Subject: Re: UL Approval: Revisited

From: Cynthia Hull <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 10 Jul 1996 15:27:53 -0500 (CDT)

What if you just put a sort of disclaimer on the lamp such as "impower in at
your own risk"..., "since this object was not sold while connected to an
electrical outlet, the manufacturer accepts no responsibility resulting in
such a connection"... "object sold as is without warrentee, guarantee, or
liability"..."purchase of this object places all lability of any intended
usage upon purchaser"...   etc.?
  
Wiring a lamp is so elementry and if you are using UL approved parts the
possibility of something malfunctioning would be with the part and rare.
Are we just bowing under the percieved power of the !!!LAWYERS!!!!?  You can
have lawyers too ya know.  Fear is so imobilizing and here I see it
preventing creative production... same old story. 

Cynthia
TX

At 04:29 PM 7/7/96 +0000, you wrote:
>I called Underwriters Laboratory in Northbrook, IL just the other day. 
> I decided to pursue the concept of getting UL approval for a "one 
>of" lamp etc., as made by an artist/blacksmith.
>
>Quite a shock.
>
>There are two ways you -could- do it.  One is a field test, wherein 
>UL comes out and looks the piece over, inspects it, etc..  Minimum 
>cost?    $1500   (ouch..........)
>
>The second option is to "open a folder" of test exempt pieces.  You 
>would make a few lamps, using UL approved parts.  Submit them for 
>inspection, making certain to state that you do not want them 
>destroyed.  After inspecting the product, and then inspecting the 
>manufacturing facility and methods, you "could" get UL approval.  You 
>could then slap the UL label on items made in a similar fashion but 
>differing cosmetically.  In otherwords, same wire, hardware, etc..,  
>Minimum cost?  $800   The cost would probably be considerably more 
>for our application, however. 
>
>In my opinion, you would have to make A LOT of lamps before you could 
>recoup an invest of approx  $1000.  You would also be pigeon holed 
>into making a certain "kind" of lamp or product.  Even small 
>differences in mechanical design could require recertification.
>
>I wounder if its possible to state on the tag or label, "Made from 
>100% UL approved hardware, final assembly carries no warrentee or 
>guarentee"
>
>Do you think the lawyers would wet themselves when they see that?
>
>  
>=================================================
>Franklyn D. Garland                         
>The Celtic Knot Forge                       
>[email-masked]                                 
>http://www.mcs.net/~frnklyn/homepage/
>For Public PGP key, finger [email-masked]
>=================================================
>

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From: Jim McCarty <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 11 Jul 1996 09:42:57 -0500

> preventing creative production... same old story.

While I agree that we should not cave in to unscrupulous lawyers and 
greedy clients, the possibility of hurting someone with a forged and 
wired lighting fixture is very real. My biggest fear would be in 
having something sharp come into contact with the wiring, causing a 
short and either shocking someone or starting a fire. That's why it is 
so important to ground the fixture, put rubber grommets wherever the 
wire comes through a hole and tie underwriters knots wherever possible 
to keep the wires from pulling loose.
-- 
Jim McCarty
Father Helias Forge
Taos, MO
Editor Rural Missouri Magazine
Newsletter editor, Blacksmiths Association of Missouri

³Foolish consistencies are the hobgoblins of little minds³