Matchless Wonder Star #910 Double Row Green & Red Crystal C-9 Holiday Bulb, 1936. Extremely rare early crystal production in green points with red center.
On May 2, 1935 Paul C. Dittman of Chicago filed an application for a patent for what he called simply "Decorative Lighting Device". In the patent he described it as "an ornamental device embodying a multiplicity of of prismatic light diffusing bodies with a light source..."
He related that while he was aware that others had patented lighted stars, his offering was different in that the light would enter the rays of the star radially, effectively refracting the light within the ray and producing a "pleasing effect."
His description of the refracted light produced by the stars was a bit of an understatement, as anyone who has seen them illuminated can attest: a lighted Matchless Wonder Star is stunningly beautiful. His patent was granted on December 8, 1936.
Paul Dittman, a German immigrant who passed through the gates of Ellis Island in New York City, worked for a time for George Westinghouse, where he got an education in the manufacturing of electric light bulbs. In 1912, Paul and his partners started the Matchless Electric Company, which was later incorporated (in 1918) "to manufacture, buy, sell and deal in electric supplies, light bulbs and radio tubes..." By 1930, the direction of the Company had changed a bit, and it was re-named The Century Lamp and Tube Company to reflect the fact that it was by this time the largest single licensee for the manufacture of RCA radio...
Category
1930s Vintage Plastic Flush Mount Lighting