Here is an exceptional "functional" Brush-Swan Incandescent Lamp more than a century old. It is an excellent example of the inventive work of Charles Francis Brush and Sir Joseph Wilson Swan. - - - Charles Brush, award winning American Scientist and Inventor, was the first man to demonstrate how electric power could be put to practical use (1876), was awarded the Rumford Medal (1899) and the Edison Medal (1913). Joseph Swan, the English Inventor, Chemist and Electrician, working independently of Edison, simultaneously invented the "Carbon Filament Incandescent Lamp (1879), and for his great work, the British Monarch bestowed upon him the title of "Sir." Sir Joseph Swan and his brother Alfred had a significant impact on the development of electric lighting in their native England, and throughout Europe. Swan's lamps are recognized most by the famous "opposing side-pin" Swan lamp base, for which his brother Alfred was the inventor (see British Patent No. 9,185, June 19, 1884; U.S. Patent No. 313,965, Mar 17, 1885; and associated Patents of France, Belgium, Italy and Austria). The original Swan side pin twist-lock lamp base and socket evolved into what is now regarded as the "bayonet" base and socket, a standard for lighting in that part of the world. This Swan family influence is also world wide among auto makers through the universal adoption of this original mechanical arrangement. Compared to the Edison screw base, the Swan twist-lock arrangement was better suited for securing lamps in vehicles where vibration was a factor. For a century, Swan bayonet base lamps have been used in nearly every tail light and parking light of every car and every truck in the world. Charles Brush began his electrical career in America at the famous "Telegraph Supply Company" and after convincing his superiors of the importance of electric lighting over telegraph, he became a major influence in the early electric arc lighting industry. Eventually Brush's electrical work became so influential that he took over leadership of T.S.C. which was renamed the Brush Electric Company. With the advent of incandescent lighting, Brush turned his industrial attention away from arc lighting and toward the newer, promising incandescent light. At first Brush Electric had little success with their acquired rights to the Lane-Fox incandescent lamp patents, as a result, Charles focused his attention on the Swan lamp filament which Joseph Swan had diligently perfected. The new Brush-Swan effort proved worthy and found great success. In 1889, the great Brush Electric lighting enterprise merged with the Thomson Houston Electric Company, and eventually contributed to the formation of the General Electric Company (1892). Today, to truly understand and appreciate the enormous effort applied to electricity and incandescent lighting as a result of the focus of these great industrial lords and inventors, one need only look at a striking statistic presented by the National Electric Light Association in 1889, (quote) "The aggregate capital now actually invested in electrical industries, principally electric lighting, (electric) railway and power distribution, is estimated by the same authority, as not less than $275,000,000 (United States)." May I emphasize this was the year 1889. - - - This beautiful Brush-Swan Lamp is for domestic lighting and is outfitted with a fantastic example of the Brush-Swan early bayonet brass base. This lamp base is plaster secured, it has crystal clear glass, is 5.0 inches long with a 2.5 inch diameter glass globe and platinum lead-in wires employing single welds in the stem press. This lamp is another extremely fine vintage piece of early lighting history. (Research references for historical facts and line drawings: "The Electric Lamp Industry" by Arthur A. Bright, Jr., 1949, New York; "Evolution of the Electric Incandescent Lamp" by Franklin L. Pope, 1889, New Jersey; "The Elements of Electric Lighting" by Philip Atkinson, 1888, New York; "Electricity In Theory And Practice" by Bradley A. Fiske, 1883, New York; Research collaboration by Dr. J. T. Davis, Edward J. Covington & D.C. Brackett 1998©).