Today, we’re wrapping up our exploration of electricity and its uses, starting with…
Electric Appliances
Electric appliances were sold by the electric company, not by what we would think of today as an appliance store. Here is what was on offer in 1916 at the Cambridge Electric Light Co.
Electric irons were sold for only $2.00:
Electric refrigerators were invented in 1913, but not mass produced until 1918.
Electric vacuums: One of our favorite descriptions of an electrical appliance is this one for the “Dirt Annihilator”:
Electric fans and stoves:
Electric washing machine. The first electric washing machine was invented in 1901 by Mr. Alva Fisher. It was not mass produced for several years.
Electric doorbells were invented as early as 1832 by American scientist Joseph Henry, mentioned above, who was later the first Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. But because the doorbells depended on expensive electric batteries, the product didn’t really take hold until about 1913, when transformers replaced the need for batteries.
Electric clocks were first invented in 1840, relying on a combination of battery and spring pendulum. A “self-contained battery driven clock,” didn’t hit the market until around 1906.
Let us not forget the 1888 Cambridge baseball team named The Electrics.
Though many aspects of daily life were made easier and safer by electricity, there were still issues. We’re reminded of the expression by Maggie Smith’s Downton Abbey character, the Countess of Grantham, in response to electric illumination: “Sometimes I feel as if I were living in an HG Wells novel. But the young are all so calm about change, aren’t they?”
Medical consequences were just one concern on the public’s mind. How about this reference to electricity causing cholera in 1849:
Of course, the medical community lost no time in advertising electrical remedies for whatever ailed you. As early as 1853, Edward C. Rogers was advertising his services as a “Medical Electrician”:
A few decades later, Dr. J. D. Werner bragged that his practice included the “intelligent” use of Medical Electricity.
Some of these practices were no doubt precursors to the contemporary and medically-accepted use of electricity to treat mental disorders, such as ECT (electroconvulsive therapy). However, there is something about using Dr. Rhodes’ “Electric Transfusing Battery” to cure everything from rheumatism to flatulence, that seems a little suspicious:
The above ad from the June 26, 1880 edition of The Cambridge Chronicle goes on to list many additional ailments, purported to be cured by his “electrical transfusing battery”, including: Gout, Swollen Joints, Sciatica, Lumbago, Spinal Disease, Wasting, Decay, Restless Nights, Nightmare, Lack of Power of Will, Loss of Confidence, Hysteria, Epilepsy, Heartburn, Dropsy, Asthma, Pleurisy, Jaundice, Seminal weakness, Female Complaints” Oh my!
The interest in the miracle of electricity did not fade during the 20th century. By 1913, the Cambridge Sentinel still saw fit to have a regular column “The Electrical World” (or sometimes “Electrical Notes”) consisting of random reporting about the uses of electricity worldwide. For instance, the world-shattering fact that “seven electric motor trucks will be purchased by the Manila post office.” Wow! Some other snippets from 1913 and 1914 include:
1913
1914
(Nationally-known market gardener Warren W. Rawson was employing the same electrical technique in his greenhouses in Arlington, Mass)
As we’ve seen above, every new technology spawns new jobs, vocabulary, and idioms. Between 1880 and 1899 inclusively, the word “electric” appeared in the Cambridge Chronicle 5,020 times and in the Cambridge Tribune 3,455 times.
In searching the Cambridge City Directory for jobs self-identified as associated with electricity, we find that in 1880 there was only one electrician listed: William H. Humans, who lived at #11 Rogers Block, on Main Street. The Cambridge Electric Light Co. was located nearby at #23 Main Street. By 1900, there were 140 listed electricians.
The life-changing effect of electricity on private lives is pretty well summed up in this excerpt from a description of soap manufacturer Edward D. Mellon’s new house in 1898:
So…Ever been amped up? Or gone out like a light? Had a “lightbulb” moment? Close your eyes now and just imagine how differently our experience of nighttime would have been before the advent of electricity
“We had the sky, up there, all speckled with stars, and we used to lay on our backs and look up at them, and discuss about whether they was made, or only just happened—Jim he allowed they was made, but I allowed they happened; I judged it would have took too long to make so many.”
– Mark Twain
Today’s post was written by CHC volunteer Kathleen Fox.
SOURCES
Building Old Cambridge. Susan E. Maycock and Charles M. Sullivan, 2016 Cambridge Historical Commission; the MIT Press
City of Cambridge Annual Reports
Cambridge Public Library Digitized Newspapers
https://www.britannica.com/technology/clock/Electric-clocks
https://archive.curbed.com/ad/17101030/history-of-the-doorbell-nest-hello
https://www.energy.gov/articles/history-light-bulb
https://www.britannica.com/summary/electricity
https://hollisarchives.lib.harvard.edu/ (for the history of the Cambridge Electric Light Co.)
https://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2012/02/24/downton-abbey-and-electricity/
https://archive.curbed.com/ad/17101030/history-of-the-doorbell-nest-hello
https://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/let-there-be-light-bulbs/embed/#?secret=lXWL13u3Ja
