(Clip was swabbed with black paint to show markings)
The contacts pierced the wire insulation to make connection.
The Mystery of the Gilbert sets - Solved!
The mystery of the Gilbert light sets. It is a common misconception that these
sets were made by the A. C. Gilbert company, which was famous for creating the
erector set. The Gilbert sets were actually made by Gilbert Manufacturing Co. of
Long Island City, N.Y. They were sold under many brands, usually for department
stores. As of November 1994 they were still in business.
Reference: Consumer Product Safety Commission
advisory #95-027.
On one set I have the sockets are marked with
Patent # 2,636,069 issued 04/21/53 to
Charles E. Gilbert, while the A. C. Gilbert company was founded by Alfred C.
Gilbert. How these 2 people are related is unknown to me. The
sets are quite common as I found many for sale on ebay. Bakelite socket sets
like these were common in the 1950s but fell out of favor once G.E. and others
introduced the all green sets in 1963.
One suggestion for anyone who has these light strings is to put modern bulbs in
them and then put the lights up on your tree to give it a retro look.
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| Bottom view of socket showing
patent number. (Clip was swabbed with black paint to show markings) |
The sockets were held together by
a steel clip. The contacts pierced the wire insulation to make connection. |
Gilbert 7 light C-7 set with bakelite sockets, from 1950s.
This set has bulbs from the 1960s, with 3 G.E. glow bright bulbs, 3 G. E. Satin glo bulbs, and a rare pink Westinghouse bulb.