Electric Signs

Cabinet Signs

A look at the most prolific signage form

Published

18 years ago

March 14, 2006

Bill Dundas Signs of the Times March 2006 Issue

World War II precipitated a technological boom that created new American industries overnight. Two developments in the years immediately following the war gave rise to an entirely new type of sign. The genesis of the plastics industry, coupled with the commercial development of fluorescent lighting, made internally illuminated signs feasible and practical.

Sun Oil Co. (Philadelphia) helped pioneer modern cabinet signs on a large scale, installing acrylic-faced Sunoco diamond signs at its service stations beginning in 1947 (Fig. 1). These pole-mounted ID signs were illuminated by two internal cold-cathode tubes. In the early post-war period, cold-cathode tubing thrived in general lighting applications (Fig. 2). Soon, however, the availability of standard fluorescent tubes in various lengths relegated cold-cathode lighting to a marginal status.

By 1950, Dupont Plastics (Arlington, N.J.) was marketing Lucite

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