In the signage industry, neon signs are electric signs lighted by long luminous gas-discharge tubes that contain rarefied neon or other gases. They are the most common use for neon lighting , which was first demonstrated in a modern form in December 1910 by Georges Claude at the Paris Motor Show . While they are used worldwide, neon signs were popular in the United States from about the 1920s to 1950s. The installations in Times Square , many originally designed by Douglas Leigh , were famed, and there were nearly 2,000 small shops producing neon signs by 1940. In addition to signage, neon lighting is used frequently by artists and architects , and (in a modified form) in plasma display panels and televisions . The signage industry has declined in the past several decades, and cities are now concerned with preserving and restoring their antique neon signs.
95-551: Crystal River Tourist Camp (formerly Crystal River Cave Court , today Cave Courts Motel ) is a motor inn built in 1932 in Cave City, Arkansas . It is the oldest operating motor court in the state. It is built of fieldstones from the Ozarks . Prince Matlock built the motel in 1932 by setting thousands of rocks from the area. He used geodes and quartz as decorative rocks and created many designs of crosses and animals to add to
190-498: A marketing co-operative . With the introduction of chains, independent motels started to decline. The emergence of freeways bypassing existing highways (such as the Interstate Highway System in the U.S.) caused older motels away from the new roads to lose clientele to motel chains built along the new road's offramps. Some entire roadside towns were abandoned. Amboy, California (population 700) had grown as
285-537: A motor hotel , motor inn or motor lodge , is a hotel designed for motorists, usually having each room entered directly from the parking area for motor vehicles rather than through a central lobby . Entering dictionaries after World War II , the word motel , coined as a portmanteau of "motor hotel", originates from the defunct lodging compound establishment; The Milestone Mo-Tel in San Luis Obispo, California (later renamed as "Motel Inn"), which
380-479: A "rarefied" gas (the gas pressure in the tube is well below atmospheric pressure ). When a voltage is applied to electrodes inserted through the glass, an electrical glow discharge results. Geissler tubes were popular in the late 19th century, and the different colors they emitted were characteristics of the gases within. They were unsuitable for general lighting, as the pressure of the gas inside typically declined with use. The direct predecessor of neon tube lighting
475-474: A Route 66 rest stop and would decline with the highway as the opening of Interstate 40 in 1973 bypassed the village entirely. The ghost town and its 1938 Roy's Motel and Café were allowed to decay for years and used by film makers in a weathered and deteriorated state. Even the original 1952 Holiday Inn Hotel Courts in Memphis closed by 1973 and was eventually demolished, as I-40 bypassed U.S. 70 and
570-405: A balcony served by multiple stairwells. The post-war motels, especially in the early 1950s to late 1960s, sought more visual distinction, often featuring eye-catching colorful neon signs which employed themes from popular culture, ranging from Western imagery of cowboys and Indians to contemporary images of spaceships and atomic era iconography. U.S. Route 66 is the most popular example of
665-427: A blazing white napkin over his arm flashed on and off over a large Café. Puget Sound Power and Light Company cut through the rain and darkness, bright blue and cheery. Cafês, theatres, cigar stores, stationery stores, real estate offices with their names spelled out in molten colour, welcomed me to the city. Neon tube signs are produced by the craft of bending glass tubing into shapes. A worker skilled in this craft
760-409: A ceramic donut aperture) which contains in the interior surface of the shell a light dusting of a cold cathode low work function powder (usually a powder ceramic molar eutectic point mixture including BaCO 2 ), combined with other alkaline earth oxides, which reduces to BaO 2 when heated to about 500 degrees F, and reduces the work function of the electrode for cathodic emission. Barium Oxide has
855-521: A cold climate, since the helium increases voltage drop (and thus power dissipation), warming the tube to operating temperature faster. Neon glows bright red or reddish orange when lit. When argon or argon/helium is used, a tiny droplet of mercury is added. Argon by itself is very dim pale lavender when lit, but the droplet of mercury fills the tube with mercury vapor when sealed, which then emits ultraviolet light upon electrification. This ultraviolet emission allows finished argon/mercury tubes to glow with
950-427: A decline in revenue for individual franchisees. An influx of newly concocted brands became a key factor in a boom in new construction which ultimately led to market saturation . Neon sign Light emitting diode arrays can be formed and covered with a light diffuser to simulate the appearance of neon lamps. The neon sign is an evolution of the earlier Geissler tube , which is a sealed glass tube containing
1045-431: A different trademark and branding , major hotel chains could build new limited-service properties near airports and freeways without undermining their existing mid-price brands. Creation of new brands also allowed chains to circumvent the contractual minimum distance protections between individual hoteliers in the same chain. Franchisors placed multiple properties under different brands at the same motorway exit, leading to
