Lexi+-+Neon

[|Making of a Neon Sign] WATCH THIS VIDEO TO SEE A COLLECTION OF NEON SIGNS

You know the signs you see everywhere, in front of gas stations, barber shops, stores off all kinds? The ones that light up and glow in the darkness of the night? Their called neon signs and i'm here to tell you everything there is to know about them. From how they are made and shaped, to what neon even is. What we don't realize is that neon signs have been around longer than we have noticed. Lets take a closer look at the history of the neon sign.

The Geissler tube was invented in 1855. They got the name "Geissler" from a German glassblower. Many inventors began having experiments with geissler tubes, and many different gases. When the tube was placed under low pressure and electrical voltage was applied, the gas would glow.( Inventors.about.com) The gas neon was discovered by William Ramsay and Morris Travers in 1898. This gas is naturally found in out atmosphere, however there is only a very small bit. ( Humantouchofchemistry.com)



The neon sign goes back all the people before we even had electricity. A French astronomer named Jean Picard saw i weird glow in a mercury tube. If you were to shake the tube it would light up because of static electr. Though the glow was not understood at the time they kept researching. ( Inventors.about.com)

Neon gas produces a red color, but with testing there is over 150 different colors possible. To make all these they add argon, mercury, and phosphor. The order of colors in discovery is blue (Mercury), white (Co2), gold (Helium), red (Neon), and then different colors from phosphor-coated tubes. Phosphor can create almost ever pastel color. ( Inventors.about.com)

How are they made? Well they start by selecting a straight piece of glass and then cleaning them very well. The bulbs come it different sizes from 4 to 8 ft. When they shape the tubes they heat the glass by forced air. There are different kinds of glass, "soft" glass has sodium lime, lead and barium glass in it. "Hard" glass, it is in the borosilicate glass family. Depending on the type of glass the heat can range from 1600 F to over 3000'F, they use propane glass. After that they insert the tube into a machine that coats them with phoshors, colored tints or both. Once they get a even coat they are set to dry in a oven made just for this. After they have heated up the glass with a gas fired burner to make the glass soft enough to bend, they bend it around the template. Bending the glass is the hardest part in the process because the glass can crack and break or become to brittle to be used for the sign. ( Neonopensign.net)

The tubes are filed while cold and snapped apart when hot. They bend and curve the tube until they get the desired look. When the tube is done they process it in a system called bombarding. Then neon is added inside the tube.

How do they get the neon inside the tube? This process is called bombarding. It is to heat the neon unit to a certain temperature using electricity and at the same time the vacuum pump extracts the air out of the unit and the heat purifies the inner walls of the unit so the gas when injected will not react with the impurities inside the tube. = 

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I hope this page has helped anyone with any questions that they had about neon signs and the making. So now or next time when you see a neon sign you will know everything there is to know about them and how they are made. And how much work goes into the process of achieving the sign its self. I wonder how much longer neon signs will be around? Who knows.