Rare Three Light New York City Subway Flush Mount Fixture

One of my favorite lights originated in the New York City underground at the turn of the last century. Subway lights epitomize the early industrial style with their strong utilitarian lines and their clever solution to a unique problem – how do you keep a glass shade from shaking loose in an environment full of vibration?

As far as I can tell these lights weren’t used on the subway cars themselves (early photos show only bare bulbs in the subway cars), although the same solution was used for lights on more posh train cars of the era. But the subway platforms provided enough vibration that the more common hand tightened thumb screws  we’re accustomed to attaching a shade to a fixture would eventually come undone.

To get around this problem these lights were designed using a system that could hold the glass shade firmly and safely into place without coming undone. A close look at the photo shows a spring inside a circle of metal tabs. The neck of the glass shade fit snugly inside this ring. When screwed onto the hub that held the socket the ring could be tightened down firmly without harming the glass shade and the metal tabs would be held firmly in place then not allowing any room for the shade to shift free.

Note the conspicuous absence of thumb screws normally used to hold the glass in place.

You can see how these lights were built as much for function as for style. They have a job and look good doing it which is one of the great things about strong industrial design.

It looks impossible, but the metal ring holding the metal tabs and spring are able to fit around the neck of a glass shade.

The rings on these lights carry several patent dates. What I find interesting here is how they use the full date including the month and day – not just the year as we’re more accustomed to seeing today. This shows a certain amount of pride I guess, but reading them also takes you back to that point in time to imagine how a commute on the brand new NY City Subway in 1911 (the last patent year on this fixture) could have felt. Electricity was still a fairly new phenomenon at that time and was dramatically changing the world – especially in thriving urban areas like turn of the century New York City.

Today we’re lucky to have these lights as working remnants of that era. They’re getting harder to find, but amazingly, their condition is often very good – this is certainly given to their robust design meant to survive the harsh frontier of the New York underground.

Its a smart move to know your ceiling height before hand when shopping for hanging fixtures.

After the purchase of a new home or when nearing the end of a remodeling project many of our customers are excited to shop for lighting and forget to come prepared. Selecting the proper lighting for a space requires several important factors that if thought out before hand can make browsing through our nearly 1,000 lights on display a less overwhelming experience.

Of course matching the style and era of a light fixture to your home is top of the list in making a decision, but these other important factors will weigh heavily on the process of  making the perfect choice:

Scale – The most interesting light that is too far out of scale for a space  (large or small) will not present properly and ultimately create a distraction. While narrowing down options with a customer we will often work together to recognize which fixtures are on the smallest end of the scale and which are on the largest. Doing so helps to pinpoint the sweet spot. Not that you have to rely on the perfect scaled fixture, but it helps to identify the allowable range. For instance, a fixture on the small side that has great charm and character may be able to carry the space. (Quick hint: Fixtures over tables should scale to the table more than  the room.  And outdoor lighting should scale to the building’s architecture – bigger is usually better.)

Quality of Light – What type of light do you need for the space? Some areas require strong task  lighting and others softer ambient, non-directional light. Kitchen work areas depend on strong task  lighting, but sometimes I work with customers who envision diffuse globes over the counter areas. Problem with this choice is that it may be necessary to over light the entire room in order to provide adequate light to cook by.

But other areas are more open to personal preference. I have a young family so I use a fixture with strong down light over our dining table because it often gets used as a project center. But another homeowner who only uses the table for dining and entertaining will be perfectly matched with a light  that provides softer more ambient light. Another area for personal preference is bedrooms. Some prefer an overhead light that lights up the entire room. My children’s rooms need that. But in a master bedroom you may only want a ceiling light that provides a medium amount of diffuse light so you are not overwhelmed when using task lighting for reading in bed.

Wattage - Often a customer will want a high amount of wattage for an area. Many vintage lights aren’t designed to handle a high amount of wattage, or in the case of gas era lights will begin to look “blown out” with overly bright bulbs. We try our best to accommodate light fixtures with as many sockets as is safe for the fixture, but there are limits. Sometimes the limit has to do with the type of glass the fixture has – in fixtures with clear glass that doesn’t diffuse the light anything more than a 40 watt bulb will become obnoxious. The solution is to try to find a suitable fixture with opalescent or textured glass to help diffuse the light. Either way, we recommend that you don’t try to get too much light from any one source. (Read our post on Balance of Light for more information on this point.)

Bring Notes – After you’ve thought through some of the above topics its a good idea to gather some notes on critical dimensions. How high is your ceiling? This is extremely critical for helping to select an overhead light. Rule of thumb is that you don’t want a fixture to come below the height of a door. Most doors are 6′ 8″ high, so the math on a typical 8′ ceiling allows for a fixture to come down no more than 16″. But homes have all kinds of ceiling heights even within the same house. If your ceiling is only a few more inches taller than 8′ then the available options for a ceiling light can greatly increase.

I’m always surprised when working with customers how many times critical dimensions come into play when deciding on a fixture. How large an outdoor lantern will stay below a soffet? At what height will a fixture be  properly framed in a space within a stairwell? What’s the largest diameter for a sconce’s back plate that a space can accommodate?

Other important questions are how large is your kitchen island or dining room table? Eliminate the guess work and come prepared with these dimensions so you can quickly narrow down the field of possibilities.

With nearly 1,000 light fixtures to choose from in our showroom many customers feel overwhelmed. But once we begin to identify the answers to the above questions the available options quickly begin to narrow and our customers can begin to eliminate poor or inadequate choices to leave them with a choice group of candidates.

Crouse Hinds Explosion Proof Pendants

One category of our industrial lights are termed “Explosion Proof” which leads many people to wonder why you’d need to design a light to survive an  explosion. But in truth, they get their name from how they are designed to avoid catastrophe.

Explosion Proof light fixtures are designed to completely encase the hot lamp in an air tight environment so volatile gasses in a factory work room, from such things as spray paint or heavily used solvents, won’t make contact with the socket and spark an explosion.   To ensure this the lights are designed using heavy cast aluminum components that screw tightly together and have heavy tempered glass that  is most often protected by a robust cage. All together their need for function creates a form that is simultaneously simple and sophisticated.

Crouse Hinds Explosion Proof Wall Light

Crouse Hinds is the largest manufacturer of this  style of light  but other names to look for are Appleton and Wheeler. And you’ll find explosion proof lights designed to hang, mount flush to the ceiling, wall mounted, incandescent and also  fluorescent. Many styles of the  fluorescent fixtures have a space age aesthetic with their large heavily protected ballasts contrasting with the long fluorescent lamps.

But in a factory lamps aren’t the only things that need to be explosion proof. Several years ago I was sourcing a truck load of explosion proof lights from a closed paint factory and toured through room after room of a building that spanned several acres. Explosion proof lights were everywhere, but also present were clocks and telephones designed for the hostile environment. And in some rooms where heavy equipment needed to be switched on and off huge electrical panels were encased in cast aluminum boxes with moving levers that mated with the circuit breakers behind them.

Crouse Hinds Explosion Proof Clock

Explosion proof lights are a popular choice today for kitchen areas where their strong industrial  design compliments the prevelance of  stainless steel and granite. But many also find places throughout their  home. Urban lofts and commercial spaces such as retail showrooms and restaurants are a natural fit, but we find them to also be a good compliment to homes with post and beam construction and converted barns. But however you use them their scale and styling will add a dramatic touch that won’t go unnoticed.

Fifty Bucks For A Lightbulb? Say Hello To LED Bulbs

The prices on LED light bulbs has already begun to shift downward – I recently purchased one from a big box retaile for under $20. The color isn’t that great, especially when compared to the incandescents we’re used to that have a more reddish hue. But the technology is definately more promising than CFLs and given a reasonable amount of time I’m sure we’ll all be w

http://shine.yahoo.com/green/truth-light-bulb-law-200200491.html

The question comes up around here quite often as to what is going to happen. As  you’ll read from the article the change is going to happen, but it won’t be abrupt.  Higher wattage bulbs will be phased out over time: “Old incandescents will not be taken off store shelves on January 1, but phased out as they are sold off. The old 75-watt incandescent bulbs will be phased out in 2013 and the 60 and 40-watt bulbs in 2014.”

The article talks about a new style incandescent that IS 28% more efficient. Of course, they will be more expensive, but over the long term they will eventually provide dollar savings by way of lower electric bills.

The article doesn’t mention it, but keep in mind the growing technology behind LED light bulbs. The cost on these is quite high by comparison, but the energy savings is even greater. But the color and tone of the light they produce still has much to be desired. I’m confident that eventually they will produce a LED bulb with lower cost that provides excellent quality light.

What I also like to keep in mind that there are billions of screw type sockets in the world and that isn’t going to change soon. So whatever they come up with is going to be backward compatible with our current light fixtures – no need to get anything rewired – at least for now.

Camphor Cast Glass Bowl with Bronze Frame

Camphor glass has a cloudy white – sort of grayish actually – color which makes some also call them “clam broth” shades and is produced by exposing glass to hydrofluoric acid vapors.

Camphor glass gained wide popularity during the mid 19th Century and was often used for jewelry and decorative items for the home such as vases, decanters and candle sticks, but it also had wide use for light shades.

When unlit the light shades have a distinctive grayish appearance with a soft luminance, but when lit they show up as an off white. Most camphor glass shades are quite thick and their unique look gives the light fixture they’re matched with an immediate nod to the past.

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Beautiful new home for some of our lights!

http://remodelista.com/posts/steal-this-look-mill-valley-loft-style-kitchen

Its also a great endorsement that Allison, the homeowner of the project, is also an editor at Remodelista – a great source for design inspiration and product sources.

We sell a lot of industrial lighting for kitches for several reasons. First, they give great light. This is what they were originally designed for – giving great working light. But the industrial look is also a great tie into the modern kitchen materials such as stainless steel and granite counter tops  while the classic, vintage styling of many industrial lights also provides a great bridge between the more traditional elements of the rest of the home and the more modern materials found in today’s kitchens.

A combination of using both overhead and wall lighting creates the perfect balance of light for any area of your home.

Sometimes customers in our antique lighting shop ask me for fixtures in which they can use a very high amount of wattage. First off is that most vintage light fixtures aren’t designed from an aesthetic point of view to look good with excessively high amount of wattage – for instance, delicate gas shades begin to look “blown out” once you use more than 40 watts. But second is that if you rely on a single fixture for too much light it will create harsh, unflattering shadows. The better solution is to make sure that there is a balance of light in each room by using multiple sources. 

Wall lighting alone creates a room that can have a very "moody" feeling.

A bright overhead light in itself is a good thing, but balanced with wall sconces, floor lights and/or table lamps will provide a balance of light that will soften the shadows in the room making the atmosphere much more relaxing even when the room is at its brightest. Dimmer switches for overhead and wall scones is virtually a must in any living area of the home. The control they provide to create the perfect balance for any mood is a wonderful asset.

Overhead lights alone do a good job of lighting a room, but by comparison to a room with wall lights the light can feel harsh.

Sometimes wall lights aren’t an option. In these rooms a floor or table lamp is a great choice. Try to use ones with three way sockets to provide you with even more control. Or you can look for those that have individual pull chains on each socket and use different wattages in each. This way you can turn just the 40 watt bulb on for mood lighting, only the 75 watt bulb for normal use and perhaps both for when you are reading, etc.

In general, the more options you can give yourself in any room with the number of light sources and control over their brightness the better you can adjust to the perfect light for every situation.

This brass part has both a good natural patina as well as dirt, grease and some minor pitting.

After some light polishing with "0000" steel wool the lamp part now looks fresh, but not too new!

First, we never recommend the use of harsh solvents or cleaners on a vintage light except during a major restoration when necessary. So, for a light already installed the best solution we’ve found is to use the finest steel wool available in the hardware store. Its rated “oooo” – four O’s. Its more like cloth than the steel wool you might be used to. Using some elbow grease the fine steel wool will lift off any dirt, grease and wax that may have accumulated over time without damaging the metal’s natural patina. The luster of the metal’s surface will brighten up a bit, but much of the rich natural tone of the metal will remain largely undisturbed.

By comparison, using solvents will create an unnaturally bright finish that will strip out all the natural patina and will leave the metal for a period of time softer and even more susceptible to tarnishing.

But most fixtures won’t even need this hand cleaning for a very long time. Many of today’s homes are climate controlled and have cleaner burning heat, etc. than those of the past century. In this environment unlaquered brass has lots of time to age gracefully and the rich patina’s they develop over time will only make them more beautiful and valuable.