Neon sign

File:Neon light.jpg

The neon sign is an evolution of the earlier Geissler tube,{{Cite book |last=Dummer |first=G. W. A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PbYgBQAAQBAJ&dq=The+neon+sign+is+an+evolution+of+the+earlier+Geissler+tube&pg=PA59 |title=Electronic Inventions and Discoveries: Electronics from Its Earliest Beginnings to the Present Day |date=2013-10-22 |publisher=Elsevier |isbn=978-1-4831-4521-1 |pages=59 |language=en}} which is a sealed glass tube containing a "rarefied" gas (the gas pressure in the tube is well below atmospheric pressure). When a voltage is applied to electrodes inserted through the glass, an electrical glow discharge results. Geissler tubes were popular in the late 19th century,{{Cite book |last=Hirsh |first=Merle |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C1UmeQ_E0_AC&dq=Geissler+tubes+were+popular+in+the+late+19th+century&pg=PA3 |title=Gaseous Electronics |date=2012-12-02 |publisher=Elsevier |isbn=978-0-323-14095-9 |pages=3 |language=en}} and the different colors they emitted were characteristics of the gases within. They were unsuitable for general lighting, as the pressure of the gas inside typically declined with use. The direct predecessor of neon tube lighting was the Moore tube, which used nitrogen or carbon dioxide as the luminous gas and a patented mechanism for maintaining pressure. Moore tubes were sold for commercial lighting for a number of years in the early 1900s.{{Cite web |title=Lighting A Revolution: D. McFarlan Moore |url=https://americanhistory.si.edu/lighting/bios/moore.htm |access-date=2025-04-01 |website=americanhistory.si.edu}}{{cite journal |last=Claude |first=Georges |title=The Development of Neon Tubes |journal=The Engineering Magazine |date=November 1913 |pages=271–274 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=erpMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA271}}

The discovery of neon in 1898 by British scientists William Ramsay and Morris W. Travers{{Cite book |last=KWOK |first=Brian Sze-hang |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Fading_Neon_Lights_An_Archive_of_Hong_Ko/eV2zEAAAQBAJ?h |title=Fading Neon Lights: An Archive of Hong Kong’s Visual Culture |date=2023-03-10 |publisher=City University of HK Press |isbn=978-962-937-592-8 |pages=1 |language=en}} included the observation of a brilliant red glow in Geissler tubes.{{cite book |title=Discovery of the Elements: Third Edition (reprint) |last=Weeks |first=Mary Elvira |author-link=Mary Elvira Weeks |year=2003 |publisher=Kessinger Publishing |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SJIk9BPdNWcC&pg=PA287 |page=287 |isbn=978-0-7661-3872-8 }}{{Dead link|date=December 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Travers wrote, "the blaze of crimson light from the tube told its own story and was a sight to dwell upon and never forget." Following neon's discovery, neon tubes were used as scientific instruments and novelties.{{cite journal |last=Fleming |first=J. A. |author-link=John Ambrose Fleming |title=The Propagation of Electric Waves along Spiral Wires, and on an Appliance for Measuring the Length of Waves Used in Wireless Telegraphy |journal=Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science |series=Sixth Series |volume=8 |issue=46 |date=October 1904 |page=417 |url=https://zenodo.org/records/1773852/files/article.pdf|doi=10.1080/14786440409463212 }} Fleming used a tube of neon, without electrodes, to explore the amplitudes of radio waves by examining the intensity of the tube's light emission. He had obtained his neon directly from its discoverer, Ramsey. A sign created by Perley G. Nutting and displaying the word "neon" may have been shown at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904, although this claim has been disputed;{{cite news |first=John K. |last=Howard |title=OSA's First Four Presidents |work=Optics & Photonics News |date=February 2009 |url=http://www.opnmagazine-digital.com/opn/200902/?pg=14 |access-date=2009-02-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728014656/http://www.opnmagazine-digital.com/opn/200902/?pg=14 |archive-date=2011-07-28 |url-status=dead }} in any event, the scarcity of neon would have precluded the development of a lighting product. After 1902, Georges Claude's company in France, Air Liquide, began producing industrial quantities of neon, essentially as a byproduct of their air liquefaction business. From December 3–18, 1910, Claude demonstrated two {{convert|12|m|ft|adj=on}} long bright red neon tubes at the Paris Motor Show.The dates of the show are listed at {{cite web |url=http://et.mercedes-benz-clubs.com/mediawiki/index.php/Chronik_1901_-_1910/en |title=Chronik 1901 – 1910/en |publisher=Mercedes Benz |access-date=2010-11-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110815202730/http://et.mercedes-benz-clubs.com/mediawiki/index.php/Chronik_1901_-_1910/en |archive-date=2011-08-15 |url-status=dead }} This demonstration lit a peristyle of the Grand Palais (a large exhibition hall).{{cite web |title=Reportage – Il était une fois le néon No. 402 |last=Testelin |first=Xavier |url=http://www.xaviertestelin.com/photo-402.html |access-date=2010-12-06 }} Claude's 1910 demonstration of neon lighting lit the peristyle of the Grand Palais in Paris; this webpage includes a contemporary photograph that gives an impression of it. It is part of an extensive selection of images of neon lighting; see {{cite web |title=Reportage – Il était une fois le néon |url=http://www.xaviertestelin.com/sujet-6.html}} Claude's associate, Jacques Fonsèque, realized the possibilities for a business based on signage and advertising. By 1913 a large sign for the vermouth Cinzano illuminated the night sky in Paris, and by 1919 the entrance to the Paris Opera was adorned with neon tube lighting. Over the next several years, patents were granted to Claude for two innovations still used today: a "bombardment" technique to remove impurities from the working gas of a sealed sign, and a design for the internal electrodes of the sign that prevented their degradation by sputtering.

