We are still in a festive mood here at Trinity Electrical & Radon, so we thought we’d share some interesting Christmas lights facts.
1) It took more than one person to invent Christmas lights. Thomas Edison, who we know invented the first successful light bulb, also created the very first strand of electric lights. He hung these lights up during Christmas season outside of his Menlo Park Laboratory. This was in 1880. In 1882, Edison’s friend & business partner, Edward Johnson, hand-wired 80 red, white & blue lights. He wound this strand around his Christmas tree. Christmas lights did not catch on in popularity though, for almost 40 years. In 1917, Albert Sadacca suggested selling colored strands of Christmas lights to the public through his family’s novelty lighting company, at which point Christmas light sales greatly increased.
2) Christmas lights were very expensive initially. To have an electrically lighted tree was quite the status symbol. Because of their expense, Christmas lights were more commonly rented instead of purchased.
3) General Electric was the first company to sell pre-wired Christmas lights. Prior to 1903, lights had to be hand-wired onto the tree. They were unable to patent their festoon of lights, creating a market for anyone who wanted to manufacture them.
4) In 1927, General Electric was at it again, using the first large, intermediate size base for their new outdoor Christmas lights. After this, GE, along with Edison Electric distribution companies, sponsored many neighborhood competitions encouraging people to decorate with color-light. Within several years, communities all over the country were holding these contests.
5) Even though several generations have passed since the first Christmas lights appeared on the market, our miniature lights are wired in exactly the same way as their predecessors. Christmas lights are wired in series, causing the familiar headache of trying to find the bulb that is burnt out, causing the entire string to not light up. What is different is that most lights are now manufactured with a shunt device, which allows the rest of the strand to still light up, even when one bulb burns out.
We truly hope you and yours are enjoying this holiday season. Have you had any time to enjoy the Christmas lights this year? Where is your favorite place to look at lights with your family?
