Obviously, people initially wired their houses for electricity so that they could have electrical lighting. But I was wondering when the ubiquitous plug socket started to appear in homes…
The only information I can find is that the plug and socket were invented by Harvey Hubbell in 1904. But I can’t think of any electrical appliances that would have been available for sale in those days. So presumably they were pretty useless at first.
So when did people start to have sockets installed in their homes? And what appliance(s) attracted them to do so? When would the average suburban home have had electrical outlets?
(Just in case I’m stranded back in time and need to charge up my Iphone :p)
Early light fixtures didn’t have plugs. But it didn’t take long at all for other electric appliances to hit the market. The earliest ones were designed to go into the light bulb socket. I’d guess Westinghouse was a major contributor to the use of outlets, while Edison probably didn’t like the idea of his electricity being used for things he didn’t sell. Here’s an article about the history.
Actually, the sockets or bases for the bulbs by various manufacturers didn’t get standardized until after the turn of the 20th century either, which should not be a surprise:
Early things other than light bulbs meant to be used withe the light fixtures probably came out fitted for a variety of connections, and I would imagine that many people simply stripped the wires and hooked them up to the light fixture any way they could.
I would WAG that various electric heating devices came out almost immediately.
before plugs and receptacles the Edison screw was used on small appliances (e.g. toaster). it was a bulb base shape on a ceramic form on the end of a cord. you might use a splitter in a drop cord or wall fixture.
Another factor encouraging connecting appliances via the Edison screw base light connections was that electric companies charged a cheaper price for electricity used for lighting vs. other electricity. Houses & businesses at that time were wired with separate circuits for lighting electricity, with a separate meter.
This was because electric companies of the time were competing with gas lighting companies, so they underpriced electricity for lighting to try to compete.
I am amused by the fact that my most recent car (2007) has no cigarette lighter, but has the socket for it and my cell phone car charger is made to plug into it. This design could last a long time; maybe until 110 outlets are routine in cars.
A friend of mine lives in an old apartment. Probably 19th century. It does have electric sockets (too few of course) presumably retrofitted. But he discovered that the two conductors in the wall run about two feet apart. At a guess someone was afraid to put the two conductors too close together. Maybe insulation wasn’t as good then.
My house was built in 1942 (in the middle of the war!) When a wall switch stopped working, I decided to replace all six wall switches that were still connected to something. So I bought six switches, turned off the house power (one bright summer day) and did it. What I discovered astonished me. All six of the old switches were different, no two alike. One looked different from anything I had ever seen. I bet is was from the 20s or even earlier. I conclude that during the war they were unable to find new switches and scavenged old ones from wherever they could find them.
Power lines have no insulation to save weight and costs. I’ve thought that in the wall wiring of that type-I misremember the name-came about because the distribution wire had no insulation, and it is safely inside the wall. Probably far enough apart that a rodent in the wall couldn’t short it.
I’ve never seen NO insulation in home wiring (but I’m not an electrician), but I think you are referring to knob and tube wiring. Romex hadn’t been invented yet. Heck, neither had today’s principles of grounding, color coding and safety.
The comments about cigarette lighters in cars makes me wonder just how they came about (Wikipedia doesn’t say much about their history); I mean, why cigarette lighters? Just seems like a silly addition to a car, as if they were so important that cars just had to have one, especially as one of the first(?) accessories to become more or less standard (why not cigarette lighters built into homes?).
I think a hands-free cigarette lighter would be more important in a car than a home, so matches aren’t convenient. And in a car, you are always in front of the lighter; in the dash, you don’t have to worry about finding a loose unit. In a home, if it was mounted somewhere, you’d have to go to it, like home phones were once.
likely thinking of knob and tube wiring. it had to be insulated with a wire covering or run in the open mounted on insulators. if it ran through a solid (e.g. wall stud) it went through a insulating tube.
Might not be the fact that people needed cigarette lighters to be in their cars because they didn’t have matches, but they needed a way to light a cigarette with one hand with the window open. You can’t light a match while driving and you can’t do it with the window open. You can light a lighter with one hand while driving but not with the window open.
Windows used to be open a lot more I’m sure, and they weren’t as easy to close. Smoking was more popular too.
My buddy in high school lived in a 19th century farm house that originally had no electricity. It had been added sometime in the 30’s. The downstairs had been converted over to modern wiring in the 70’s, but the upstairs still had knob and tube with exposed wire running down the wall that was still being used as late as 1983. Ask me how I know it was live. :rolleyes:
