I posted about these some 8 years ago. Here's what I said: *I worked in the factory (in a different division) that made those in the 70’s - Masden Industries on 23rd St. in North Bergen, NJ. They made the glass enclosure and the contents, and then sold the sealed units to a customer (Beacon Electric, somewhere in New England, IIRC) who provided the bases and lamps and did the packaging and sale.*
*I have some that are 3’ (yep, FEET) tall.* *The chemistry was quite simple* - the ball of material in the bottom was a mixture of sugar and sodium metaborate. The liquid was methylene chloride. The solid would outgas at low temperatures (even from the heat of a hand) and release bubbles which would float upward and eventually be reabsorbed in the liquid. The trick with the giant ones was to wind a spiral of thin heating wire around them to keep the bubbles from disappearing partway up.* *The most annoying thing about this factory was that it tended to explode a lot - the machines that did the glass sealing were all 1-offs and old, and the flame would back up into the main gas line, and kaboom.* - *If these are made today, I’m sure the formula is different - the one I posted would run afoul of safety regulations these days.* Anyway, that factory produced several tractor trailers full per week during the busy season. There were various dyes to color the liquid. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "neonixie-l" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/8b896e97-6f05-4eb0-a412-8d8c8a9f37fcn%40googlegroups.com.