SECTION 10
#17328011567821140-399: A family vacation. He would build his own motel at 4941 Summer Avenue ( U.S. 70 ) on the main highway (U.S. 70) from Memphis to Nashville , adopting a name from a 1942 musical film Holiday Inn about a fictional lodge only open on public holidays. Every new Holiday Inn would have TV, air conditioning, a restaurant, and a pool; all would meet a long list of standards in order to have
1235-437: A group of motel owners in the southwestern U.S., published a guidebook until the early 1950s. A splinter of this now-defunct group, Quality Courts, began as a referral chain in 1941, but was converted to a franchised operation ( Quality Inn ) in the 1960s. Budget Host and Best Value Inn are also referral chains. Best Western (1946) was a similar referral chain of independent western U.S. motels. It remains in operation as
1330-660: A guest in Memphis to have the same experience as someone in Daytona Beach, Florida or Akron, Ohio . Originally a motel chain, Holiday Inn was first to deploy an IBM -designed national room reservations system in 1965 and opened its 1000th location by 1968. In 1954 a 60-room motor hotel in Flagstaff, Arizona , opened as the first Ramada ( Spanish for " a shaded resting place "). The Twin Bridges Motor Hotel , established in 1957 near Washington, D.C. as
1425-405: A high current is forced through the low-pressure air in the tube via the electrodes (in a process known as "bombarding"). This current and voltage is far above the level that occurs in final operation of the tube. The current depends on the specific electrodes used and the diameter of the tube but is typically in the 150 mA to 1,500 mA range, starting low and increasing towards the end of
1520-554: A lodging establishment called " Milestone Mo-Tel " in San Luis Obispo , California, which was constructed in 1925 by Arthur Heineman . In conceiving of a name for his hotel, Heineman combined the two words motor hotel into one word as mo-tel , after he found that he could not fit the words "Milestone Motor Hotel" on the rooftop. Therefore the word "motel" and literally the first motel was born. Many other similar businesses followed in its footsteps and started building their own auto camps, as well as calling themselves "motels". Later, as
1615-420: A long 20 mm tube filled with argon/mercury) to 27 Torr (3.6 kPa) (for a short 8 mm diameter tube filled with pure neon). Neon or argon are the most common gases used; krypton , xenon , and helium are used by artists for special purposes but are not used alone in normal signs. A premixed combination of argon and helium is often used in lieu of pure argon when a tube is to be installed in
1710-476: A member of Quality Courts, became the first Marriott in 1959, expanding from motel to hotel in 1962. For individual motel owners, a franchise chain provided an automated central reservation system and a nationally recognized brand which assured consumers that rooms and amenities met a consistent minimum standard. This came at a cost; franchise fees, marketing fees, reservation fees, and royalty fees were not reduced during times of economic recession, leaving most of
1805-417: A member-owned chain, although the modern Best Western operation shares many of the characteristics (such as centralized purchasing and reservation systems) of the later franchise systems. The earliest motel chains, proprietary brands for multiple properties built with common architecture, were born in the 1930s. The first of these were ownership chains, in which a small group of people owned and operated all of
1900-461: A motel chain was not pursued further. In 1951, residential developer Kemmons Wilson returned to Memphis, Tennessee disillusioned by motels encountered on a family road trip to Washington, D.C. In each city, rooms varied from well-kept to filthy, few had a swimming pool, no on-site restaurant meant a few miles driving to buy dinner, and (while the room itself was $ 8 to $ 10) motor courts charged $ 2 extra per child, substantially increasing costs of
1995-453: A motel strip extending from Lundy's Lane to the falls has long been marketed to newlyweds) would offer "honeymoon suites" with extra amenities such as whirlpool baths . The first campgrounds for automobile tourists were constructed in the late 1910s. Before that, tourists who couldn't afford to stay in a hotel either slept in their cars or pitched their tents in fields alongside the road. These were called auto camps. The modern campgrounds of
SECTION 20
#17328011567822090-452: A per-watt basis, incandescents produce 10 to 20 lumens , while fluorescents produce 50 to 100 lumens. Neon light efficiency ranges from 10 lumens per watt for red, up to 60 lumens for green and blue when these colors result from internal phosphor coatings. A highly opaque special black or gray glass paint can be used to "black out" parts of a tube, as between letters of a word. In most mass-produced low-priced signs today, clear glass tubing
2185-626: A popular fixture in outdoor advertising. The signs – dubbed "liquid fire" – were visible in daylight; people would stop and stare. What may be the oldest surviving neon sign in the United States, still in use for its original purpose, is the sign "Theatre" (1929) at the Lake Worth Playhouse in Lake Worth Beach, Florida . The next major technological innovation in neon lighting and signs
