How table lamps are made
The screw base on a lamp socket began as the lid of a kerosene can that Thomas Edison sawed off in 1880.
- stations
- 7
- things upstream
- 66
- raw sources
- 24
- steps from the ground
- 7
The short version
A table lamp is a heavy base, a hollow rod that carries the cord up to a socket, and a shade. Bases are fired ceramic, cast metal, glass or turned wood. The cord is threaded through the rod and screwed to the socket terminals, with the bulb's screw thread wired to neutral. A switch and a frame for the shade go on before the lamp is tested.
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Shape a heavy base
A ceramic base is molded, dried and fired in a kiln like any other pot. It needs enough weight to keep the lamp upright and a channel through the middle for the cord.
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Fit the center rod
A hollow threaded tube runs up through the base and is locked with nuts. It is the spine of the lamp and the protected path for the cord.
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Form the socket shell
Thin metal is pressed into a threaded shell that grips the bulb's base. North America uses the E26 size and Europe uses E27, the number being the thread diameter in millimeters.
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Wire the socket
The cord is fed up the rod and its two conductors are fastened to the socket terminals. The screw thread is connected to neutral, so the part of the socket a finger is likely to touch is not the live side.
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Add the switch
A switch is built into the socket or spliced into the cord. A wire frame for the shade is clamped above the socket.
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Make the shade
Fabric or paper is wrapped and fixed around wire rings in a drum, empire, bell or coolie shape. Some shades get an opaque lining that pushes light out through the top and bottom.
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Test the circuit
Each lamp is checked for a sound circuit and correct wiring before the shade is packed beside it.
Worth repeating
- In lighting jargon the bulb is the lamp, and the thing on your table is a luminaire.
- The E in E26 stands for Edison.
- Edison patented his screw base in 1881, and by about 1908 it had beaten rival designs to become the most common in the US.
Back to the ground
Follow every input upstream and table lamp starts as these 24 raw sources.
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Sources
These sources say little about the factory steps themselves, so parts of this line are a general description. Treat the details with care, and tell us if you know better.
Cite this page: "How table lamps are made." Assembly Line, 2026-11-03. https://assemblyline.org/make/table-lamp