Metal Fabrication

Cabinet Signs

A look at the most prolific signage form

Published

19 years ago

March 8, 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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Mars Bravo: The Most Interesting Name in the Sign Industry

Mars Bravo is not the kind of name you hear very often in the sign industry — the kind of name more likely to follow, “Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage…!” In this episode, Eric interviews Mars to find out about her start in the sign industry and her ideas for the future, first with how she got her name.