Edison and Swan Electric Light Company Edison and Swan Electric Light Company The Edison and Swan Electric Light Company Limited was a manufacturer of incandescent lamp bulbs and other electrical goods. It was formed in 1883 with the name Edison & Swan United Electric Light Company with the merger of the Swan United Electric Company and the Edison Electric Light Company. Thomas Edison established the Edison Electric Light Company in 1878. Joseph Swan established the Swan United Electric Light Company in 1881. In 1882 the American Edison Company of Thomas Edison sued Swan, claiming infringement of Edison's U.S. patent of 1879; however, they never made it
Edison screw screws were the only standard connector, and appliances other than light bulbs were connected to AC power via lamp sockets. Today Edison screw sockets comply with international standards. Early US incandescent lamp manufacturers used several different and incompatible bases. The Thomson-Houston Electric Company used a threaded stud at the bottom of the socket, and a flat contact ring. The Sawyer-Mann or Westinghouse base used a spring clip acting on grooves in the bulb base, and a contact stud at the bottom of the lamp. By about 1908, the Edison base was most common in the US, with the others falling