Sylvania Electric Products
Encyclopedia
COBOL
COBOL is one of the oldest programming languages. Its name is an acronym for COmmon Business-Oriented Language, defining its primary domain in business, finance, and administrative systems for companies and governments....
programming language.
History
Fluorescent lamp
A fluorescent lamp or fluorescent tube is a gas-discharge lamp that uses electricity to excite mercury vapor. The excited mercury atoms produce short-wave ultraviolet light that then causes a phosphor to fluoresce, producing visible light. A fluorescent lamp converts electrical power into useful...
ever made. It was featured at the 1939 New York World's Fair
1939 New York World's Fair
The 1939–40 New York World's Fair, which covered the of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park , was the second largest American world's fair of all time, exceeded only by St. Louis's Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904. Many countries around the world participated in it, and over 44 million people...
.
Sylvania was also a manufacturer of both vacuum tubes and transistors.
In 1942, the company changed its name to Sylvania Electric Products Inc. (note no comma)
In 1959, Sylvania Electronics merged with General Telephone to form General Telephone and Electronics (GTE
GTE
GTE Corporation, formerly General Telephone & Electronics Corporation was the largest independent telephone company in the United States during the days of the Bell System....
)
Through merger and aquisitions, the Company became a significant, but never dominating supplier of electrical distribution equipment, including transformers and switchgear, residential and commercial load centers and breakers, pushbuttons, indicator lights and other hard-wired devices. All were manufactured and distributed under the brand name GTE Sylvania, with the name Challenger used for it light commercial and residential product lines.
GTE Sylvania contributed to the technological advancement of electrical distribution products in the late 70's with several interesting product features. At the time, they were the leading supplier of vacuum cast coil transformers, manufactured in their Hampton, VA plant. Their transformers featured aluminum primary winding and were cast using relatively inexpensive molds, allowing them to produce cast coil transformers in a variety of KVA capacities, primary and secondary voltages and physical coil sizes, including low profile coils for mining and other specialty applications. They also developed the first medium voltage 3 phase panel that could survive a dead short across two phases. Their pateneted design used bus bar encapsulated in a thin coating of epoxy and then bolted together across all three phases, using special non-conductive fittings.
By 1981 GTE had made the decision to exit the electrical distribution equipment market and began selling off its product lines and manufacturing facilities. The Challenger line, mostly manufactured at the time in Jackson, MS, was sold to a former officer of GTE, who used the Challenger name as the name of his new company. Challenger florished, and was eventually sold to Westinghouse, and later Eaton Corporation. By the mid 80's the GTE Sylvania electrical equipment product line and name was no more.
In 1993 GTE exited the lighting business to concentrate on its core telecomms operations. The European, Asian and Latin American operations are now under the ownership of Havells Sylvania
Havells Sylvania
Havells Sylvania is an international designer and manufacturer of lighting products. It has plants throughout Europe, Asia, North Africa and Central and South America, and is one of the few lighting companies that produces both lamps and lighting fixtures....
.
With the acquisition of the North American division by Osram
Osram
Osram, founded 1919, is part of the industry sector of Siemens AG and one of the two leading lighting manufacturers in the world. The name is derived from osmium and Wolfram , as both these elements were commonly used for lighting filaments at the time the company was founded...
GmbH in January 1993 Osram Sylvania
Osram Sylvania
Osram Sylvania Inc. is the North American operation of lighting manufacturer Osram GmbH, which is owned by Siemens AG. It was established in January 1993, with the acquisition of GTE’s Sylvania lighting division by Osram GmbH....
Inc. was established.
Brand name
In the early 1980s1980s
File:1980s decade montage.png|thumb|400px|From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, Columbia, lifted off in 1981; American President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev eased tensions between the two superpowers, leading to the end of the Cold War; The Fall of the Berlin Wall in...
, GTE Sylvania sold the rights to the name Sylvania and Philco
Philco
Philco, the Philadelphia Storage Battery Company , was a pioneer in early battery, radio, and television production as well as former employer of Philo Farnsworth, inventor of cathode ray tube television...
for use on consumer electronics
Consumer electronics
Consumer electronics are electronic equipment intended for everyday use, most often in entertainment, communications and office productivity. Radio broadcasting in the early 20th century brought the first major consumer product, the broadcast receiver...
equipment only, to Holland's NV Philips
Philips
Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. , more commonly known as Philips, is a multinational Dutch electronics company....
