The History of The Knight Light Co

Hi Guys,

From a USA 1916 ad


Other than gaining 50 CP the specs are identical. It looks like the same artwork too.

Dan

 

Dan,

Well, that throws a spanner in the works.

 

Another similarity between Knight Light and Gloria.
Gloria torch light generators were a finger tighten round nut. I'm thinking that the Gloria match light generator had a hex nut to tighten down a tapered fitting. I'd like to see a closeup of this match light generator fitting from either company.

Interestingly enough, my Gloria lantern has the ability to accept either generator. My Gloria lamp can only accept the torch light version.

Lantern with typical Gloria torch light generator.



Picture showing the two in one generator fitting.



I've heard it mentioned that Sunshine Safety bought Gloria circa 1922, and then SS was bought by Coleman in 1923. I'm not sure how this would have affected Gloria in Australia as the brand seems to have continued over there. What was the state of Gloria in the USA during the later 20s and early 30s?

Dan

 

Dan,

The first photo is of my Australian made Gloria hollow wire light. It has the hex.



The difference between it and my Knight Light hollow wire light (2nd photo) of the same period, apart from the hex, is the thickness of the tapered thread.





You cannot swap the Knight Light generator for the Gloria, though the lights look much the same.


The third photo is of my American Gloria model No 33 hollow wire. The generator looks more like the Knight Light one with the round nut and thicker thread.

Still, it can't be interchanged with the Knight Light as it's longer and thicker overall.

 

SS never bought out Gloria. The company was owned by the Doran family up to their last recorded annual report to the state of Illinois 29 Feb 1932.
The company must have been wound up soon after this because on 18 October 1932 the Cook County Sherrif could not serve a warrant for outstanding taxes and penalties of $14.38 to the company because "The within corporation not found and no property of the within named corporation found in my county on which to levy this warrant therefore return the same, no property found and no part satisfied this 13th day of January 1933"

SS did sell Gloria product from 1916 to 1923 but only as a rebranding retailer. ::Neil::

 

Gloria Australia survived until 1938/39 manufacturing lights/lamps as we know them for.

The company lasted until the the 50's when it was wound up.

By then it was just a shell, a front for Chandler's (Parent Company) electric appliances.

 

Dan,

Here is a generator that Knight Light offered as an optional extra at a cost.

I can't remember if I've ever seen on on a lamp.

 

Just for record. America legal documents indicate that Knight was a distributor for Gloria, but Gloria had ads out indicating exclusive territories. Stipulations in this were that you could carry the Gloria Light Co name on your store/distribution center in your area ONLY if all products sold were made by Gloria it did not matter what the product. Several distributors in other states did not maintain sole distributorship in their territories and had to change the name of their companies (if I recall correctly one of them was in NY somewhere ) due to not following these guidelines. Knight was one of the legal documents I came across due to their own manufacturing of soda fountains and other products. I also saw a document that Knight would buy from Gloria and changed their generators to a beefier version that they came up with. I never thought to save these documents. Knight worked closely with and was a distributor for Gloria. I suspect that their closeness did indeed mean that they were exchanging and making parts for each other at some point, but each had their own lamps and designs and even made lamps and lanterns for other companies as well as supplied parts for other companies. They both moved from Chicago to Australia at the same time and were in the same building. While Knight seems to be the main contracting company in Australia for the street lights I suspect Gloria had their involvement in that or they would have probably stayed in Chicago. Someone told me that Australia required them to have headquarters in Australia. This may have been some Government law for Government contracts. Take into consideration that America was also on the forefront of Electricity and electric lamps and the demise of gas lamps in the U.S. it seems it would have been prudent to go overseas to save your business. Coleman seems to have taken over in the U.S. with sales, but I find the quality seems better for Gloria and Knight. Not sure if Coleman sold cheaper, or just better advertisement.

 

Wonderful extra information on this Australian related story. Thanks for sharing it @Gloria

 

I believe there may also have been a split in divisions of the Knight Light and Soda Fountain Co. possibly between relatives. 1 running the lamp division 1 the soda fountain division as the Soda Fountains were still being made in the U.S. into the 1950's

 

That’s very good information, @Gloria.

The US Gloria/Knight links (as well as other Chicago-based companies) have always seemed deeply entwined — almost like a cartel arrangement, but difficult to describe without access to source documents.

Here in Australia, Gloria was established as an Australian company, and you find Gloria and Knight products advertised together by re-sellers, especially in rural publications.

Coincidentally, yesterday @Anthony and I were discussing Collins Brothers and their relationship with Gloria: we both independently rediscovered an advertisement from 1935, which I now realise was posted by both Matty and David Shouksmith above.

At that time, Gloria in Australia was manufacturing in Melbourne, but also had Gloria House in Sydney (which hosted a few different businesses as well as Gloria). Collins Bros appear to be service agents for Gloria (Australia). Later they marketed Collins Brothers Radiant lamps - which to my mind were probably made by Gloria, or with some Gloria plant.

Much of this is speculation as documentation is thin on the ground, but there’s more to be found out there to help fill in the story.

Cheers

Tony