Christmas Lights Time Line 1610 - Tinsel Invented in Germany. Originally made from Silver rolled into wafer thin strips. 1800 - First Christmas tree erected at Queen Lodge (Windsor) for Queen Charlotte, 1848 - The Illustrated London News features Price Albert's Christmas tree at Windsor Castle. 1855 - First Record of Christmas Trees in the US. 1870 - Glass ornaments where being imported to decorate Christmas trees. Presumably 1877 - Carbon Filament Lamp Invented By Sir Joseph Swan 1878 - Carbon Filament Lamp Demonstrated By Sir Joseph Swan 1879 - Thomas Edison Demonstrates his Carbon Filament Lamp in US 1880 - Swan Demonstrates Electric Lamps are an effective alternative to gas lighting. The increasing availability of Christmas decorations leads to a trend Thomas Edison takes Joseph Swan to Court over alleged patent infringement. 1881 - Factory set-up to manufacture Swan's electric lamps 1882 - Edward H Johnston (a friend of Edison) installs Christmas Tree light by electric lamps in New York US. 1883 - Edison and Swan join forces to establish Edison & Swan Electric Light Company (later Ediswan). 1900 - Decorations are now widely available leading to a trend in themed trees where the decorations 1901 - First Christmas Tree Lights go into Production. Queen Victoria Dies as does the Christmas tree as a status symbol. 1914 - Swan Died. 1930 - The Victorian Christmas becomes resurrected. Large flamboyant trees are back in fashion with many 1940s - War means that Christmas trees become difficult to obtain as cutting down trees for decoration was prohibited. 1947 - Oslo (Norway) send the first Trafalgar Square Christmas tree as a thank you for Britain's The Christmas tree returns to popularity partly thanks to artificial trees manufactured in the US 1950 - FW Woolworth now has a large share of the Christmas decoration market. 1960 - Silver, self illuminated artificial trees start to appear. These have a light source in the base 1980 - Artificial trees are still popular largely because they make very little mess. 1990 - Britain gets nostalgic for the Victorian Christmas with real trees making a comeback. 2000 - New advances in technology mean that affordable and practical LED light sets begin flooding the market. These are now in colours such as white and blue with extreme intensity that was previously impossible. Noma invent ‘Staylit’ technology which is a light set that keeps working even if one or more lamps are broken or missing. Noma produce a mains voltage ‘fairy light’ set that can be used outdoors all year round. Future – Who know what it will be. My guess (and it is a guess) is that LEDs will dominate the market especially for outdoor lighting. We may well see coloured floodlighting and projection appearing as well as computer controlled lighting displays.
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