fuses or
circuit breakers are installed in the building
• Both fuses and circuit breakers will
automatically block against an incoming
surge of electrical power past a certain
safety limit, but use different technology
Slide 82
Circuit Breakers
• Invented in 1836, but modern circuit
breaker patented in 1924
• Switches that are tripped when electric
flow passes a certain limit
• Do not have to be replaced; can be reset
• First “resettable fuse” sold in US by GE in
1945 after end of WWII
• By 1955, had become smaller, faster
• 1985 new design, communicable circuit
board
Slide 83
Ca. 1945
1898
Ca. 1945
1980s
Pre1950
Circuit
Breakers
History info from:
http://www.electriccontrol.com/blog/t
he-history-of-ge-al-circuit-breakers-geak-circuit-breakers-and-ge-akr-circuitbreakers/
Oldest, 1898 circuit breaker
Single toggle, 15-amp circuit breaker,
obsolete;
http://www.breakeroutlet.com/xo115.
htm
Ca. 1945 Circuit breaker, inside the
tower of the Clocktower Building, the
original Met Life headquarters at 5
Madison Ave., built in 1909;
http://www.scoutingny.com/?p=1808
Pre-1950 circuit breaker, four
connected toggles;
http://www.breakeroutlet.com/mb.ht
m
1980s circuit breaker box;
http://www.philadelphia-electricians-
how-to.com/2011/07/when-toupgrade-your-electrical-service.html
Slide 84
Grounding
• 1913 grounding required
• Most common method use
building’s metal pipes
• 1925-1971 — code allowed for, then
required external grounds, metal rods,
at least 8 feet long
Slide 85
• Homes built before 1960 had 125-volt 2-prong (nongrounding) receptacles
• 1947—3-prong grounding receptacles required for
laundry appliances (washers and dryers)
• 1956—expanded to basements, garages, outdoors
• 1962—expanded to all circuits
• 2000—NEC required 4-prong outlet for all 220-volt
residential circuits
http://www.familyhandyman.com/DIYProjects/Electrical/ElectricalSafety/top-10-electrical-mistakes/ViewAll
National Electric Code
Slide 86
Photo by L. M. Drummond
Electrical wall
outlets at 491
Auburn Avenue,
built in 1911
Slide 87
Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI)
NEC GFCI requirements (and effective date):
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Underwater pool lighting (since 1968)
Receptacles:
Outdoors (since 1973)
Bathrooms (since 1975)
Garages (since 1978)
Kitchens (since 1987)
Crawl spaces and unfinished basements
(since 1990)
• Wet bar sinks (since 1993)
• Laundry and utility sinks (since 2005)
Slide 88
Electrical Advertising
Times Square 1900
The National Electric Code (NEC)
typically only applies to new
construction/major renovations. The
coverage of GFCI protection has
gradually increased over the years.
US Consumer Public Safety
Commission;
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/09
9.pdf
Top left: Broadway at night from Times
Square, 1900, Detroit Pub. Co.;
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/service/pnp/det/
4a20000/4a25000/4a25600/4a25603v.j
pg
Bottom right, Times Square at night,
1900, Detroit Publishing Company;
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/service/pnp/det/
4a20000/4a25000/4a25600/4a25604v.j
pg
Slide 89
Times Square, 1920s
Slide 90
Times Square ablaze with lights in the
1920s. In the Broadway theatre district
in 1927 there were electric marquees
on seventy-six theatres.
http://blog.thunderbaybooks.com/201
1/09/picture-of-the-day-times-square1920s/
Photo by L. M. Drummond
Times
Square,
2012
Slide 91
Accounting office, Brooklyn, NY, 1925. Note
electric lighting and electric adding machines.
Wiring is concealed.
http://officemuseum.com/IMagesWW
W/1925_Accounting_Office_Brooklyn.J
PG
Slide 92
Nye, p. 269.
Home of a
Hundred Comforts
advertising
booklet by
General Electric,
1925
Slide 93
Distribution of Rural
Electrification in 1935
Nye, p. 299.
City people, who had larger incomes,
never had large startup costs, and
instead were able to invest in everlarger numbers of appliances. By 1930,
electrification had decidedly increased
the gap between the farm and the city.
While a majority of city dwellers had
electric lights, an iron, a vacuum
cleaner, and the prospect of adding
many more appliances, the farm family
had none of these and could not
reasonably expect o have them any
time soon.
In the 1930s, rural electrification
became a social program. FDR said
electricity was no longer a luxury, it was
a definite necessity.
TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority)
created in 1933. A comprehensive
electrification program that affected
the southern states drained by the
Tennessee River. Environmental as well
as social concerns: dependable
navigation called for flood control;
flood control called for dams and
reservoirs. Reservoirs could not fill
with silt otherwise their function
vanished. Silt prevent only by control
of erosion on agricultural lands, which
mean cover crops, both forest and
grass, and scientific methods of tillage
and crop rotation. Cover crops require
cheap fertilizers can best be made with
electric furnaces and cheap power. So
the cycle returns on itself.
REA (Rural Electrification
Administration) created in 1935. A
decentralized electrification program
and eventually operated in 46 states.
