Light switches in 1893
Following up from a previous post on early light switches, here’s some more insight into the history of the button.
To recap, the light switch and the doorbell were the earliest electromechanical buttons to appear in the home. They portended an interesting future for people living around 1900. However, light switches arrived earlier than I thought. Shocking, I know.
Bo Sullivan at Rejuvenation was kind enough to send me the following page from the Illustrated General Catalogue published in 1893 by the Central Electric Company in Chicago.
If these switches were designed enough to be an 1893 catalog, they must have been invented in 1891, at the absolute latest although it was probably earlier.
There are two interesting points in the listed Special Points of Excellence:
1. Nothing in sight but an ornamental face-plate, set flush with the surface of the wall, the body of the Switch being recessed in the wall.
2. The only house Switch that indicates by the position of the push buttons the condition of the current to a distant lamp as to whether it is “on” or “off.”
In Special Point 1, “nothing in sight” indicates that the previous generation of light switches were messy looking, with probably wires or the switch body showing. This may have been the first switch to be designed to be “ornamental.”
But Special Point 2 contains the gem for interaction designers. This catalog page claims this is the “only house Switch that indicates by the position of the push buttons … whether it is on or off.” Could this be the first double-button light switch?
Or, maybe it’s the first to use position of the push buttons to indicate on vs. off. We do know it took separate buttons for on and off. They hadn’t invented the toggle switch yet. But could the subtlety in this phrase mean that other light switches had two buttons but didn’t use position to indicate on vs. off? In reality, how could a tiny set of two buttons not convey position?
Whatever the answer is, this is still a cool piece of evidence. Thanks Bo.