2280-455: A restaurant or diner or buy a meal no matter how much money you had. You couldn't find a place to answer the call of nature even with a pocketful of money...if you were a person of color traveling on Route 66 in the 1940s and '50s. The Negro Motorist Green Book (1936–64) listed lodgings, restaurants, fuel stations, liquor stores, and barber and beauty salons without racial restrictions; the smaller Directory of Negro Hotels and Guest Houses in
2375-422: A result of failing to obtain a registered trademark for the word "Mo-Tel" or "motel", Milestone Mo-Tel was renamed simply as " Motel Inn ". Combining the individual cabins of the tourist court under a single roof yielded the motor court or motor hotel. A handful of motor courts were beginning to call themselves motels, a term coined in 1926. Many of these early motels are still popular and are in operation, as in
2470-492: A room in a distant city. The main roads into major towns therefore became a sea of orange or red neon proclaiming VACANCY (and later C O L O R TV, air conditioning, or a swimming pool) as competing operators vied for precious visibility on crowded highways. Other venues for advertising were local tourist bureaus and postcards provided for free use by clients. A rating in the Directory of Motor Courts and Cottages by
2565-459: A sealed sign, and a design for the internal electrodes of the sign that prevented their degradation by sputtering. In 1923, Georges Claude and his French company Claude Neon introduced neon gas signs to the United States by selling two to a Packard car dealership in Los Angeles . Earle C. Anthony purchased the two signs reading "Packard" for $ 1,250 apiece. Neon lighting quickly became
2660-399: A small metal shell with two wires protruding through the glass to which the sign wiring will later be attached. All welds and seals must be leak-proof at high vacuum before proceeding further. The tube is attached to a manifold which is then attached to a high-quality vacuum pump. The tube is then evacuated of air until it reaches a vacuum level of a few torr . The evacuation is paused, and
2755-611: A text can be written or a picture drawn, including various decorations, especially in advertising and commercial signage . By programming sequences of switching parts on and off, there are many possibilities for dynamic light patterns that form animated images . In some applications, neon tubes are increasingly being replaced with LEDs , given the steady advance in LED luminosity and decreasing cost of high-brightness LEDs. However, proponents of neon technology maintain that they still have significant advantages over LEDs. Neon illumination
2850-466: A tip for service. In the 1940s, most construction ground to a near-halt as workers, fuel, rubber, and transport were pulled away from civilian use for the war effort. What little construction did take place was typically near military bases where every habitable cabin was pressed into service to house soldiers and their families. The post-war 1950s ushered in a building boom on a massive scale. By 1947, approximately 22,000 motor courts were in operation in
2945-432: A variety of bright colors when the tube has been coated on the interior with ultraviolet-sensitive phosphors after being bent into shape. An alternative way of processing finished neon tubes has also been used. Because the only purpose of bombardment by electrical means is to purify the interior of tubes, it is also possible to produce a tube by heating the tube externally either with a torch or with an oven, while heating
Crystal River Tourist Camp - Misplaced Pages Continue
3040-433: A very high internal impedance), since the tube has a negative characteristic electrical impedance . Standard tube tables established in the early days of neon are still used that specify the gas fill pressures, in either Ne or Hg/Ar, as a function of tube length in feet, tube diameter and transformer voltage. The standard traditional neon transformer, a magnetic shunt transformer, is a special non-linear type designed to keep
3135-623: A very limited selection of continental breakfast foods but have no restaurant, bar, or room service. Journey's End Corporation (founded 1978 in Belleville, Ontario ) built two-story hotel buildings with no on-site amenities to compete directly in price with existing motels. Rooms were comparable to a good hotel but there was no pool, restaurant, health club, or conference center. There was no room service and generic architectural designs varied little between cities. The chain targeted "budget-minded business travelers looking for something between
3230-468: A work function of roughly 2 eV whereas tungsten at room temperature has a work of 4.0 eV. This represents the cathode drop or electron energy required to remove electrons from the surface of the cathode. This avoids the necessity of using a hot wire thermoelectric cathode such as is used in conventional fluorescent lamps. And for that reason, neon tubes are extremely long lived when properly processed, in contrast to fluorescent tubing, because there
3325-548: Is 30 mA for general use, with 60 mA used for high-brightness applications like channel letters or architectural lighting. 120 mA sources are occasionally seen in illuminating applications, but are uncommon since special electrodes are required to withstand the current, and an accidental shock from a 120 mA transformer is much more likely to be fatal than from the lower current supplies. The efficiency of neon lighting ranges between that of ordinary incandescent lights and that of fluorescent lamps , depending on color. On
