keyless anti-theft socket with broken lamp base
date: label: date made
content: ca 1888
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: A keyless socket for a medium screw-based lamp, copper coil shell, ceramic base plate. Wire stubs are attached to the contact screws. The coil serves as an anti-theft device. A lamp can be inserted into the socket normally, but if the spring lever is not pressed to release tension, the lamp will break when removed. This deters the theft of light bulbs in an era when they were quite expensive. A broken Edison lamp base was discovered installed in this socket. The base is from an Edison lamp, ca 1888, with brass collar and plaster insulator. It is unknown if the socket was received with an intact lamp or just the base. Written on the base plate: "Texas 1898". The lamp base has been reinstalled in the socket. To remove it, hold the socket in the right hand and push the lever in the clockwise direction with the index finger, while turning the lamp base counter-clockwise. Using the left hand requires pushing the lever with the thumb.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Electricity
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: from International Business Machines, Inc., William J. Hammer Collection
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: EM.241402.116
label: accession number
content: 241402
label: catalog number
content: 241402.116
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Socket
label: Object Name
content: lamp socket
label: Other Terms
content: Socket; Components; Power and Lighting; Power and Lighting
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: socket: 1 3/4 in x 1 1/4 in; 4.445 cm x 3.175 cm
label: Measurements
content: base fragment: 1 1/4 in x 1 in; 3.175 cm x 2.54 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: 2 1/4 in x 1 1/4 in; 5.715 cm x 3.175 cm