Lutron Donates Collection to Smithsonian
Lutron Capri
The trove includes the original “dimming device” that launched a lighting-control revolution.
Laura Fisher Kaiser — Interior Design, 5/7/2010 12:00:00 AMFew inventors can say they revolutionized interior lighting, cut energy consumption, and made people look and feel sexier—all with a single device.
Joel Spira can.
He’s the inventor and developer of the dimmer switch—the iconic gold knob that has graced countless dining room walls since the 1960’s. In a special ceremony on April 29, the chairman and founder of Pennsylvania-based Lutron Electronics donated a trove of materials related to the company’s 50-year history to the electricity collections of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington, DC.
Appropriately, the chandeliers were dimmed in a private reception suite of the museum as the 83-year-old Spira officially signed the deed of donation. Spira then recounted how he got his start designing missile control switches during World War II. He turned the guest bedroom of his apartment in New York into a workshop, and by 1961 he’d perfected the dimming prototype. Until then, such devices were clunky and mechanical; Spira’s was electronic, reliable, and could fit inside a wall box. More..