3420-480: Is coated with translucent paint to produce colored light. In this way, several different colors can be produced inexpensively from a single glowing tube. Over time, elevated temperatures, thermal cycling, or exposure to weather may cause the colored coating to flake off the glass or change its hue. A more expensive alternative is to use high-quality colored glass tubing, which retains a more stable appearance as it ages. Light-emitting tubes form colored lines with which
3515-413: Is known as a glass bender, neon bender or tube bender. The neon tube is made out of 4 or 5-foot long straight sticks of hollow glass sold by sign suppliers to neon shops worldwide, where they are manually assembled into individual custom designed and fabricated lamps. Tubing in external diameters ranging from about 8–15 mm with a 1 mm wall thickness is most commonly used, although 6 mm tubing
3610-452: Is no wire filament as there is in a fluorescent tube to burn out like a common light bulb. The principal purpose of doing this is to purify the interior of the tube before the tube is sealed off so that when it is operated, these gases and impurities are not driven off and released by the plasma and the heat generated into the sealed tube, which would quickly burn the metal cathodes and mercury droplets (if pumped with argon/mercury) and oxidize
3705-413: Is now commercially available in colored glass tubes. The tube is heated in sections using several types of burners that are selected according to the amount of glass to be heated for each bend. These burners include ribbon, cannon, or crossfires, as well as a variety of gas torches. Ribbon burners are strips of fire that make the gradual bends, while crossfires are used to make sharp bends. The interior of
3800-469: Is the slow absorption of neon gas into the glass walls, but even this process can take over 50 years. This extended lifespan makes neon lights ideal for architectural lighting in homes, where they can be shaped to fit tight spaces and provide years of illumination. Neon sign makers bend heated glass tubes , carefully following a pattern. They use a blow hose to keep the tube's shape and avoid overheating sections. Bends are tricky, requiring quick work before
3895-438: Is used to produce only about one-third of the colors (mostly shades of red and orange , and some warmer or more intense shades of pink ). The greatest number of colors (including all shades of blue , yellow , green , violet , and white , as well as some cooler or softer shades of pink) produced by filling with another inert gas, argon, and a drop of mercury (Hg) which is added to the tube immediately after purification. When
Crystal River Tourist Camp - Misplaced Pages Continue
3990-458: Is valuable to invoke the 1940s or 1950s nostalgia in marketing and in the historic restoration of architectural landmarks from the neon era. Architecture in the streamline moderne era often deployed neon to accent structural pigmented glass built into the façade of a 1930s or 1940s structure; many of these buildings now qualify for inclusion on historic registers such as the U.S. National Register of Historic Places if their historic integrity
4085-539: The Second World War , phosphor materials were researched intensively for use in color televisions. About two dozen colors were available to neon sign designers by the 1960s, and today there are nearly 100 available colors. Suddenly we were in down-town Seattle and lights were exploding around me like skyrockets on the Fourth of July. Red lights, blue lights, yellow lights, green, purple, white, orange, punctured
4180-425: The phosphor layer. Different phosphor-coated tubing sections may be butt welded together using glass working torches to form a single tube of varying colors, for effects such as a sign where each letter displays a different color letter within a single word. "Neon" is used to denote the general type of lamp, but neon gas is only one of the types of tube gases principally used in commercial application. Pure neon gas
4275-521: The southwestern United States , a handful of tourist homes were opened by African Americans as early as the Great Depression due to the lack of food or lodging for travelers of color in the Jim Crow conditions of the era. There were things money couldn't buy on Route 66. Between Chicago and Los Angeles you couldn't rent a room if you were tired after a long drive. You couldn't sit down in
4370-618: The "neon era". Many of these signs remain in use to this day. In some motels, a handful of rooms would be larger and contain kitchenettes or apartment-like amenities; these rooms were marketed at a higher price as "efficiencies" as their occupants could prepare food themselves instead of incurring the cost of eating all meals in restaurants. Rooms with connecting doors (so that two standard rooms could be combined into one larger room) also commonly appeared in both hotels and motels. A few motels (particularly in Niagara Falls, Ontario , where
4465-492: The 1920s and 1930s provided running water, picnic grounds, and restroom facilities. Auto camps predated motels by a few years, established in the 1920s as primitive municipal camp sites where travelers pitched their own tents. As demand increased, for-profit commercial camps gradually displaced public campgrounds. Until the first travel trailers became available in the 1930s, auto tourists adapted their cars by adding beds, makeshift kitchens and roof decks. The next step up from