In 1923, Georges Claude and his French company Claude Neon introduced neon gas signs to the United States{{Cite book |last=Manheim |first=Steven |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MS2dEAAAQBAJ&dq=In+1923,+Georges+Claude+and+his+French+company+Claude+Neon+introduced+neon+gas+signs+to+the+%22United+States%22&pg=PA51 |title=Mississippi Signs |date=2023-02-01 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |isbn=978-1-4671-0929-1 |pages=51 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Clair |first=Kate |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Typographic_Workbook/Lf0iDYCr6w0C?hl |title=A Typographic Workbook: A Primer to History, Techniques, and Artistry |last2=Busic-Snyder |first2=Cynthia |date=2012-06-20 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-118-39988-0 |pages=80 |language=en}} by selling two to a Packard car dealership in Los Angeles. Earle C. Anthony purchased the two signs reading "Packard" for $1,250 apiece. Neon lighting quickly became a popular fixture in outdoor advertising. The signs{{snd}}dubbed "liquid fire"{{snd}}were visible in daylight; people would stop and stare.These anecdotes and the phrase "liquid fire" are often used in references discussing the first neon tube lights in Los Angeles, but the primary source is not provided. One example of a typical, tertiary reference is {{cite web |last=Bellis |first=Mary |title=The History of Neon Signs: Georges Claude and Liquid Fire |url=https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-neon-signs-1992355 |work=ThoughtCo}} What may be the oldest surviving neon sign in the United States, still in use for its original purpose, is the sign "Theatre" (1929) at the Lake Worth Playhouse in Lake Worth Beach, Florida.

The next major technological innovation in neon lighting and signs was the development of fluorescent tube coatings.{{Cite book |last=KWOK |first=Brian Sze-hang |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eV2zEAAAQBAJ&dq=The+next+major+technological+innovation+in+neon+lighting+and+signs+was+the+development+of+fluorescent+tube+coatings.&pg=PA2 |title=Fading Neon Lights: An Archive of Hong Kong's Visual Culture |date=2023-03-10 |publisher=City University of HK Press |isbn=978-962-937-592-8 |pages=2 |language=en}} Jacques Risler received a French patent in 1926 for these. Neon signs that use an argon/mercury gas mixture emit a good deal of ultraviolet light. When this light is absorbed by a fluorescent coating, preferably inside the tube, the coating (called a "phosphor") glows with its own color. While only a few colors were initially available to sign designers, after the Second World War, phosphor materials were researched intensively for use in color televisions. About two dozen colors were available to neon sign designers by the 1960s, and today there are nearly 100 available colors.

