Preserving a father’s letter about efficient light bulb use – and Con Ed’s prompt reply.
The evolution of efficient lighting and the search for safe and inexpensive illumination has been part of U.S. energy history since kerosenebecame a popular lamp fuel in the mid-19th century. Even earlier, illuminating gaslight manufactured from coal provided street lighting in Baltimore (1817), Philadelphia (1836), and other cities.
In September 1882, Thomas A. Edison began operating the first commercial U.S. power station in New York City. The coal-fired plant on Pearl Street powered six dynamos to provide electricity to homes in lower Manhattan. Four years later, six gas New York City companies merged into a giant utility, the Consolidated Gas Company.
Coal fueled Manhattan’s Pearl Street Station in 1882, the first U.S. electric power plant.
By 1920, Edison’s electric company had become a subsidiary of Consolidated Gas. With electric sales outpacing gas sales, Consolidated Gas changed its name to Consolidated Edison Company of New York in 1936 (see History of Con Edison). Five years later, John Weingart’s father Robert wrote the company seeking the best strategy for turning out lights to lower utility bills.
“I have a wonderful short 1941 correspondence from my father Robert asking the Consolidated Edison Company of New York whether you use more energy turning out lights when you leave a room if you know you’ll be back soon,” explained John Weingart in a November 2019 email to the American Oil & Gas Historical Society.
“I’d like to share it with others who might enjoy it,” Weingart added.
Incandescent light bulb Question
15 West 106 Street New York, N.Y. October 21, 1941
Consolidated Edison Company 4 Irving Place New York, N.Y.
Gentlemen
As a consumer of electricity for many years, I would appreciate an answer to the following questions:
Is there any truth to the report that more electricity is consumed by turning lights on and off frequently than by leaving them burning?
If so, what is the minimum time required for a light to be out before being relit, in order to effect a saving to the consumer? If this varies according to the size of the bulb, please give figures for 10, 25, 40, 50, 60 and 100 watts respectively.
Would you mind giving a brief technical explanation.
Very truly yours
Robert A. Weingart
New Yorker Robert Weingart’s 1941 letter to the Con Edison.
Con Edison Customer Service in 1941
Weingart received a reply from the world’s largest electric utility the next day in a letter from Con Ed’s “Manager of the Sales Technical Bureau.”
CONSOLIDATED EDISON COMPANY OF NEW YORK, Inc.
4 IRVING PLACE
NEW YORK, N.Y.
October 22-1941
Mr. Robert A Weingart 15 West 106 Street New York, N Y
Dear Sir
The belief that more electricity is consumed by turning electric lights on and off frequently than by leaving them burning has, from a practical point of view, no basis in fact.
An incandescent electric light consists essentially of a resistance, usually called a filament, surrounded by a glass bulb. The passage of an electric current through the filament causes it to heat to incandescence at which point it emits light. The function of the glass bulb is to prevent oxygen in the air from coming into contact with the filament in order to prevent the destruction of the filament by oxidation. The interior of the bulb is, in modern lamps, filled with an inert gas, such as nitrogen or argon. For a very small fraction of a second after an electric current is turned on to such a bulb, and until the filament is heated, more than normal current will pass through the filament. This is probably the basis for the belief expressed in your letter, but the increase in the amount of electricity consumed is so small that it could not be measured by ordinary metering apparatus and even the cumulative effect of a great many on and off operations could not be measured with ordinary metering equipment.
The operation of a fluorescent lamp is different in principle from that of an incandescent lamp but the same conclusion holds, that is, that there is no increase in electricity because of frequent turning on and off of the amp which could be measured with ordinary metering equipment. However, in the case of the fluorescent lamp the frequent turning on and off of the lamp is apt to shorten its life considerably through dissipation of the coating on the heating element and the lamp should be applied, therefore, to situations which require frequent starting and stopping, such as in flasher signs.
I trust that this is a satisfactory answer to your question.
Very truly yours,
J C Murtha, Manager Sales Technical Bureau
JCM/hb
John Weingart rightly believes his father’s 1941 letter and the response should be remembered as part of U.S. energy history.
“One of the most striking thing about this correspondence remains, I think, that the question is still unresolved to many (maybe most ) lay people,” he concluded. “When I’ve mentioned this letter or shown it to friends, the first comment often is, ‘Yeah, I’ve wondered about that too.’ And, then the apparent detailed, informative response dated only one day after the initial letter of inquiry remains remarkable.”