4560-517: The 1970s and 1980s, independent motels were losing ground to chains such as Motel 6 and Ramada, existing roadside locations were increasingly bypassed by freeways, and the development of the motel chain led to a blurring of motel and hotel. While family-owned motels with as few as five rooms could still be found, especially along older highways, these were forced to compete with a proliferation of Economy Limited Service chains. ELS hotels typically do not offer cooked food or mixed drinks; they may offer
4655-597: The American Automobile Association was just one of many credentials eagerly sought by independent motels of the era. Regional guides (such as Official Florida Guide by A. Lowell Hunt or Approved Travelers Motor Courts ) and the food/lodging guidebooks published by restaurant reviewer Duncan Hines ( Adventures in Good Eating , 1936 and Lodging for a Night , 1938) were also valued endorsements. The referral chain in lodging originated in
4750-562: The Mississippi River) until the 1960s. Both built national supply chain and reservation systems while aggressively removing properties not meeting minimum standards. In 1963, their paths diverged. Quality Courts became Quality Inn , abandoning its former co-operative structure to become a for-profit corporation, use shareholder capital to build entirely company-owned locations, and require its members to become franchisees, while Best Western retained its original member-owned status as
4845-535: The U.S. alone; a typical 50-room motel in that era cost $ 3000 per room in initial construction costs, compared to $ 12,000 per room for metropolitan city hotel construction. By 1950 there were 50,000 motels serving half of the 22 million U.S. vacationers; a year later motels surpassed hotels in consumer demand. The industry peaked in 1964 with 61,000 properties and fell to 16,000 properties by 2012. Many motels began advertising on colorful neon signs that they had "air cooling" (an early term for "air conditioning") during
SECTION 50
#17328011567824940-507: The US National Register of Historic Places . Motels differ from hotels in their location along highways, as opposed to the urban cores favored by hotels, and their orientation to the outside (in contrast to hotels, whose doors typically face an interior hallway). Motels almost by definition include a parking lot, while older hotels were not usually built with automobile parking in mind. Because of their low-rise construction,
5035-632: The United States (1939, U.S. Travel Bureau) specialized in accommodations. Segregation of U.S. tourist accommodation would legally be ended by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and by a court ruling in Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States affirming that Congress' powers over interstate commerce extend to regulation of local incidents (such as racial discrimination in a motel serving interstate travelers) which might substantially and harmfully affect that commerce. The term "motel" originated from
5130-469: The beach-front motel instantly became a success. In major beach-front cities such as Jacksonville, Florida , Miami, Florida , and Ocean City, Maryland , rows of colorful motels such as the Castaways, in all shapes and sizes, became commonplace. The original motels were small, locally owned businesses which grew around two-lane highways which were main street in every town along the way. As independents,
5225-407: The business risk with the franchisee while franchise corporations profited. Some franchise contracts restricted the franchisee's ability to sell the business as a going concern or leave the franchise group without penalty. For the chain, the franchise model allowed a higher level of product standardization and quality control than was possible as a referral chain model while allowing expansion beyond
5320-490: The case of the 3V Tourist Court in St. Francisville, Louisiana , built in 1938. During the Great Depression, those still traveling (including business travelers and traveling salespeople) were under pressure to manage travel costs by driving instead of taking trains and staying in the new roadside motels and courts instead of more costly established downtown hotels where bell captains , porters , and other personnel would all expect
5415-555: The chain repositioned itself as a mid-price hotel brand. The Twin Bridges Marriott was demolished for parkland in 1990. Many independent 1950s-era motels would remain in operation, often sold to new owners or renamed, but continued their steady decline as clients were lost to the chains. Often the building's design, as traditionally little more than a long row of individual bedrooms with outside corridors and no kitchen or dining hall, left it ill-suited to any other purpose. In
5510-488: The coin-operated Magic Fingers vibrating bed were briefly popular; introduced in 1958, these were largely removed in the 1970s due to vandalism of the coin boxes. The American Hotel Association (which had briefly offered a Universal Credit Card in 1953 as forerunner to the modern American Express card) became the American Hotel & Motel Association in 1963. As many motels vied for their place on busy highways,
5605-592: The depression as governments attempted to create employment, but the roadside cabin camps were primitive, basically just auto camps with small cabins instead of tents. The 1935 City Directory for San Diego , California, lists "motel"-type accommodations under tourist camps. One initially could stay in the Depression-era cabin camps for less than a dollar per night, but small comforts were few and far between. Travelers in search of modern amenities soon would find them at cottage courts and tourist courts. The price
