| Show Enough Power to Run Denver Used b by y Broadway Flashers Flashers' tl F i- i 1 f i 4 1 t I A t e iI M r rr r E 1 PPE r h. h 4 CA NO I t tn 1 a II LJ I t n Wi L d. d I. I 5 L f NEW YORK If If the Broadway of ot otIS I 1 IS 15 years yearl ago alo was a Great White WhiteWay WhiteWay I Way it seems leem dim by comparison I with the sea lea of twinkling dancing lights that greet greet a spectator today In In the 27 blocks between Times square and Columbus circle are incandescent lamps lamp and 22 miles mlles of neon tubing all used for advertising advertising adver displays When all aU these signs lien are flashing blinking and spinning at once they use energy at the rate of wats wets an hour enough power to light a city the size Ize of ot Denver The first tint major electrical display was erected In 1892 1802 on New Yorks York's Flatiron building and signs were much the same until 1912 when Frank C. C He Reilly Illy of Chicago constructed constructed con con- a running sign which told a constantly changing story In letters letten which moved across the lamp field This device worked much like a player piano Later the system was improved by bl placing electrical elements in tn the individual letters Neon tubing was Wal given one of ot its It first Ant commercial uses in Dec December 1925 1923 when it lettered the words word Ben Bel Hur Hun above a Times square I theater Today Toda an estimated 60 per percent percent cent of all aU New York electrical advertisements ad ad- are neon neon many of them combining neon with bulbs Meanwhile a new field eld has been developed for electric bulbs bulb in to animated animated ani sal mated flashers Dashers The pioneer of this business is 11 Douglas Dougla Leigh a 28 old year southern boy wonder who acquired rights on a European invention One of his signs Igns is a cigarette advertisement which runs a full five minutes while another advertises ad chewing gum by depicting depict ing lag a n colorful group of fish Asb Frames for these huge animated ads ad are designed in tn checkerboard fashion For each change In tn movement movement move move- ment meat even even the slightest lIghtest raising of an arm some arm some of the squares in the checkerboard must be knocked out All these motions are photographed photographed photo photo- graphed on a motion picture film dim when the sign is planned After Alter the spectacular has hll been erected the film tUm is projected on a battery of photoelectric cells in the control room room These rhese cells cell relay the Impression impression impression im Im- to the sign itself |
