Royal Electric Company, Manufacturer of Royalite

Royalite Light Set

Royalite Light Set

Royalite Hard Plastic Santa

Royalite Hard Plastic Santa

 

The Royal Company is still in business today, although they are not making Christmas lighting or decorations anymore. Once NOMA’s largest competitor in the bubble light market along with Paramount, the NOMA Electric Company actually ended up purchasing Royal’s old stock when they went out of the Christmas lighting business. A devastating fire broke out in 1955, which totally wiped out the Royal factories that manufactured their Christmas products. Residents of Pawtucket, Rhode Island where the factory was located, reported that for months afterward pieces and parts of Christmas lighting products washed up on the shore of the Blackstone River. Not all of Royal’s factories were destroyed in the huge blaze-just the Christmas products buildings.  Royal decided not to rebuild the factory, and sold all of their remaining stock first to NOMA and then to Miller Electric. The well known Royal Santa and Snowman were sold by NOMA well into the 1960s, indistinguishable from their earlier Royal incarnation. To the left is a picture of a NOMA made set offered in Royal brand packaging. These NOMA/Royal items are easily identified by the address on the package-Saint Joseph, Missouri, the location of the NOMA production facilities at the time. The stock lasted through the mid 1960s for both Miller and NOMA. Miller boxes of this era show pictures of Royal products as well. It can be quite confusing until you realize that most of the stock was originally Royal-produced merchandise. It is also interesting to note that, unlike most of the other major manufacturers, when they were in the Christmas decoration business Royal produced all of their own products and materials, including packaging, purchasing only light bulbs from an outside source (General Electric).

Source:  Bill’s Antique Christmas Lights

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15 Responses to Royal Electric Company, Manufacturer of Royalite

  1. Doris Sater says:

    Hi,
    I have been trying to determine what types of light bulbs that were used in the 1940s bubble lights. Of all the research I have done and people I have talked to, no one has any clear answer to the question. The base is an E10, the bulb may be a C-6?, I think the voltage is between 14-15 volts. The wattage I have no idea??? Someone auctioned some bubble light replacements that were labeled GE640. I can find no record of a GE640 bulb. I need to know the bulb number and/or the replacement bulb number. I would appreciate any help I could get.
    Regards
    Gary

    • gmastree says:

      I’d go to Lionsdenstar ( http://myworld.ebay.com/lionsdenstar&ssPageName=STRK:MEFSX:SELLERID) on eBay. Most of the folks who restore these items use the replacement bulbs that he sells. They’re a modern version, but apparently work fine. He’s knowledgeable and can probably answer your question.

      • Dave Lowry says:

        Lionsden sell good stuff, which works well. Only thing to be careful about is not mixing old with new bulbs in series light sets (C6) as the resistance may be slightly different and may tax the older bulbs.

    • Dave Lowry says:

      Note: C6 is a designator for the light bulb shape and size. The C stands for “cone” (which many Christmas lights were) and the 6 is the size in 1/8th inches or 6/8ths of an inch, thus a 3/4″ wide bulb. Many people mistakenly apply the “C” designator to different bulb shapes with the miniature screw base.
      The bubble lights typically used more of a tube shaped lamp with a flat top for best surface area contact. The tubular bulb would then have a designator of “T” or T6 (or more likely a T5 or T4 for fit purposes).
      As mentioned elsewhere, your best bet would be to go to Lionsden on Ebay for a product specifically manufactured as a Christmas bulb replacement these days. Lots of incandescent bulbs formerly manufactured are now gone forever as they are no longer in demand.

  2. Dave Lowry says:

    While GE may have been the major supplier for Royalite Christmas light bulbs, Royalite sold a product which used globular fluorescent lamps. The lamp appeared white (as do most fluorescent lamps) but appeared a soft pastel color when illuminated. This was an exclusive product of Sylvania who developed superior rare earth phosphors (red, blue, green) which gave off many rainbow colors when mixed and illuminated. The bulbs were manufactured in Montoursville, PA. These sets were fairly pricey but lasted a long time and in fact are still a prized item among Christmas light collectors, as witness by the high bid prices found on Ebay.
    Sylvania was also a world leader in colored television picture tubes using those rare earth phosphors. Many television set manufacturers in the 60’s boasted having a Sylvania picture tube.

    • Marty Stredwick says:

      Is there any modern day bulbs that can be used in the Royal fluorescent sets? I am looking to be able to replace the bulbs if need be. My mon’s set has been tucked away in a trunk for years and I loved the soft colors. She quit using them due to their age and not being able to get replacement bulbs. I was hoping to find something that would replicate the colors. Thank-you.

  3. Elaine Gascon says:

    I am the proud caretaker of a string of seven globular fluorescent Christmas tree lights. They were purchased in 1943 as the only lights on my parents’ tree. They are in the original box with the purchase price of $5.95 written in pencil on the inside lid of the box. Over the years, a few of the bulbs have blown, but, since they were my favorite decoration as a child, my parents gave them to me. They were always the first thing on the tree.

  4. chris vigue says:

    I have a spool of wire with royal.electric graphics on both sides and it is dated october 1955 was wondering if anyone knew if it was worth anything

  5. Gene says:

    I have 16 Christmas Electric Candles, most often put on a window sill for the Christmas
    Holidays. 14 of them have the original boxes, saying “another Miller product”.
    Box top says catalog no. 610. Miller Electric Company, Pawtucket, Rhode Island.
    They all work and are in excellent condition.
    Is this Miller Electric Company the same one that manufactured these lights?

  6. Paul Rentz says:

    Mine is from at least 1949, my first Christmas-
    https://www.flickr.com/photos/rushhourphoto/16186010106/sizes/o/

  7. joyce hatfield says:

    the body of my comment didn’t post,,,I am looking for a little Christmas house made in the 50s or more than likely 60s by Royalite. It has a white angled roof and glass front…Santa is sitting in a chair and there is a Christmas tree in the house too that goes over one Christmas light bulb. Do you know where I can get one of these? I have photo but was unable to put it in this comment box

  8. Bernice Aviza says:

    I own a Royal musical illuminated nativity scene. The back of the scene says Catalog #900. This belonged to my great aunt and uncle.

  9. Maureen Clark says:

    I own two Christmas candles that used to belong to my Mother -in Law. There are seven candles on the stand and there used to be halos that clipped around some of the taller candles. The original boxes call them Royal Halo-Lites and the catalog # was #3150m. The candles themselves are still used very year but I’d love to find the halos if possible.

    • gmastree says:

      I’d love to see a photo of these. You might google the name and see if there are any to be found on the web. I find the images searches to be helpful sometimes as people list items without knowing the name or catalog numbers.

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