. This marked the end of Sylvania's TV production in Batavia, NY, USA and Smithfield, NC, USA. The Sylvania Smithfield plant later became Channel Master
Channel Master
Channel Master Established in 1949, Channel Master was originally a terrestrial antenna manufacturer and now is in the business of manufacturing set-top boxes, home networking accessories and digital media devices .-Notable products:...
.
The rights to the Sylvania name in many countries are held by the U.S. subsidiary of the German company Osram
Osram
Osram, founded 1919, is part of the industry sector of Siemens AG and one of the two leading lighting manufacturers in the world. The name is derived from osmium and Wolfram , as both these elements were commonly used for lighting filaments at the time the company was founded...
which, itself, is a subsidiary of Siemens
Siemens
Siemens may refer toSiemens, a German family name carried by generations of telecommunications industrialists, including:* Werner von Siemens , inventor, founder of Siemens AG...
AG (SI-NYSE).
The Sylvania brand name is owned worldwide, apart from Australia, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, Puerto Rico and the USA, by Havells Sylvania
Havells Sylvania
Havells Sylvania is an international designer and manufacturer of lighting products. It has plants throughout Europe, Asia, North Africa and Central and South America, and is one of the few lighting companies that produces both lamps and lighting fixtures....
, headquartered in London, England.
Osram Sylvania
Osram Sylvania Inc. manufactures and markets a wide range of lighting products for homes, business, and vehicles and holds a leading share of the North American lighting market [2].In fiscal year 2008, the company achieved sales of about 1.75 billion euros, which comprises 38% of total Osram sales . It employs about 10,000 people in North America and is headquartered in Danvers, MA, north of Boston. Most of the company's products are marketed in North and South America under the SYLVANIA or OSRAM brand name.
Advertising
- From 1951 until 1956, Sylvania sponsored the game showGame showA game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...
, Beat the ClockBeat the ClockBeat the Clock is a Goodson-Todman game show which has aired on American television in several versions since 1950.The original show, hosted by Bud Collyer, ran on CBS from 1950–1958 and ABC from 1958–1961. The show was revived in syndication as The New Beat the Clock from 1969–1974, with Jack Narz...
. The grand prizes on the show would be Sylvania television sets, and some consolation prizes would be Sylvania radios. Sylvania "Blue Dot (tm) for sure shot" flashbulbFlashbulbFlashbulb may refer to:*Flash photography*The Flashbulb, one of the pseudonyms of electronica musician Benn Jordan*"Flashbulb", a bonus track by Nirvana...
s would be used to take a photograph of the contestants in awkward outfits or messy stunts. - One of Sylvania's heavily-advertised TV features was a lighted perimeter mask of adjustable brightness called "HALOLIGHT", which was purported to ease the optical transition if a viewer glanced from a dark background to the bright TV screen. Today Philips markets an AmbilightAmbilightAmbilight, which is short for Ambient Lighting Technology, is a feature invented by Philips Electronics, generating light effects around the TV that correspond to the video content. The effect, the company claims, is a larger virtual screen and a more immersive viewing experience. In addition,...
feature, lighting the wall behind a flat display to soften the viewing experience. HALOLIGHT could not be adapted for color TV, because color TV white balance (aka tracking from low to high brightness) was unpredictable. Since the white color temperature of the HALOLIGHT and the illuminated color screen could not be made equivalent, HALOLIGHT was withdrawn. - Sylvania sponsors the 'it's a small world' ride at Disneyland, California. Its name can be seen at the beginning and end of the ride.
Accidents
The Sylvania Electric Products explosionSylvania Electric Products explosion
On the morning of July 2, 1956, an explosion involving scrap thorium occurred at the Sylvania Electric Products' Metallurgical Laboratory in Bayside, New York. Nine people were injured. There were two explosions....
is a well-known industrial accident which occurred 1956 at their Bayside
Bayside, Queens
Bayside is a suburban neighborhood in the borough of Queens in New York, New York in the United States. Bayside is known as one of the most expensive areas to live in Queens, with well kept homes and landscaping...
, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
facility.