The Shelby Museum Of History 
Featured Display Item - The Shelby Electric Company Shelby, Ohio The pioneer of the electric incandescent light bulb in the United States was not Thomas Edison as might be believed, but more likely Cincinnati, Ohio born John Wellington Starr, who invented his lamps ca. 1850. It was nearly another 30 years before Edison with his persistance and inventive genious, and Joseph Swann, of England developed these early experimental lamps into products that could be readily manufactured. In 1879, the Edison Lamp with an all carbon filament sealed in a high vacuum, and a screw - type threaded base was introduced. This, combined with the introduction of home delivered electric power, made the thought of home lighting an obvious use of this latest electric lamp development. In the year 1880, Edison's Menlo Park laboratory produced over 130,000 handmade lamps. The next step in improving the lamp was to develop a longer lived, more efficient, andbrighter burning filament. Many materials and filament structures were tried over the next 10 - 15 years including "cordite" and the "squirted" filament lamps. In 1897, Adolphe Chaillet, a French immigrant, developed a coiled filament carbon lamp that burned brighter than existing models. He met John C. Fish of Shelby, Ohio and began an association that was to be the start of the Shelby Electric Company. John Fish almost immediately began raising funds for the newly conceived Richland Mazda Lamp Company. In August of 1897, the company began with a capital stock of $100,000 and approximately 50 stockholders. The officers in the company included: Adolphe A. Chaillet as Technical Manager and John C. Fish as Secretary. (1) (For additional information) Richland Mazda Lamp Works Service Room - ca. 1905 The Richland Mazda Company adopted the Edison screw - type base for the majority of lamps they were to produce. Advertisements of the period listed lamps of "any voltage from 30 to 250" with "efficiencies from 3 to 4 watts" and "the longest life with the greatest economy." By the end of 1898, the "Lamp Works" was the third largest employer in Shelby, Ohio with more than 150 employees. By 1902 the number of employees had risen to over 275. (2) In 1905, the "Lamp Works" began to produce a bulb with a more highly refined carbon filament that was originally developed at the Edison General Electric facility. Overall lamp production in 1902 had increased to 10,000 lamps a day. In 1907, a new addition was added to the manufacturing plant that increased the floor space to 100,000 square feet and the number of employees to 400. Due to the fine detail and the dexterity required of the bulb assembly, most of the employees were women. By May of 1908, the company was considering another new addition and seemed to be limited only by the shortage of employable people and the lack of additional local housing required for the considered expansion to 1000 employees. The latest innovation was the "Tungsten" filament lamp which was currently being made by the "Lamp Works", General Electric, and the National companies. The demand was such that orders to these companies were running hundreds of thousands of bulbs beyond their current manufacturing capacity. 
The Shelby Electric Company Lamp Works - ca. 1910 From this point on, the development rate for new lamp filaments and bulb assembly technologies increased dramatically. In 1913, a new technique using a hollow filament support stem to evacuate the assembled bulb through the base allowed a large increase in production efficiency. Smaller facilities like that of Shelby's "Lamp Works" couldn't compete because of the financial requirements to implement the rapidly expanding production requirements. In 1912. General Electric built a large production facility in Nela Park, Cleveland, Ohio and began absorbing many of the smaller lamp companies. Shelby's "Lamp works" continued to manufacture lamps until 1914, when they too, were acquired by General Electric. The "Mazda" and "Shelby" names and trademarks continued to be used at the Nela Park, Cleveland facility, because the Shelby name was widely known for quality. The Shelby Museum has a number of Shelby light bulbs, radio tubes, photos, and other Shelby Electric Company memorabilia. One Shelby lamp has seen much duty over the years as part of a traveling demonstration of the company's products. It continues to burn and provides the illumination for some of the following photos. 
Shelby Museum, Shelby, Ohio If you look closely at the reflection on the top surface of the lamp in the lower left corner of the picture above, you'll see the individual glowing filaments in the lighted lamp above it. 
Shelby Museum, Shelby, Ohio The group picture (above), is the staff of the Shelby Electric Company, Shelby, Ohio (ca. 1900) , including John C. Fish, who was instrumental in organizing the effort to manufacture the Shelby Lamps. 
Shelby Museum, Shelby, Ohio 100 watt Shelby Mazda Lamp 
Shelby Museum, Shelby, Ohio The above case was probably a salesman's demonstration case. It contains a variety of minature tungsten filament bulbs. (ca. 1910) 
Shelby Museum, Shelby, Ohio The bulbs were manufactured in various voltages/wattages, sizes and shapes, as well as a variety of colors. In January of 1992, our local newspapers ran the story of a Shelby Electric Company lamp that had been burning for over 90 years in the fire station in the community of Livermore, California. The years have passed and the Shelby bulb is glowing strong! June the 8th, 2001, the Shelby Electric Company bulb will have been burning for 100 years!!!! 
Shelby Museum, Shelby, Ohio Shelby Electric Company Employees - ca. 1900 The Shelby Electric Company bulb now burning in Livermore, California would have been produced about the year 1900. It's very possible that one of the ladies in the photo above was the employee who assembled the bulb now hanging in the Livermore Fire station. The community of Livermore, California is celebrating their centennial bulb. To find out more about their community, the celebration, and the Shelby Electric Company bulb, try the following link: 
http://www.centennialbulb.org/ For additional information on the Shelby Electric Company and their products, please plan a visit to our museum where you'll find that as well as much more Shelby, Ohio history and memorabilia. 1. From The Republican Industrial Edition - Shelby, Ohio- 1897 2. Some of the above information has been abstracted from books by former Shelby Mayor Raymond Wilkinson. " The Story of Early Shelby" - 1962, and "More About Early Shelby" - 1964. If you have questions or if you would like more information, please contact : The Shelby Museum of History % Sally Maier 76 Raymond Ave. Shelby, Ohio 44875 Email Us Shelby Museum Visit the Shelby Genealogy Page
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