BulbCollector Forums
BULB DISCUSSION BOARDS => Antique Bulb Discussion => Topic started by: the-riddler on December 05, 2012, 08:39:51 pm
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I have a working, antique bulb from Solar Electric Company, likely manufactured early 1900?s.
It has a mushroom-shaped, frosted bulb, with a manufacture label on the bottom and a decal across the entire top reading ?LITHOLIN?.
The orange glow is the photo shows the bulb lit, using a lamp dimmer.
Can anyone provide any insight into the history of this bulb and its manufacture, or, direct me to some resource that I may reference.
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I don't have a lot of information on this bulb, but I have seen others before produced by this company. It likely dates to around 1907 and employs a carbonized filament. The Solar Electric Company was formed in 1897, and from I can gather, they were in the business of advertising signs. You have a primitive form of an advertising bulb where the advertising brand name, in this case Litholin, was adhered onto the bulb's envelope. Many years later, a variety of neon light bulbs were made with advertising logos and figures inside them. Your bulb is a primitive form of such an advertising bulb. Since I don't have one in the collection, I can only speculate that the odd base on your bulb houses a flashing device (for effect).
Nice find!