{"id":576,"date":"2011-01-31T01:00:12","date_gmt":"2011-01-31T06:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/?p=576"},"modified":"2023-07-07T17:00:16","modified_gmt":"2023-07-07T17:00:16","slug":"1885","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/2011\/01\/31\/1885\/","title":{"rendered":"Year 25 &#8211; 1885: The Schuyler Electric Light Company, Manufacturers of Dynamo Machines, Arc Lamps, Incandescent Lamps, and All Articles Relating to Electric Lighting and Distribution of Electric Power"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/2011\/01\/31\/1885\/1885_cover\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-578\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-578 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2011\/01\/1885_cover-290x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"290\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2011\/01\/1885_cover-290x300.jpg 290w, https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2011\/01\/1885_cover-991x1024.jpg 991w, https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2011\/01\/1885_cover-768x794.jpg 768w, https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2011\/01\/1885_cover-624x645.jpg 624w, https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2011\/01\/1885_cover.jpg 1139w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 290px) 100vw, 290px\" \/><\/a>New York, 1885<\/p>\n<p>In 1885, electric lighting was still novel. The electric power upon which it depended was largely unavailable: uniform standards for the distribution of electricity were still years away. Vast numbers of Americans had never beheld any form of electric illumination. Elaborate displays of commercial and architectural lighting at expositions and in major cities seemed to turn night into actual day, eliciting gasps of wonderment.<\/p>\n<p>Essentially a sales catalog, this 32 page document provides a fascinating ground-level look at a period of transformative technological innovation. The Schuyler Company&#8217;s business model was born of necessity, <a href=\"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/2011\/01\/31\/1885\/1885_ill1\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-579\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-579 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2011\/01\/1885_ill1-262x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"262\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2011\/01\/1885_ill1-262x300.jpg 262w, https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2011\/01\/1885_ill1-895x1024.jpg 895w, https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2011\/01\/1885_ill1-768x878.jpg 768w, https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2011\/01\/1885_ill1-624x714.jpg 624w, https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2011\/01\/1885_ill1.jpg 1344w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 262px) 100vw, 262px\" \/><\/a>but today it would be called synergistic: they sold not only electric lighting, but the means to power it. No access to a source of electricity? Install one of our dynamos and generate your own! (Then buy our light bulbs.)<\/p>\n<p>Our entry for 1885 evokes MIT&#8217;s early commitment to the practical application of scientific and technological education. The MIT Libraries\u2019 circulating collections include many similar catalogs produced by purveyors of everything from gas works and railroad water stations to doorbells, locomotives, optical instruments, and speaking tubes.<a href=\"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/2011\/01\/31\/1885\/1885_ill2\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-580\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-580 size-thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2011\/01\/1885_ill2-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The company was proud to proclaim that &#8220;the Schuyler Dynamo requires oiling but once in three months.&#8221; A great selling point to be sure, but it still seems a safe bet that any success Schuyler enjoyed was owed to its lamps being &#8220;entirely free from all disagreeable hissing or frying noise.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/2011\/01\/31\/1885\/1885_ill3\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-581\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-581 size-thumbnail alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2011\/01\/1885_ill3-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/2011\/01\/31\/1885\/1885_title\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-582\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-582 size-thumbnail alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2011\/01\/1885_title-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/mit.primo.exlibrisgroup.com\/permalink\/01MIT_INST\/jp08pj\/alma990012497310106761\">Find it in the library<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New York, 1885 In 1885, electric lighting was still novel. The electric power upon which it depended was largely unavailable: uniform standards for the distribution of electricity were still years away. Vast numbers of Americans had never beheld any form of electric illumination. Elaborate displays of commercial and architectural lighting at expositions and in major cities seemed to turn night into actual day, eliciting gasps of wonderment. Essentially a sales catalog, this 32 page document provides a fascinating ground-level look at a period of transformative technological innovation. The Schuyler Company&#8217;s business model was born of necessity, but today it would [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":false,"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=576"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4222,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576\/revisions\/4222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}