5700-656: The development of a lighting product. After 1902, Georges Claude 's company in France, Air Liquide , began producing industrial quantities of neon, essentially as a byproduct of their air liquefaction business. From December 3–18, 1910, Claude demonstrated two 12-metre (39 ft) long bright red neon tubes at the Paris Motor Show . This demonstration lit a peristyle of the Grand Palais (a large exhibition hall). Claude's associate, Jacques Fonsèque, realized
5795-410: The early 1930s, originally serving to promote cabins and tourist courts. A predecessor of the modern "franchise chain" model, a referral chain was a group of independent motel owners in which each member lodge would voluntarily meet a set of standards and each property would promote the others. Each property would proudly display the group's name alongside its own. United Motor Courts, founded in 1933 by
SECTION 60
#17328011567825890-516: The early 1990s are used, especially when low Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) is needed, such as in locations near high-fidelity sound equipment. At the typical frequency of these solid state transformers, the plasma electron-ion recombination time is too long to extinguish and reignite the plasma at each cycle, unlike the case at power line frequency . The plasma does not broadcast high frequency switching noise and remains ionized continually, becoming radio noise free. The most common current rating
5985-442: The electrode with a radio frequency induction heating (RFIH) coil. While this is less productive, it creates a cleaner custom tube with significantly less cathode damage, longer life and brilliance, and can produce tubes of very small sizes and diameters, down to 6 mm OD. The tube is heated thoroughly under high vacuum without external electrical application, until the outgassed gases can be seen to have been totally depleted and
6080-410: The full-service luxury hotels and the clean-but-plain roadside inns", but largely drew individual travelers from small towns who traditionally supported small roadside motels. International chains quickly followed this same pattern. Choice Hotels created Comfort Inn as an economy limited service brand in 1982. New limited-service brands from existing franchisors provided market segmentation ; by using
6175-415: The gasified form by the vacuum pump. The greatest impurities that are driven off this way are the gases that coat the inside wall of the tubing by adsorption , mainly oxygen, carbon dioxide, and especially water vapor. The current also heats the electrode metal to over 600 °C, producing a bright orange incandescent color. The cathodes are prefabricated hollow metal shells with a small opening (sometimes
6270-478: The glass hardens. Mistakes are a pain, potentially forcing a restart. Tubes are welded together, pumped clean, and filled with mercury. Any mistake after filling means scrapping the whole thing, as mercury fumes are dangerous. Completed tubes are connected in series, with proper insulation to prevent damage. A cold cathode electrode is melted (or welded ) to each end of the tube as it is finished. The hollow electrodes are also traditionally lead glass and contain
6365-427: The hot summers or were "heated by steam" during the cold winters. A handful used novelty architecture such as wigwams or teepees . The 1950s and 1960s was the pinnacle of the motel industry in the United States and Canada. As older mom-and-pop motor hotels began adding newer amenities such as swimming pools or color TV (a luxury in the 1960s), motels were built in wild and impressive designs. In-room gimmicks such as
6460-401: The interior gases and cause immediate tube failure. The more thorough the purification of the tube is, the longer lasting and stable the tube will be in actual operation. Once these gases and impurities are liberated under pre-filling bombardment into the tube interior they are quickly evacuated by the pump. While still attached to the manifold, the tube is allowed to cool while pumping down to
6555-442: The lowest pressure the system can achieve. It is then filled to a low pressure of a few torrs (millimeters of mercury) with one of the noble gases , or a mixture of them, and sometimes a small amount of mercury. This gas fill pressure represents roughly 1/100th of the pressure of the atmosphere. The required pressure depends on the gas used and the diameter of the tube, with optimal values ranging from 6 Torr (0.8 kPa) (for
6650-459: The maximum practical size of a tightly held ownership chain. In some cases, loosely knit ownership chains (such as Travelodge ) and referral chains (such as Quality Courts, founded in 1939 by seven motel operators as a non-profit referral system) were converted to franchise systems. Quality Courts (1939) and The Best Western Motels (1946) were both originally referral chains and largely marketed together (as Quality Courts were predominantly east of
6745-450: The motel could appear anywhere on the vast network of two-lane highways. Motels are typically constructed in an I-, L-, or U-shaped layout that includes guest rooms; an attached manager's office; a small reception; and in some cases, a small diner and a swimming pool. A motel was typically single-story with rooms opening directly onto a parking lot, making it easy to unload suitcases from a vehicle. A second story, if present, would face onto