{{cquote|Suddenly we were in down-town Seattle and lights were exploding around me like skyrockets on the Fourth of July. Red lights, blue lights, yellow lights, green, purple, white, orange, punctured the night in a million places and tore the black satin pavement to shreds. I hadn’t seen neon lights before. They had been invented, or at least put in common use, while I was up in the mountains and in that short time the whole aspect of the world had changed. In place of dumpy little bulbs sputteringly spelling out Café or Theatre, there were long swooping spirals of pure brilliant colour. A waiter outlined in bright red with a blazing white napkin over his arm flashed on and off over a large Café. Puget Sound Power and Light Company cut through the rain and darkness, bright blue and cheery. Cafês, theatres, cigar stores, stationery stores, real estate offices with their names spelled out in molten colour, welcomed me to the city.|author=Betty MacDonald, recalling 1931|source=Anybody Can Do Anything}} During the late 2000s, a survey conducted by the trade magazine Signs of the Times showed that the use of neon signs in the United States experienced a significant decline.{{Cite web |last=Zdanowicz |first=Christina |date=2014-07-25 |title=Neon signs are dying, but our appreciation isn’t |url=https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/neon-signs-dying-irpt/index.html |access-date=2025-04-01 |website=CNN |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Magazine |first=Smithsonian |last2=Nalewicki |first2=Jennifer |title=A Vibrant Tour of America's Neon Signs |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/vibrant-tour-americas-neon-signs-180974288/ |access-date=2025-04-01 |website=Smithsonian Magazine |language=en}} In 2007, neon signs accounted for 33% of illuminated signage, while LEDs made up 23%. By 2010, this trend had reversed, with LEDs increasing to 40% and neon falling to just 18%. In recent years, even cities known for their vibrant neon-lit streets, such as Hong Kong,{{Cite web |date=2024-05-11 |title=The lights are going out for Hong Kong’s iconic neon signs |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/lights-are-going-hong-kongs-iconic-neon-signs-rcna134656 |access-date=2025-04-01 |website=NBC News |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Standard |first=The |title=Neon signs that lit Hong Kong's city streets a dying art  |url=https://www.thestandard.com.hk/breaking-news/fc/4/195900/Neon-signs-that-lit-Hong-Kong's-city-streets-a-dying-art |access-date=2025-04-01 |website=The Standard |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Zdanowicz |first=Christina |date=15 Oct 2022 |title=Neon signs |url=http://xcraftneon.com/|access-date=2025-04-01 |website=XCraft Neon |language=en}}{{Cite news |last=Tse |first=Crystal |date=2015-10-13 |title=Hong Kong Is Slowly Dimming Its Neon Glow |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/14/world/asia/hong-kong-neon-sign-maker.html |access-date=2025-04-01 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} have increasingly transitioned to LED technology.{{Cite web |title=How Hong Kong’s iconic neon signs are becoming an art form {{!}} Hong Kong Tourism Board |url=https://www.discoverhongkong.com/eng/explore/culture/hong-kong-iconic-neon-signs.html |access-date=2025-04-01 |website=Discover Hong Kong |language=en}}{{Cite news |last=Beech |first=Hannah |date=2023-12-09 |title=Where Did All the Hong Kong Neon Go? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/09/world/asia/hong-kong-neon-signs.html |access-date=2025-04-01 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}

File:Coloful light 1.JPG

File:Tecnolux neon display (32681).jpg

Neon tube signs{{cite book|title=Neon Techniques: Handbook of Neon Sign and Cold-Cathode Lighting, 4th edition|last=Strattman |first=Wayne |year=1997 |publisher=ST Media Group International |isbn=978-0-944094-27-3}} are produced by bending glass tubing into shapes for the sign. After shaping, the hollow tube is evacuated with vacuum pumps and filled with gases to produce the desired color, e.g. neon gas for red lighting. Electrodes are placed at each end of the shaped tubing and the entire tube is sealed to prevent gases from leaking in or out which leads to tube failure.{{Cite book |last=Miller |first=Samuel C. |url=https://archive.org/details/neonsignsmanufac00millrich/page/n15/mode/2up |title=Neon signs; manufacture--installation--maintenance |last2=Fink |first2=Donald G. |date=1935 |publisher=New York, McGraw-Hill |others=Prelinger Library}}

File:Blue Neon sign in a pastry shop.png

Light-emitting tubes form colored lines with which a text can be written or a picture drawn, including various decorations, especially in advertising and commercial signage. By programming sequences of switching parts on and off, there are many possibilities for dynamic light patterns that form animated images.

In some applications, neon tubes are increasingly being replaced with LEDs, given the steady advance in LED luminosity and decreasing cost of high-brightness LEDs. However, proponents of neon technology maintain that they still have significant advantages over LEDs.{{cite web|title=Knowledge Center|url=http://www.theneongroup.org/knowledge.html|work=Brighter Thinking|publisher=The Neon Group|access-date=2012-03-06}} But, LED neon has expanded design possibilities like bendable shapes, gradient lighting, and multicolor displays that traditional neon cannot achieve.

Neon illumination is valuable to invoke the 1940s or 1950s nostalgia in marketing and in the historic restoration of architectural landmarks from the neon era. Architecture in the streamline moderne era often deployed neon to accent structural pigmented glass built into the façade of a 1930s or 1940s structure; many of these buildings now qualify for inclusion on historic registers such as the U.S. National Register of Historic Places if their historic integrity is faithfully maintained.{{cite web|author=Michael J. Auer|date=October 1991|title=The Preservation of Historic Signs|url=https://neondirect.co/preserving-historic-signs/|access-date=2021-10-11|publisher=US National Park Service}} In the latter half of the 20th century, neon signs found a distinct place in artistic installations and nightlife districts, particularly during the 1980s and 1990s, when they became symbols of vibrant, modern design. Today, neon signs continue to be used for their nostalgic aesthetic appeal and unique lighting effects, often seen in boutique branding, interior decoration, and public art.