Its sold purpose was getting
transmission lines to the farms. By end
of 1937, had constructed 73,000 miles
of electrical lines, reaching more than
300,000 farms.
Collectively, electrical appliances
lengthened the day, eliminated much of
the heaviest labor, improved family
health, and spruced up the farm’s
general appearance.
Slide 94
Rural Electrification Administration
posters by Lester Beall – 1934;
http://www.visatk.com/2010/08/09/excellence-inachievements-2-tf2/
Hayti, MO, 1942, annual meeting of the
US REA cooperative;
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/service/pnp/fsa/
8d07000/8d07400/8d07495v.jpg
REA promo photo of a modern wash
machine on a US farm, 1940-1946;
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/service/pnp/cph/
3b20000/3b29000/3b29700/3b29798r.j
pg
It’s Coming—Electricity for you;
http://thamanjimmy.blogspot.com/201
1/02/history-of-ruralelectrification.html
Slide 95
Tenant farmer’s
house in Green
County, GA with
REA electric meter
on the house, 1941
Doing laundry in Home,
LA, pre-electrification,
ca. 1930
Slide 96
Dead Ox Flat,
OR,1939
Extension of
REA beyond
1946,
publicity
poster
REA across
the nation
Caswell County,
NC,1940
Alexandria,
MN,1937
1941 Tenant farmer’s house in Greene
County, GA with REA electric meter on
the house
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/service/pnp/fsa/
8c05000/8c05700/8c05719v.jpg
Housework in the 1930s was truly a
chore, Homer, LA
http://www.our.coop/content/richhistory-claiborne-electric
Poster: in 1944, Congress approved the
Pace Act, which, among other things,
extended the mission of the federal
Rural Electrification Administration
indefinitely beyond its targeted 1946
expiration date.
https://remagazine.cooperative.com/A
bout/PastIssues/November2011/Pages
/PostWarBoom.aspx
Ca. 1937, raising pole, coming of
electricity to Alexandria, MN;
http://www.runestoneelectric.com/abo
ut_history.cfm
Electric line going to a farmer’s house in
Caswell County, NC, 1940;
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/service/pnp/fsa/
8c13000/8c13700/8c13724v.jpg
Entrance to dug-out home, Dead Ox
Flat, Malheur County, OR, 1939;
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/service/pnp/fsa/
8b35000/8b35000/8b35036r.jpg
Slide 97
Slide 98
1933 bookkeeping office
Fluorescent Lighting
• Gas-discharge lamp filled with mercury vapor
• More efficient use of electricity than
incandescent lamps
• Lamp fixture expensive due to ballast needed
for current regulation
• Lower energy cost offset greater initial
expense of fluorescent over incandescent
lighting
• Last 10-20 times longer than incandescent,
unless switched on and off frequently
Bookkeeping office, 1933. Photograph
shows 17-column Burroughs electric
adding and listing machines, possibly
Duplex Adding and Listing or Duplex
Subtractor Bookkeeping Machines;
http://www.officemuseum.com/IMage
sWWW/cb000186_1933_Office_with_B
urroughs_Machines_OM.JPG
Slide 99
History of Fluorescent Lighting
• 1857—Heinrich Geissler invented
electrical glow gas discharge tube
• 1897—Thomas Edison invented a
fluorescent lamp, but did not pursue it
• 1901—Cooper Hewitt patented mercuryvapor lamp, forerunner to fluorescent light
Late1800s
Geissler
tube
Cooper Hewitt tube
Geissler tube image;
http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclop
edia/G/Geissler_tube.html
Cooper Hewitt tube image;
http://americanhistory.si.edu/lighting/
20thcent/prec20.htm
Geissler tubes have had a large impact
on the development of many
instruments and devices all of which
use related vacuum and discharge
principles:
Xenon flash lamps (for flash
photography),
Xenon arc lamps (for automobile
headlights),
X-ray tubes,
sodium vapor lamps of low and high
pressure,
"Neon" signs (both using visible light
discharge from neon and other gases
and indirectly through phosphor
excitation from ultraviolet light)
Mercury vapor lamps,
Mass spectrometry devices,
Cathode ray tube (employed in
the oscilloscope and later as
a television, radar, and computer
display device),
Electrotachyscope (an early moving
picture display device), and
Fluorescent lamps
Slide 100
Neon Lighting Detour
• 1898—discovery of inert gas, neon, which
glowed bright red in a Geissler tube
• 1910—Neon in production in France, used
for general illumination
• 1926—fluorescent coating on neon lighting
tubes patented in France
• Advances in neon lighting overcame
impediments to gas-based lighting; all the
components for successful fluorescent
lighting in place by end of 1920s
Sir William Ramsay and Morris Travers,
Englishmen, first isolated neon in 1898.
George Claude, Frenchman developed
a technology and a successful business
for air liquefaction, and was obtaining
enough neon as a byproduct to support
a neon lighting industry by 1910.
Claude developed a new electrode to
use in neon lighting which eliminated
sputtering—a problem with fluorescent
lamps.
