Christmas Bubble Lights

A bubble light is a decorative device consisting of a liquid-filled vial that is heated and lighted by an incandescent light bulb. Because of the liquid's low boiling point, the modest heat generated by the lamp causes the liquid to boil and bubble up from the vial's base thus creating the bubble light. The light is almost always methylene chloride, but some early bubble lights used a lightweight oil. The light from the lamp illuminates the bubbles from underneath, causing them to shine. As Christmas lights, bubble lights were very popular during the 1950s through and including the 1970s, before miniature "fairy" lights became popular.

Bubble lights were being manufactured by the Telsen Electric Co.(1935) Ltd, in Manchester, England, possibly as early as the late 1920s. Bubble lights for Christmas decoration were patented in the United States by Carl W. Otis in 1944 and introduced to the US in 1946 by Noma, one of the largest American manufacturers of Christmas lights. While Noma was the largest company to make these lights, other manufacturers included Raylite (Paramount/Sterling), Royal Electric Company, and Good Lite/Peerless.


I had a large box of these lights that have been in the family since the 1950's, and I dropped them off today at an antique shop.  I'm hoping someone who collects these lights will add them to a large and impressive collection.