File:NeTube.jpg|Neon

File:Neon bowling ally sign.jpeg|Neon bowling alley sign

File:CBC 2016 10.jpg|Promotional signage neon

File:Sauna Kotiharju neon sign.jpg|Neon sign of a public sauna in Helsinki

File:Neon Open Sign.jpg|A neon "OPEN" sign, popular among U.S. businesses since the mid-1980s.{{cite web |last=Dolan |first=Michael |title=Sign o' the Times: The origins of the neon OPEN sign |url=https://slate.com/human-interest/1998/03/sign-o-the-times.html |website=Slate |access-date=2024-06-29 |date=1998-03-05}}{{cite news |last=Winston |first=Chris |title=Enlightened businessman saw a niche in neon industry |url=https://www.goupstate.com/story/news/2003/05/25/enlightened-businessman-saw-a-niche-in-neon-industry/29670344007/ |access-date=2024-06-29 |work=Spartanburg Herald-Journal |date=2003-05-25}}

File:Doc Kilzum animated neon sign from Paramount Pest Control in Los Angeles, Calfornia (1940s).jpg|Doc Kilzum animated neon sign from Paramount Pest Control in Los Angeles (1940s)

File:Neon sign from La Fonda Mexican restaurant (Glendale, California).jpg|Neon sign from La Fonda Mexican restaurant in Glendale, California (1940s)

File:Animated neon sign from Body Builders Gym (Los Angeles, California).jpg|Animated sign from Body Builders Gym in Los Angeles (1970s)

File:Neon sign from Midtowne Spa (Los Angeles, California).jpg|Neon sign from Midtowne Spa in Los Angeles (1970s)

File:Architectural neon art from Man's Country (Chicago, Illinois).jpg|Architectural neon art from Man's Country (1970s)

File:Neon sign from Circus of Books, a bookstore and gay pornography store in West Hollywood, California (1980s).jpg|Sign from Circus of Books in West Hollywood, California (1980s)

• Crackle tube
• Plasma globe
• Pundit Light
• Westinghouse Sign
• Timeline of lighting technology
• Neon Museum, Warsaw

{{reflist}}

• {{cite web |title=2010 Top Ten Endangered Sites |url=http://www.heritagevancouver.org/topten/2010/topten2010_09.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724005104/http://www.heritagevancouver.org/topten/2010/topten2010_09.html |archive-date=2011-07-24 |url-status=dead |publisher=Heritage Vancouver Society |access-date=2010-12-05}}
• {{cite news |first=Hannah |last=Beech |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/09/world/asia/hong-kong-neon-signs.html |title=Where Did All the Hong Kong Neon Go? |date=2023-12-09 |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=2023-12-09}}
• {{cite news |first=Shermakaye |last= Bass |title=Neon Museum saving Las Vegas' iconic signs |url=http://travel.latimes.com/articles/la-trw-neonvegas10jun10 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=2007-06-06 |access-date=2009-09-12}}
• {{cite journal|title=Life in the Darkness|last=Crowley|first=David|journal=Creative Review|date=September 2007|url=http://www.neonmuzeum.org/brief-history|access-date=2021-10-11}} Article about neon signage's flowering and decline in Warsaw and Poland.
• {{cite news |title=Save neon signs, fans urge |last=Keen |first=Judy |work=USA Today |date=October 6, 2008 |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-10-06-neon-signs_N.htm}}
• {{cite book|title=Neon Techniques: Handbook of Neon Sign and Cold-Cathode Lighting, 4th edition|last=Strattman |first=Wayne |year=1997 |publisher=ST Media Group International |isbn=978-0-944094-27-3}} – industry standard reference on practices, methods, and technologies used by neon fabricators

{{Commons category|Neon signs}}

{{wikibooks|Making Neon Signs}}

• {{cite web |last=Johansson |first=Feddy|url=http://www.svenskaneonskyltar.se |title=Svenska Neonskyltar}} Collection of photographs of Swedish neon signs; text in Swedish.
• {{cite web |url=http://www.neonmuzeum.org/english |title=Neon Muzeum |publisher=NeonMuzeum.com}} Website of an organization devoted to preserving Polish neon signs; in English.

{{Display technology}}

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Signage

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