“I beg to say that the system of Electric Lighting of the Edison Electric Light Company is absolutely free from any possible danger from fire, even in connection with the most inflammable material.”
Thomas A. Edison, in a letter to the New York Board of Fire Underwriters, May 6,1881. By the end of that year there were at least 23 electrical fires in New England.
The very first standard for “Electric Light Wires, Lamps, etc.” in the United States was written by the New York Board of Fire Underwriters in 1881. It had five simple rules for installers: (1) use wires with 50% more ampacity than the connected load; (2) use wires that are “insulated and doubly coated with some approved material;” (3) fasten the ...
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