What is the oldest code book ever written in the USA, or elsewhere?
Electricity was not widely used enough before the 1890s to warrant any kind of interest in making a standard. Unless you were wealthy (think mansion+estate) or a special company or an experimenter/scientist, electricity was an alien thing to you. For many, it was in the category of "black magic" and "witchcraft"... however archaic that may seem.
You may recount descriptions of Edison's "displays" in the 1880's. He strung up a handful of dim, hot lightbulbs around the boardinghouse and it was a public spectacle that literally drew CROWDS. That's just how unknown electricity was in those times.