6840-667: The motels under one common brand. Alamo Plaza Hotel Courts , founded 1929 in East Waco, Texas , was the first such chain with seven motor courts by 1936 and more than twenty by 1955. With Simmons furniture, Beautyrest mattresses on every bed, and telephones in every room, the Alamo Plaza rooms were marketed as "tourist apartments" under a slogan of "Catering to those who care." In 1935, building contractor Scott King opened King's Motor Court in San Diego, California , renaming
6935-420: The need for inexpensive, easily accessible overnight accommodation sites close to the main routes led to the growth of the motel concept. Motels peaked in popularity in the 1960s with rising car travel, only to decline in response to competition from the newer chain hotels that became commonplace at highway interchanges as traffic was bypassed onto newly constructed freeways . Several historic motels are listed on
7030-431: The night in a million places and tore the black satin pavement to shreds. I hadn’t seen neon lights before. They had been invented, or at least put in common use, while I was up in the mountains and in that short time the whole aspect of the world had changed. In place of dumpy little bulbs sputteringly spelling out Café or Theatre, there were long swooping spirals of pure brilliant colour. A waiter outlined in bright red with
7125-525: The number of rooms which would fit on any given amount of land was low compared to the high-rise urban hotels which had grown around train stations. This was not an issue in an era where the major highways became the main street in every town along the way and inexpensive land at the edge of town could be developed with motels, car dealerships, fuel stations, lumber yards, amusement parks, roadside diners, drive-in restaurants, theaters, and countless other small roadside businesses. The automobile brought mobility and
7220-618: The original property Travelodge in 1939 after having built two dozen more simple motel-style properties in five years on behalf of various investors. He incorporated and expanded the entire chain under the TraveLodge banner after 1946. In 1937, Harlan Sanders opened a motel and restaurant as Sanders Court and Café alongside a fuel station in Corbin, Kentucky ; a second location was opened in Asheville, North Carolina , but expansion as
7315-494: The other with argon/mercury. Some "neon" tubes are made without phosphor coatings for some of the colors. Clear tubing filled with neon gas produces the ubiquitous yellowish orange color with the interior plasma column clearly visible, and is the cheapest and simplest tube to make. Traditional neon glasses in America over 20 years old are lead glass that are easy to soften in gas fires, but recent environmental and health concerns of
7410-671: The outskirts of towns that were as quirky as their owners. Auto camps continued in popularity through the Depression years and after World War II, their popularity finally starting to diminish with increasing land costs and changes in consumer demands. In contrast, though they remained small independent operations, motels quickly adopted a more homogenized appearance and were designed from the start to cater purely to motorists. In town, tourist homes were private residences advertising rooms for auto travelers. Unlike boarding houses , guests at tourist homes were usually just passing through. In
7505-514: The possibilities for a business based on signage and advertising. By 1913 a large sign for the vermouth Cinzano illuminated the night sky in Paris, and by 1919 the entrance to the Paris Opera was adorned with neon tube lighting. Over the next several years, patents were granted to Claude for two innovations still used today: a "bombardment" technique to remove impurities from the working gas of
7600-491: The pressure as high as the bombarder will allow to ensure maximum power dissipation and heating. Bombarding transformers may be specially made for this use, or may be repurposed electrical utility distribution transformers (the type seen mounted on utility poles) operated backwards to produce a high voltage output. This very high power dissipation in the tube heats the glass walls to a temperature of several hundred degrees Celsius, and any dirt and impurities within are drawn off in
7695-456: The pressure drops to a high vacuum again. Then the tube is filled, sealed and the mercury dropped and shaken. The finished glass pieces are illuminated by either a neon sign transformer or a switched-mode power supply , usually running at voltages ranging between 2–15 kV and currents between 18 and 30 mA (higher currents available on special order.) These power supplies operate as constant-current sources (a high voltage supply with
7790-416: The process to ensure that the electrodes are adequately heated without melting the glass tube. The bombarding current is provided by a large transformer with an open-circuit voltage of roughly 15,000VAC to 23,000VAC. The bombarding transformer acts as an adjustable constant current source, and the actual voltage during operation depends on the length and pressure of the tube. Typically the operator will maintain
7885-587: The quality of accommodation varied widely from one lodge to another; while a minority of these properties were inspected or rated by the American Automobile Association and Canadian Automobile Association (which have published maps and tour book directories of restaurants and rooms since 1917), no consistent standard stood behind the "sanitized for your protection" banner. There was no real access to national advertising for local motels and no nationwide network to facilitate reservation of
