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When the Public Service Company was orâ€" ganized in 1911, it recognized the superiority of Mazda lampsâ€"recommended that customâ€" ers use them exclusively. Many homes, howâ€" ever, coi..inued to buy the cheaper foreignâ€" were saved at the time lamps were purchased, less light was received for current consumed. Rival lamps, of course, appeared on the market. Most of them were of the carbon type with low efficiency. Many of them came from foreign countries where cheap labor cut manunfactnringa (nste And urhilaa Fan: manniaa Improvements were made.Thecottonâ€"thread filament became a bamboo carbon filament. Then the carbon filament became a tungsten wire. The vacuum bulb became a gasâ€"filled bulb, And the glass was "frosted" inside. Each change brought longer life, better light. The perfected lamps gave four times as much light as the original carbon lamp. "Mazda" became their tradeâ€"mark: ¢ The critics were wrong. Early the next year a lighting system using 115 of the new incanâ€" descent lamps was successfully installed on a large steamship. Soon wealthy homes began to supplement gas mantles with electric lights. HIDDEN AWAY on the inside pages of L A Chicago newspapers in the fall of 1879 were brief announcements of a new invention by Thomas Edison. By closing an electric switch he had caused a loop of carbonized thread to glow for 40 hours in a vacuum. He had created the incandescent lamp! Friends predicted that his invention would make it practical to light homes electrically. Critics ridiculed the ideaâ€"forecast failure. BETTEKR LAMPS : ; BETTER LIGHT This 1s the eighth of a series of stories chronicling the development of the Public Service Company of Northern lilinois and the service it is bringing to the area into which Chicago is growing. Copres of prevrous chapters will be mailed you if you will write to the Company, 72 West Adams Street, Chiuago PuBLIC SERvicE ComrpaAny P R P V A T c 1 N OF NORTHERN ILLINOIS Cbepter VIII T 11E its obligation to residents of northern I‘iin0is as extending beyond the running of rcliable service to the customer‘s premises.: It coâ€"opâ€" erates with him, showing him how to make the best use of the service he receives. : It was this idea that inspired the Company‘s liberal lamp policy. It is constantly behind the Company‘s efforts to put superior lamps and appliances into every customer‘s home. When customers make lamp selections, the Company‘s representative asks about the fixâ€" tures for which they are intendéd â€"suggests the proper lamp to burn. And new tamp styles are demonstrated so customers may always light their homes in the most upâ€"toâ€"date way. To assure uniform qual:ty, a sampligg of all lamps the GCompany purchases from manufacâ€" turers is submitted to the Electrical Testing Laboratories in New York City. This indeâ€" pendent organization puts the lamps through careful performance tests. If they fall below prescribed standards, they are rejected.â€" Something had to be done. A solution was found in 1925. The Company made it easier to obtain highâ€"qualizy lamps than lowâ€"grade lamps. It introduced a policy of "loaning" 60â€" and 100â€"watt Mazda lamps to customers without chargeâ€"of replacing them with new lamps when they burned out. It began to exchange other sizes of lamps at concesâ€" ferior lamps. Lamp exchange counters were set up in all Public Service Sto:es. Lamp agencies were established in dozens of communities. made lamps even though they were often O F _ N O R T H 5 R L â€"â€" C A P b T A L PE LL Jâ€" N O . }