Misplaced Pages

Tensor lamp

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
Tensor lamp
Tensor high intensity lamp prototype (ca 1959, Brass, steel, copper, plastic, glass). Kept at the Brooklyn Museum. Gift of Jay Monroe
Product typeSmall high-intensity low-voltage desk lamp
Produced byTensor Corporation
CountryUnited States
Introduced1960; 64 years ago (1960)
Discontinuedc. 1980; 44 years ago (1980)
MarketsUnited States

A Tensor lamp is a trademarked brand of small high-intensity low-voltage desk lamp invented by Jay Monroe. The lamp was mainly popular during the 1960s and 1970s. The lamp was originally used by doctors and dentists, and later became more widely used. The first prototype was created in 1959, and the lamp was commercialized in 1960 by the Tensor Corporation.

History

The first Tensor lamp consisted of a 12-volt automobile parking light bulb and a reflector made from a kitchen measuring cup. Monroe fixed the cup to a metal tube that was attached to a transformer, which reduced 115-volt house current to 12 volts. Because of the small bulb, the entire lamp could be made smaller with a light-directing shade. Monroe was issued a patent for his invention.

By 1963, the lamp was sold to the general public as a decorative desk lamp for home and office, and several other manufacturers soon entered the field. Its main competitors during the 1960s were the similar-looking Lampette brand of lamps manufactured by Koch Creations, the Mobilette, a series of Italian designed lamps sold by Stiffel, and Lytegem lamp designed by Michael Lax and manufactured by Lightolier.

See also

References

  1. ^ Reif, Rita (March 21, 1964). "Interest in Tiny Lamp Rises". The New York Times. p. 17. ProQuest 115722599. Retrieved July 6, 2018.
  2. "Tensor lamp inventor dies". United Press International. July 5, 2007. Retrieved July 6, 2018.
  3. Ingersoll, John H. (January 1965). "Big Light in a Little Package". Popular Science. Vol. 151, no. 1. Bonnier Corporation. p. 151. ISSN 0161-7370 – via Google Books.
  4. "Those little high-intensity lamps". Kiplinger's Personal Finance. Vol. 19, no. 6. Kiplinger Washington Editors. June 1965. pp. 35–36. ISSN 1528-9729 – via Google Books.
  5. ^ Martin, Douglas (July 2, 2007). "Jay Monroe, 80, Engineer Who Invented Tensor Lamp, Dies". The New York Times. Retrieved July 6, 2018.
  6. US patent 3133703, Monroe, Jay, "Desk lamp structure", issued 1964 
  7. "Lampette Reading Lamp (model E6)". Museum of Modern Art.
  8. Hall, Peter Alec (July 29, 1999). "Michael Lax: His kettle, lamp and cookware were design icons of the 60s". The Guardian.
Categories: