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Sign Parts Oddities

Welcome... to the World of Sign Parts Oddities!
Through the years, we have received numerous photos of odd looking sign parts from Customers and novice neon lovers. These photos usually come to us in the attempt to either find the part or to understand it's history, origin and use.

It wasn't until recently that we began to save these photos with the intent to display them here.

If you have any details about any parts shown, please email us with the info and we will be happy to add it to the item.

If you have an unusual sign part that you would like us to include, please email it/them to us. High resolution jpeg photos are preferred, but email us whatever you have.


email photos to....  NeonPartsUSA@gmail.com
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"KRYPTON" Sign Bulb!
Courtesy of...
Plasti-Lite Signs
St. Louis, MO
"The Krypton lightbulb....Kr was commonly used in lamps due to its being inert and its thermal characteristics.  You can still find small bulbs that have a Kr fill in them".

Robert Haus
www.neonarchaeology.com
@hausrobert
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Brass Electrode Cap!
Courtesy of...
Dave Gawronski
SIGN-PARTS-ODDITIES-3.jpg
Glass Tube Supports!
Courtesy of...
Steinmetz Neon
Harrisonville, MO
SIGN-PARTS-ODDITIES-4.jpg
Funky Electrode!
Courtesy of...
Steinmetz Neon
Harrisonville, MO
"This is a Flexlume product from the early 1930s and it is made to fit into the housings you have pictured further down the page that has the "mesh" connection inside of it.  This mesh housing and the one pictured above it on your page are both Flexlume items of the same period".

Robert Haus
www.neonarchaeology.com
@hausrobert
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Unique Glass Housings!
Courtesy of...
Steinmetz Neon
Harrisonville, MO
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Glass Housings with a mesh type conductor inside.
Courtesy of...
Steinmetz Neon
Harrisonville, MO
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Interchangeable Neon Letter Sign Base!
Courtesy of...   Neon Express - Indianapolis, IN
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Funky Hanging
Neon Transformer!

Courtesy of...
Doug Baker
"This is the GE "Midget" transformer, they were offered in versions with leads as well as with built in housings for true skeleton signs and they were introduced in the late 1940s". 

Robert Haus
www.neonarchaeology.com
@hausrobert
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Porcelain secondary GTO mounting posts and  connections!
Photo Courtesy of...
Unknown
Kevin Lewis:  "They are called Bellows air gap. Bellows was a subsidiary of Goodyear in Akron Ohio. Back in the day, Bellows had like 30 glass benders and it went back to when they had neon on the Goodyear blimps"!
WCCD, LLC: "Look closely, you can see a brass cap protruding thru the glass housing. This brass cap is the very same brass cap in the 2nd photo from the very top of this web page".
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Worden Glass
Glass-Pane-Cut
Neon Sign

Photo Courtesy of...
Corky V. Davis
Buckeye Neon & Electric Signs
WCCD, LLC: "Back in the 80's, Worden Glass developed a technique of taking a pane of glass and routing into it a neon "groove". Then two additional panes of glass were fused onto the front and back, essentially creating a neon tube inside the glass panes. Electrodes were added and the sign was pumped".

"This Camel sign is an example of a finished sign".  
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Neon Pattern Marking Wheel!
Photo Courtesy of...
Kristyn Christiansen
F
ranklin Sign Company Ltd
WCCD, LLC: "To use, we assume the two outer wheels were rolled in graphite powder or ink to leave an impression. The particular tool in the photo was made for 12mm glass patterns. The user would trace down the center of a design and the two outer wheels would leave a "12mm" double mark for the Tube Bender".
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Spring-Base
Glass Neon Tube Support!

Photo Courtesy of...
Kristyn Christiansen
F
ranklin Sign Company Ltd
SIGN-PARTS-ODDITIES-13.jpg
"Interchangeable Neon" Letter Set!  Photo Courtesy of... Spanky
WCCD, LLC : "These neon letters are part of an "Interchangeable Neon" sign display. Each letter is an individual unit. The End-User simply inserts' each chosen letter/s into a channel base. When turned on, the base channel is electrified".

"Back in the day, there were several other different manufacturers like: Magic-Lite, Winstoneon, Radalite, Insco-Neon, Neolectric, Selectric, Arora Neon and Floray". 

Check out the ad run in the Signs Of The Times
magazine back in 1951!

The magazine ad is courtesy of Tod Swormstedt, founder of the American Sign Museum located in Cincinnati, OH.

 
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Old-School
Neon Dimming System

Photo Courtesy of...
Jim Winters
Bulldog Neon
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Glass Housing Assembly
Photo Courtesy of...
Mason Joye
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