Citation Information – Article Title: “OA 1941 Letter to Consolidated Edison of N.Y.” Authors: B.A. Wells and K.L. Wells. Website Name: American Oil & Gas Historical Society. URL: https://aoghs.org/oil-almanac/a-1941-letter-to-con-ed-of-n-y. Last Updated: March 22, 2022. Original Published Date: January 18, 2019.
A potential exhibit about early 20th century petroleum infrastructure and transportation.
An Epping, New Hampshire, family business oil wagon is available to educate museum visitors about early petroleum transportation technologies.
Buxton Oil Company was started in 1960 by Kenneth B. Buxton. When he passed away in 2011, his daughter Donna took the reigns and grew the business into one of the most recognized energy companies in New England. She also kept a horse-drawn oil wagon he had acquired.
Donna Buxton, who sold Buxton Oil in 2018, currently owns and operates Buxton Water Company, wants to find a home for her family’s “beautifully restored antique oil delivery wagon and a massive book that includes history awards and accolades.”
Seeking a museum home or permanent display for her former Epping, N.H., company’s oil wagon, she asked the American Oil & Historical Society’s help in contacting museums (see other examples at AOGHS Oil & Gas Families).
Except when rolled out for fuel and energy shows, the Buxton Oil wagon has been carefully stored in a climate controlled garage in Exeter.
Contact the Owner
“Beside being in local parades, the wagon has been displayed at the New England Fuel institute in Boston and recently at the National Energy Expo in Providence, Rhode Island,” Baxter explains. “This piece is a show stopper and certainly an important part of history and how the transportation and the industry has changed,”
The Buxton Oil wagon would be a great addition to any energy or transportation collection, and “it certainly would be wonderful for our family if a museum would display it.”
If an appropriate museum or historical site can be found, she would be pleased to donate her family’s oil wagon and assist with its transportation and display. To learn more, email bawells@aoghs.org or call Donna Baxter directly at (603) 365-7116.
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Oil and Kerosene Wagons
Bulk horse drawn tankers were seen, “in both town and country, mainly from the late 1890s to the early 1920s,” according to historian D.J. Smith in his 1977 book, Discovering Horse-Drawn Commercial Vehicles. “A number were used, during the 1900s, by large oil and petrol companies. They could be adapted, however, for any type of bulk liquid, from water to paraffin.”
Consumer demand for kerosene lamp fuel led to many commercial, horse-drawn vehicles. Many designs included a riveted tank with three compartments. The tank’s supporting wagon measured about 11 feet long and 5 feet wide. A typical wagon was pulled by two horses with the driver sitting on a padded seat, often built into the tank.
A typical Standard Oil Company of New Jersey kerosene delivery wagon, circa 1900. Photo courtesy Michigan State University.
Usually, oil tanks included three separate compartments (filled from top) designed to carry kerosene, heating oil, and other fluids that could flow out the rear of the tank via separate pipes and valves. Some early tankers rolled on iron (later steel) frames with 40-inch wheels on the front and 48-inch wheels on the rear and equipped with a manual lever hand brake.
A late 1880s Continental Oil Company oil tank wagon has welcomed visitors to the Conoco Museum in Ponca City, Oklahoma, since 2007. Phillips Petroleum Company, once headquartered 70 miles east in Bartlesville, merged with Conoco in 2002. Photo by Bruce Wells.
In May 2007, ConocoPhillips opened two oil museums on the same day as part of the 2007 Oklahoma statehood centennial celebrations. Exhibits at the Conoco Museum In Ponca City educate visitors about that company’s start in 1875 in Utah as a small distributor of coal, grease, and kerosene.
In addition to making deliveries with horse-drawn tank wagons, the Ogden-based Continental Oil and Transportation Company purchased railroad oil tank cars – the first to be used west of the Missouri River.
Docent Shirley Patterson and a Phillips 66 wagon welcomed visitors to the Phillips Petroleum Company Museum in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, in 2012. Brothers Frank and L.E. Phillips founded their oil exploration company in 1903. Photo by Bruce Wells.