Jacques Risler, Frenchman, patented
fluorescent coating in 1926.
All the major features of fluorescent
lighting were in place at the end of the
1920s. Decades of invention and
development had provided the key
components of fluorescent lamps:
economically manufactured glass
tubing, inert gases for filling the tubes,
electrical ballasts, long-lasting
electrodes, mercury vapor as a source
of luminescence, effective means of
producing a reliable electrical
discharge, and fluorescent coatings that
could be energized by ultraviolet light.
At this point, intensive development
was more important than basic
research.
Slide 101
Slide 102
All images by L. M. Drummond
Fluorescent Lighting History cont.
• 1934—General Electric engineer, George E.
Inman, developed fluorescent lamp
prototype
• Patent disputes between GE and others
went on for decades
• 1938—GE first marketed “fluorescent
lumiline lamps”
• Fluorescent lighting led to experiments with
"windowless factories”
Slide 103
GE fluorescent
sign, lamp, and
packaging
ca. 1945
Mazda lamp sign;
http://uv201.com/Promo_pages/decals
.htm
GE 1945 fluorescent lamp;
http://www.lamptech.co.uk/Spec%20S
heets/GE%20F14.htm
Slide 104
Fluorescent Lighting History cont.
• 1939—Fluorescent tubes introduced
simultaneously at the New York World's
Fair and the (San Francisco) Golden Gate
Exposition
• 1951—more light produced in US by
fluorescent than by incandescent lamps
• 1970s—compact fluorescent lamps
(CFL) designed, but most were
considered too expensive to massproduce
Slide 105
1950s gas
range with
fluorescent
light
Mid-1940s
Desk lamp,
date ca.
1950
Fluorescent
Lighting
Slide 106
Office with fluorescent lights, radiator, electric clock,
electric adding machines, post-WWII.
Early to mid-1940s,
http://www.lightinggallery.net/gallery/displayimage.php?al
bum=794&pos=24&pid=32516
Fluorescent light on 1950s Western
Holly gas range;
http://www.antiquegasstoves.com/pag
es/yellowwh.html
Desk lamp, date unknown;
http://www.lightinggallery.net/gallery/displayimage.php?al
bum=1217&pos=94&pid=35205
No date, no place;
http://www.officemuseum.com/Office_
with_typewriters_and_adding_machin
es.jpg
Slide 107
1950s-1960s
Fluorescent
Office Lighting
1960s records storage
room (below left);
1960s office décor ad
(below right)
Slide 108
1950s office pool
Lighting System Dates
• 1620 – 1850
• 1783 – 1839
Candle holders
Whale-oil, lard-oil, burning
fuel lamps and fixtures
Kerosene lamps/fixtures
• 1854 – 1934
• 1817 – 1907
Gas lighting
• 1879 – present Electric lighting
From R. W. Moss, Lighting for Historic Buildings (1988)
Note from LD: I would modify these somewhat; e.g., gas lighting lasted
longer in some places, so did candles.
Slide 109
Light Source
Whale-oil lamp
Coal gas, No. 0.5 jet
Stearine candle
Tallow candle
Sperm-oil lamp
Paraffin candle
Coal gas, No. 1 jet
Kerosene lamps (various types)
Coal gas, No. 2 jet
Incandescent light bulb, 15-watt
Whale-oil Argand lamp
Coal gas, No. 3 jet and
Sperm-oil Argand lamp
Incandescent light bulb, 25-watt
Coal gas, No. 4 jet
Coal gas, No. 5 jet
Incandescent light bulb, 40-watt
Incandescent light bulb, 60-watt
Incandescent light bulb, 75-watt
Incandescent light bulb, 100-watt
Incandescent light bulb, 200-watt
Incandescent light bulb, 300-watt
Candlepower
0.9
1.0
1.1
1.25
1.306
1.49
3.0
6.0-12.0
7.8
8.8
9.8
13.0
15.9
20.0
28.0
39.8
67.6
95.5
135.2
310.3
493.2
1950s office pool with rows of
fluorescent lighting;
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100014
2405274870447610457543972369557
9664.html
1960s office interior with majority
fluorescent ceiling lighting (not visible),
and some low-hanging lamps in break
room and receptionist’s desk;
http://mikkipedia.net/?p=1414
from Young, Historic Preservation
Technology, p. 378
Slide 110
Chronology of Electric Home
Appliances
1905 – electric iron
1905 – Christmas tree lights
1907 – motor-driven phonograph
1909 – vacuum cleaner
1911 – electric toaster
1921 – refrigerator
1924 – blender
1925 – electric mixer
1927 – coffee percolator
1927 – electric saw
1930 – heat lamp
1935 – electric fan
1937 – washing machine
1938 – garbage disposer
1939 – television set
1947 – room air conditioner
1951 – hand-held hair dryer
1956 – electric can opener
1959 – lighted telephone
1967 – microwave oven
1972 – drip-type coffeemaker
1973 – garage door opener
1975 – video game system
1975 – videotape recorder
1978 – personal computer
1982 – CD player
1984 – phone answering machine
1997 – DVD player
1999 – plasma TV
2002 – wireless router