Archives
Electronic Highways
Happy Neon Sign Day
You've been driving on this godforsaken highway for what seems like forever. It's half past midnight. You're tired. You're hungry. And the whiteout conditions aren't helping much. What you wouldn't give for a warm room with a pillow and a mattress.
Suddenly, you make out a reddish glow in the distance—a glow that cuts through the blizzard's opacity. It isn't a fire. It isn't a stoplight. It's the comforting glow of the most noble of all gases, neon, spelling out the magical word "Vacancy."
Nov. 9 is Neon Sign Day, honoring the date French chemist Georges Claude submitted his patent for the first neon lamp in 1911. You can view "Patent 1125476 System of Illuminating by Luminescent Tubes" (http://tinyurl.com/yzjgqg/) on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's (USPTO) search page (http://www.uspto.gov/patft/index.html). To view the full patent on the USPTO site, your computer must meet certain system requirements (http://www.uspto.gov/patft/help/images.htm#req).
Claude's improvements upon the first neon lamp can be found in the European Patent Office's patent database (http://ep.espacenet.com/). The search "Claude" and "neon" (http://tinyurl.com/txpqg) retrieves patents that describe the evolution of his first neon lamp to the ubiquitous neon signs that dot the American landscape.
Though neon signs often are used for commercial purposes, many see artistic beauty and creative potential in harnessing neon in a tubular lead-glass vacuum. The flashy Museum of Neon Art (MONA) Web site (http://www.neonmona.org/flash/index.html) provides online exhibitions of electric and kinetic art, preservation and restoration efforts of historic signs, and neon art class information. Located in Los Angeles, MONA hosts "Neon Cruises," a nighttime bus tour of neon signs, movie marquees and neon art installations. The Washington Post travel section recently described the cruises as "a quirky (and, yes, illuminating) look at L.A.'s neighborhoods and history" (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content
/article/2006/06/09/AR2006060900623.html?referrer=emailarticle).
In the academic realm, the University of Nevada at Las Vegas' Neon Survey (http://gaming.unlv.edu/v_museum/neon_survey/index.html) created and maintains a digital collection of neon signage in Las Vegas. The site houses descriptions, artistic contexts and large images of the signs. Most interestingly, the survey provides a glossary of terminology used by neon sign makers and aficionados (http://gaming.unlv.edu/v_museum/neon_survey/neon_glossary.html). Collaborating with UNLV on the survey, the Neon Museum (http://www.neonmuseum.org/) also maintains a Web site that offers basic information on a historical neon sign walking tour, its neon sign collection and concomitant restoration efforts.
Still haven't quenched your thirst for neon? Containing several thousand photos of neon signs taken by its members, the Flickr group, Neon Signs (http://www.flickr.com/groups/neonsigns/pool/), will occupy you for hours.
Want to make your own neon sign? Want to know how different colors are produced? Go to the Neon University page (http://www.neonshop.com/neon-u.html) provided by Krypton Neon (http://www.neonshop.com/index.html). This simple Web site lists books and DVDs on neon, in addition to links to neon schools, a FAQ page and NEON-L, a listserv for people interested in neon.
As with any subject, UB Libraries' catalog, BISON (http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/bison/) has a number of resources that allow you to explore historical, chemical, commercial and artistic aspects of neon.
Now, get some sleep!
—Dean Hendrix, University Libraries