Museum docent Shirley Patterson in 2012 welcomed visitors to the Phillips Petroleum Company Museum, offering rare insights about the company she joined in 1952 as a secretary for top executives. During her career, Patterson worked for every Phillips Petroleum president except for the first, founder Frank Phillips.
Recommended Reading:Discovering Horse-Drawn Commercial Vehicles (1977). Your Amazon purchase benefits the American Oil & Gas Historical Society. As an Amazon Associate, AOGHS earns a commission from qualifying purchases.
August 18, 2021 – Oil & Gas History News, Vol. 2, No. 8
Oil & Gas History News
Welcome to our August newsletter, the latest summertime chronology of notable petroleum history events. This month includes an 1861 Pennsylvania oil well that is still producing; an Oklahoma geophysicist’s 1921 seismic technology breakthrough; the 1956 beginning of America’s interstate highways; and the launch of a concrete oil tanker in 1918. Thank you again for subscribing — and for sharing this newsletter and AOGHS website articles!
This Week in Petroleum History Monthly Update
Links to summaries from four weeks of U.S. oil and natural gas history, including new technologies, oilfield discoveries, petroleum products, and pioneers.
August 16, 1861 – Oldest Producing Oil Well drilled in Pennsylvania
What would become the world’s oldest continuously producing oil well was completed on Oil Creek near Oil City, Pennsylvania. The McClintock No. 1 well, reaching 620 feet deep into the Venango Third Sand, initially produced 50 barrels of oil a day. The well was drilled 14 miles from Titusville…MORE
August 9, 1921 – Reflection Seismography reveals Geological Structure
A team led by University of Oklahoma geophysicist John C. Karcher conducted the world’s first reflection seismograph measurement of a geologic formation, pioneering the use of reflection seismic technology in petroleum exploration. Seismography would lead to discovery of many of the world’s largest oil and natural gas fields…MORE
August 2, 1956 – Missouri builds First U.S. Interstate Highway
Missouri became the first state to award a contract with interstate construction funding authorized two months earlier by the Federal-Aid Highway Act. The Missouri highway commission began work on part of Route 66 – now Interstate 44. “There is no question that the creation of the interstate highway system has been the most significant development in the history of transportation in the United States”…MORE
July 27, 1918 – Standard Oil of New York launches Concrete Oil Tanker
America’s first concrete vessel designed to carry oil, the Socony, left its shipyard at Flushing Bay, New York. Built for the Standard Oil Company of New York, the barge was 98-feet long with a 32-foot beam and carried oil in six center and two wing compartments, “oil-proofed by a special process,” according to Cement and Engineering News…MORE
Construction began in August 1942 on two petroleum pipelines that would prove vital during World War II. The “Big Inch” and the “Little Big Inch” lines were part of “the most amazing government-industry cooperation ever achieved.” Map courtesy Texas Eastern Transmission Corp.
World War II brings “Big Inch” and “Little Big Inch” Pipelines
Conceived to supply wartime fuel demand and in response to U-boat attacks on oil tankers along the eastern seaboard and Gulf of Mexico, War Emergency Pipelines Inc. began construction on the “Big Inch” pipeline on August 3, 1942. The $95 million project laid a 1,254-mile, 24-inch pipeline (Big Inch) from East Texas oilfields to Illinois. An accompanying 20-inch-wide line (Little Big Inch) carried gasoline, heating oil, diesel oil, and kerosene as far as New Jersey. The final weld on the Big Inch was made in July 1943, just 350 days after construction began. Learn more in Big Inch Pipelines of WW II.
Energy Education
Bertha Benz makes World’s First Auto Road Trip
Thirty-nine-year-old Bertha Benz made history when she became the first person to make a long-distance trip by automobile. Her August 12, 1888, excursion also included, “the first road repairs, the first automotive marketing stunt, the first case of a wife borrowing her husband’s car without asking, and the first violation of intercity highway laws in a motor vehicle,” proclaimed Wired magazine in 2012. Learn more in First Car, First Road Trip.
Discovery of Oklahoma’s “Poor Man’s Field”
The Crystal Oil Company on August 4, 1913, completed its Wirt Franklin No. 1 well 20 miles northwest of Ardmore, Oklahoma. The well revealed the giant Healdton oilfield, which became known as the “poor man’s field,” because of its shallow depth and low cost of drilling. The area attracted independent producers with limited financial backing. Erle P. Halliburton perfected his method of cementing oil wells in the Healdton field. Learn more in Halliburton and the Healdton Oilfield.
