By Ines Keane
Push the arm down. Let go. It stays. That small behaviour, a lamp holding any position you give it, is the whole reason a suspension engineer’s side project from the early 1930s is still on desks.
The idea
The Design Museum introduces the lamp as designed by the automotive engineer George Carwardine, who lived from 1887 to 1947 and specialised in vehicle suspension. It says his spring and lever mechanism, invented in 1932, lets the lamp “remain in position after being moved in every conceivable direction”. It describes the lamp as supported and balanced by springs, cams, levers and weights, with a heavy base for steadiness.
The Bath Magazine, a local publication, says Carwardine worked on suspension for a Bath firm that went bankrupt in 1929, which left him time to develop his ideas, and that he worked in a garden workshop in the city. It quotes his patent as describing a mechanism that counteracts “the pull of gravitation on a mass pivoted at a distance from its centre of gravity”. Wikipedia adds a detail of layout: the key feature of the design and patent is that all the springs, three or four, sit near the base.
Four springs, then three
Wikipedia says the original four-spring design was meant for workshops and surgeries, and a three-spring version for the home. It cites two patents: number 404,615, applied for on 4 July 1932, for the four-spring design, and number 433,617, dated 10 February 1934, for the three-spring version. The producer’s own timeline says the 1935 Model 1227 is “commonly recognised for its three-spring mechanism”. Wikipedia says the 1227 was released in 1935 and made mainly for domestic use, and that in 1939 it was advertised as the “ideal blackout lamp”.
Where the dates part
This is the part to read slowly.
The patent date. Wikipedia gives 4 July 1932 as the date of application. The Design Museum says he patented the design on 7 July 1932. The Bath Magazine says only that he applied in 1932. A patent can be applied for on one date and sealed on another, so these may not conflict, but no source says so. We are not choosing.
The first production model. The producer’s timeline says the four-spring Model 1208 entered volume production in 1933, and that the name was registered. The Design Museum says the first version, the 1208, was released by Herbert Terry and Sons in 1934. The Bath Magazine says the Model 1209 was in full production by 1933. So the model number is 1208 or 1209, and the year is 1933 or 1934. Wikipedia gives a date for the licence rather than the lamp: 22 February 1934, when Carwardine signed an agreement with the firm.
The first maker. Wikipedia says Carwardine first made the lamp himself in the workshops of his own company in Bath. The Bath Magazine names the company as Cardine Accessories.
The spring firm
Herbert Terry and Sons, of Redditch in Worcestershire, is described by the Design Museum as a spring maker and by the Bath Magazine as a firm known for precision springs. The producer’s timeline says Carwardine turned to the firm because demand outran what he could make. The Bath Magazine says he gave the firm exclusive rights, in exchange for a royalty. We leave the amount out.
The name
The Bath Magazine says Carwardine wanted to call it “Equipoise”, but that trademark was rejected because the name was already in use, so he combined angle and poise to coin “Anglepoise”. The Wikipedia text we read does not explain the name or say whether it is a trademark or a generic term. The producer’s timeline says that the name was registered. If you are buying, that matters: a lamp described as “an anglepoise” in a listing may or may not be one by that maker. This is our reading, not a statement from the sources.
Copies
Wikipedia says other companies copied the design, usually in a simplified form. The most common version uses two parallelogram linkages with a pair of light tension springs on each half of the arm, and some derivatives use a heavy balance weight instead of springs. No page we read tells you how to tell an original from a copy, so the question is for the seller: which maker, which model number, and what is marked on the base or arm.
What changed on the 1227
The producer’s timeline lists changes in 1938: the removal of small shade vents from older versions, and a two-step base. It has no entry for the 1940s and no patent numbers. Those details are the producer’s, which makes them a claim and not an independent record.
Dates in order
- 1887 to 1947: Carwardine’s lifetime, according to the Design Museum and Wikipedia.
- 1929: his employer goes bankrupt, according to the Bath Magazine.
- 1932: patent, on 4 or 7 July depending on source.
- 1933 or 1934: first production model, according to the producer and the Design Museum respectively.
- 22 February 1934: licence agreement, according to Wikipedia.
- 1935: Model 1227, according to Wikipedia and the producer.
- 1938: changes to the 1227, according to the producer.
- 1939: advertised as the “ideal blackout lamp”, according to Wikipedia.
What kind of sources these are
The Design Museum is a museum. The Bath Magazine is a local magazine and gave the most human detail. The producer’s timeline comes from the lamp’s current brand, so it is a company telling its own story. Wikipedia supplied the patent numbers and the clearest account of the mechanism, and flagged the gaps itself. We read no patent record and no archive of the spring firm.
Questions a buyer would ask
Which model number is it? Is the maker’s name on the base, the arm or a plate? Is the lamp original, a reissue or a copy in the same style? How many springs does it have, and where do they sit? We give no prices.
What we left out
We left out the claim in Wikipedia about where current production is based, because the sentence on it could not be matched by a second source. We left out later redesigns and models, because the timeline page we read lists them without dates we could check elsewhere. We also left out the royalty figure and every price.
Quick answers
Who invented the Anglepoise lamp? The automotive engineer George Carwardine, who patented his spring mechanism in 1932, according to the Design Museum and Wikipedia.
Who first made the Anglepoise lamp? Herbert Terry and Sons of Redditch made it under licence, according to the Design Museum and the Bath Magazine. Carwardine had made the first lamps himself, says Wikipedia.
Why does an Anglepoise stay put? According to the Design Museum, a system of springs, cams, levers and weights balances the arm, and Wikipedia says the springs sit near the base.
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