1886 Stanley-Westinghouse Lamp

William Stanley, Jr. (1858-1916)³ was a prolific inventor who helped to bring alternating current to the world through his work, in part, on the power transformer². In addition, he made a contribution to incandescent lamp development. One lamp he developed is shown above and is a departure from most incandescent lamps. He filed an application for this lamp on October 8, 1885 and it was renewed September 4, 1886. On May 24, 1887 U. S. Patent No. 363,559 was issued to him¹. Stanley was assignor to George Westinghouse, Jr., having worked for him from 1885 to 1888².

Quoting from the patent:

"The invention relates particularly to the construction of large incandescent electric lamps—such, for instance, as are designed to furnish a light of one hundred candle-power or more."

Regarding the filament(s):

"...In this there are preferably placed two independent filaments supported in planes crossing each other at right angles. The loop of one filament extends beyond that of the other, and for this reason its supporting points are preferably in a lower plane than those carrying the other filament. The upper end of the globe is provided with a short neck, which is designed to fit within a pressed-glass cup provided with means of attachment to the holder."

Regarding the lead-in wires:

"The conducting - wires are led through the neck into the cup, where they are fastened to suitable binding - posts inserted at the lower end of the cup. Preferably, two conductors leading to the respective filaments are secured to one binding - post, and the remaining two conductors lead from the remaining ends of the filaments to independent binding - posts, so that the circuits through the two are independent of each other.
"The cup is preferably secured to its holder by means of a lug upon the cup and a bayonet-joint formed in the holder. The binding-posts which project from the end of the cup are constructed with their outer ends larger than the portions near their points of support. Suitable contact springs are placed in the holder for forming the electrical connections with the respective binding-posts, and these at the same time tend to hold the cup within the holder by reason of their ends passing beyond the large portion of the binding-posts and pressing into the narrowed necks."

In Stanley's patent¹, he refers to the lamp base as the "cap." What is usually referred to as a socket is called a "holder" by Stanley. It should be mentioned that the patent specifies glass as the material of the cap but in the sample above it appears to be made of wood. The patent also specifies three electrical contacts whereas the above sample appears to have only two.

There is a lamp in The William J. Hammer Historical Collection of Incandescent Electric Lamps⁴ that might be similar to the one described here. Hammer's lamp is number 1886-468. The description reads: "Mogul carbon filament lamp. 150cp, 53 volts. Two 75-cp filaments in multiple, solid glass drawn over each platinum lead."

Acknowledgement
The writer extends a "thank you" to Jerry R. Westlick for use of the photograph of the Stanley-Westinghouse lamp, as well as information regarding it.

References
1) W. Stanley, Jr., U. S. Patent No. 363,559, dated May 24, 1887, "Incandescent Electric Lamp."
2) Laurence A. Hawkins, William Stanley (1858-1916)—His Life and Work, The Newcomen Society of North America, New York, 1951.
3) "William Stanley, Jr", this web site, Section 16 — "Biographical Sketches".
4) This web site, Section 12, "The William J. Hammer Historical Collection of Incandescent Electric Lamps."

The following seven lamp images appear as a courtesy of Chris Kocsis. The lamp is in his collection.