Permian Basin inspires “Alley Oop” Comic Strip
The comic strip “Alley Oop” first appeared on August 7, 1933, but the cartoon caveman began earlier in the imagination of a young cartographer working for a West Texas oil company. The town of Iraan would later proclaim its oilfield as the inspiration for cartoonist Victor Hamlin’s popular prehistoric character. Learn more in Alley Oop’s Oil Roots.
Thanks again for subscribing to the American Oil & Gas Historical Society’s monthly email newsletter. And special thanks to our new and renewing supporting members, who understand lessons of the past are relevant to modern energy challenges. With your continued support of AOGHS, there is much to look forward to.
“Any survey of the natural resources used as sources of energy must include a discussion about the importance of oil, the lifeblood of all industrialized nations.” — Daniel Yergin, bestselling author and winner of the Pulitzer Prize
Milestones of American Petroleum History (in progress)
Although early pioneers who drilled brine wells sometimes found oil instead, the U.S. petroleum industry began with an 1859Pennsylvania well drilled specifically for oil for refining into kerosene lamp fuel. This oil and natural gas history chronology is a limited sample of the industry’s milestones — exploration, production, technologies, products, transportation,etc.
The petroleum industry history timeline is part of an on-going project of the American Oil & Gas historical Society (you are invited to join the research effort). Importantly, America’s fossil fuel history provides a context for understanding modern energy challenges. Comments, suggestions — and additions — are welcomed.
The U.S. petroleum industry began on August 27, 1859, with a Pennsylvania well drilled specifically for oil.
“Any survey of the natural resources used as sources of energy must include a discussion about the importance of oil, the lifeblood of all industrialized nations.” — Daniel Yergin, bestselling author and winner of the Pulitzer Prize.
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1817 America’s first public street lamp (fueled by manufactured gas) lit in Baltimore, Maryland. Illuminating gaslight brought dazzling “gems of light” to Rembrandt Peale’s art museum.
1821 First U.S. natural gas well dug near Fredonia, New York.
Citation Information – Article Title: “Milestones of American Petroleum History.” Authors: B.A. Wells and K.L. Wells. Website Name: American Oil & Gas Historical Society. URL: https://aoghs.org/oil-almanac/oil-riches-of-merriman-baptist-church. Last Updated: June 6, 2021. Original Published Date: October 15, 2019.
The American Oil & Gas Historical Society (AOGHS) website is designed to help researchers, journalists, teachers, and students learn more about U.S. petroleum history. When contacted about oilfield family heirlooms, AOGHS also has located suitable museum collections for preserving the histories (see Adding Family Petroleum Heritage to Museum Collections).
There are many more stories and research requests meeting to be shared. AOGHS now adds posts to create simple, comment-forums for site visitors to exchange information. If your have ideas or suggestions for this post, please comment below.
Using Cypress Swamp Tree Stumps…
January 2020
I am a graduate student at the Architectural Association in London working on a project that looks at the potential use of tree stumps as structural foundations. While researching I found the following extract from an article on The Petroleum Industry of the Gulf Coast Salt Dome Area in the early 20th century:
“In the dense tangle of the cypress swamp, the crew have to carry their equipment and cut a trail as they go. Often they use a tree stump as solid support on which they set up their instruments”
I have been struggling to find any photos or drawings of how this system would have worked (ie how the instruments were supported by the stump) I was wondering if you might know where I could find any more information? I would greatly appreciate your help!
Welcome to the American Oil & Gas Historical Society’s website visitor’s Q&A page for those seeking information about everything from oilfield equipment to service station collectibles.
In addition to the AOGHS Petroleum History Forum for research links for artifact information sharing, AOGHS offers this informal Q&A forum for describing your petroleum artifacts.
There also are pages devoted to finding a museum to preserve family petroleum-related heirlooms (Oil & Gas Families), and for sharing information about old oil stock certificates (appropriately titled, Is my Oil Oil Stock worth Anything?).
If your are not researching an artifact but simply seek a commercial value, it’s better to use eBay. Use this new comment section below to share your information (more details, the better) and visit again to see if others might have commented.
