Henry's Daily Factoids: THE MAGNIFICENT MOTION LAMP

One of the most glorious cultural icons which reached its zenith in the USA during the unparalleled era of peace and prosperity that was the later years of the Eisenhower presidency (although certain foreign countries and minority groups might have a different description for that time period) was the motion lamp. A motion lamp was a light bulb in the middle of a platform. Above the light bulb was a spike. A plastic cylinder (the"spinner") with vanes on it would be placed over the bulb and on the spike, and the heat of the bulb would cause the spinner to rotate. A larger translucent rigid cylinder containing both an inner and outer wall was then placed over the whole assembly (although in the very early models made in the 1930s, the inner and outer walls were separate pieces).

The spinner and the inner and outer walls of the rigid cylinder would be perforated, fluted, or painted in such a way that the rotating spinner would create an animated picture when viewed through the rigid cylinder, such as a stream with moving water flowing through a blazing forest fire with flickering flames, fish swimming in a tank, a burning barn, a boy urinating (really), a steam locomotive billowing smoke and passing through the countryside, etc. If you by now are hopelessly confused by this inartful description, just look at the pictures below.

A hardware or furniture store in the late 1950s would often have dozens of these lamps on display with their vibrant colors and different types of scenes in motion to create a glorious optical cornucopia--complemented with the sweet aromatic ecstasy of volatile compounds released from the overheated plastic cylinders. The lamps were frequently purchased to place on the top of TV consoles, which sixty years ago usually consisted of a large glass tube embedded in a massive wooden cabinet (I personally would not recommend attempting to put a motion lamp on a modern flat screen television).

Although a few of these entertaining illuminating inspirations were manufactured until relatively recent times, most were made prior to 1962. The use of too hot of a bulb would make their cylinders and spinners warped and brittle, and as a result, their attrition rate during the past half-century has been quite high. The lamps occasionally show up in antique stores (with stratospheric price tags), but to find one in decent shape and working condition is an extremely rare and wonderful event.

To see motion lamp action, click here.