7980-693: The rock walls. Underneath the motel is a large cave for which Cave City is named. The subterranean Crystal River runs through the cave's five chambers. The motel was abandoned for several years before being purchased and restored. It is now reopened as the Cave Courts Motel. This article about a property in Sharp County, Arkansas on the National Register of Historic Places is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Motor inn A motel , also known as
8075-571: The travel trailer was the cabin camp, a primitive but permanent group of structures. During the Great Depression , landholders whose property fronted onto highways built cabins to convert unprofitable land to income; some opened tourist homes . The (usually single-story) buildings for a roadside motel or cabin court were quick and simple to construct, with plans and instructions readily available in how-to and builder's magazines. Expansion of highway networks largely continued unabated through
8170-507: The tube is ionized by electrification, the mercury evaporates into mercury vapor, which fills the tube and produces strong ultraviolet light. The ultraviolet light thus produced excites the various phosphor coatings designed to produce different colors. Even though this class of neon tubes use no neon at all, they are still denoted as "neon." Mercury-bearing lamps are a type of cold-cathode fluorescent lamps . Each type of neon tubing produces two different possible colors, one with neon gas and
8265-484: The tube told its own story and was a sight to dwell upon and never forget." Following neon's discovery, neon tubes were used as scientific instruments and novelties. A sign created by Perley G. Nutting and displaying the word "neon" may have been shown at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904, although this claim has been disputed; in any event, the scarcity of neon would have precluded
8360-405: The tubes may be coated with a thin phosphorescent powder coating, affixed to the interior wall of the tube by a binding material. The tube is filled with a purified gas mixture, and the gas ionized by a high voltage applied between the ends of the sealed tube through cold cathodes welded onto the ends. The color of the light emitted by the tube may be just that coming from the gas, or the light from
8455-423: The various available exotic phosphors. Neon lights are exceptionally long-lasting due to their vibrant colors and the ability to craft tubes that function for decades . This longevity is crucial to their economic viability, given the labor-intensive creation process. Interestingly, smaller diameter tubes produce brighter neon light, but also have higher resistance. The primary reason for eventual neon tube failure
8550-436: The voltage across the tube raised to whatever level is necessary to produce the fixed current needed. The voltage drop of a tube is proportional to length and so the maximum voltage and length of tubing fed from a given transformer is limited. Generally, the loaded voltage drops to about 800 VAC at full current. The short-circuit current is about the same. Compact high frequency inverter-converter transformers developed in
8645-563: The workers has prompted manufacturers to seek more environmentally safe special soft glass formulas. One of the vexing problems avoided this way is lead glass's tendency to burn into a black spot emitting lead fumes in a bending flame too rich in the fuel/oxygen mixture. Another traditional line of glasses was colored soda lime glasses coming in a myriad of glass color choices, which produce the highest quality, most hypnotically vibrant and saturated hues. Still more color choices are afforded in either coating, or not coating, these colored glasses with
8740-412: Was built in 1925. The term referred to a type of hotel consisting of a single building of connected rooms whose doors faced a parking lot and in some circumstances, a common area or a series of small cabins with common parking. Motels are often individually owned, though motel chains do exist. As large highway systems began to be developed in the 1920s, long-distance road journeys became more common, and
8835-617: Was higher, but the cabins had electricity, indoor bathrooms, and occasionally a private garage or carport. They were arranged in attractive clusters or a U-shape. Often, these camps were part of a larger complex containing a filling station, a café, and sometimes a convenience store. Facilities like the Rising Sun Auto Camp in Glacier National Park and Blue Bonnet Court in Texas were "mom-and-pop" facilities on
8930-541: Was the Moore tube , which used nitrogen or carbon dioxide as the luminous gas and a patented mechanism for maintaining pressure. Moore tubes were sold for commercial lighting for a number of years in the early 1900s. The discovery of neon in 1898 by British scientists William Ramsay and Morris W. Travers included the observation of a brilliant red glow in Geissler tubes. Travers wrote, "the blaze of crimson light from
9025-416: Was the development of fluorescent tube coatings. Jacques Risler received a French patent in 1926 for these. Neon signs that use an argon/mercury gas mixture emit a good deal of ultraviolet light . When this light is absorbed by a fluorescent coating, preferably inside the tube, the coating (called a "phosphor") glows with its own color. While only a few colors were initially available to sign designers, after
#781218