History of General Electric Artificial Christmas Trees

You could say that General Electric was the father of the artificial element of the Christmas tree, as GE was the firm that introduced artificial Christmas tree lights. This was long before the pre-lit pre-cut artificial Christmas tree was even thought of. The GE artificial Christmas tree was to come much later, as well as Hudson Valley artificial Christmas trees.

The first lighted Christmas trees used candles for lighting, although these were found to be fire hazards and could never be unattended. Candle wax was quite expensive, however, and soon someone came up with an idea to make lamps from halves of nutshells that they then filled with a wick and some oil. To make these lamps more festive and decorative they were made from a multitude of glass colors. This newest candleholder was referred to as a counterbalance holder.

It was made with a weight that adhered to the holder bottom and this kept the candles upright on the tree. Even with these improvements, before General Electric stepped in with its electrical ideas and artificial Christmas tree, these candle-decorated trees were still continual fire hazards.

In 1882, When Thomas Edison started wrapping the newly invented electric light bulb in varied color crape, people began to string these colored lights on their Christmas trees.

Miniature Christmas lights came into being long before the pre-lit General Electric artificial Christmas tree. These tiny light bulbs in various colors were introduced by Ralph Morris in 1895. When GE introduced their lights for Christmas trees they were an immediate success. It wasn't much later, towards the end of the 18th century, the first artificial Christmas tree came into being. These General Electric creations were eventually followed by pre lit pre cut artificial xmas trees. These artificial trees were easy to assemble and much more convenient than real Christmas trees.

Site Menu

Sponsors