Author Topic: OSA Lamps - German - info needed! (Read 14241 times)

Tim · « **on:** June 05, 2001, 09:01:00 pm »

Help! I'm looking for any information regarding the European lamp maker shown on this old pocket mirror, particularly their involvement in making neon glow lamps during the 1930s:

My interest stems from three early neon glow lamps with figural filaments that I have. All are stamped on the base "Made in Germany" with the initials "OSA". I am trying to determine if these glow lights predate similar American made glow lights.

If anyone has any history or information on this company I would be interested in hearing from you!

Another clue that may help me in dating them is the country of origin mark that's stamped on the base. When did "Germany" change to "Made in Germany" (or vice versa?)

Any German collectors or historians out here?

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-Tim
BulbCollector.com
DewCollector.com

Bob Masters · « **Reply #1 on:** June 06, 2001, 06:12:00 am »

Hey Tim,
Heck, I'm sure no expert, but I do know a few things. First off, it must be pre-WW2
because there is no "East" or "West" German distinction. The Logo reminds me of the German company Osram who was a lighting manufacturer among other things.

Other than that, what a completely cool thing to have ! Nice find !
-Bob-

Tim · « **Reply #2 on:** June 06, 2001, 05:03:00 pm »

Osram was the first thing to pop into my head too but why abbreviate a 5 letter name into a 3 letter name/acronym? I'm clueless. . .

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-Tim
BulbCollector.com
DewCollector.com

Bob Masters · « **Reply #3 on:** June 06, 2001, 07:51:00 pm »

Tim,
I may be going out on a limb here, but I'll bet after about 12 big mugs of dark German beer maybe it LOOKS like it spells Osram..........Ha Ha Ha.....
Seriously though, I have no idea.

Anybody else have any clues ?

James · « **Reply #4 on:** June 07, 2001, 09:30:00 am »

The OSA company is without doubt a subsidiary of German Osram, I've seen Osram lamps branded a few times like this. You can tell from the logo that yours is identical to the modern Osram one except for the words, and even today in the back of Osram catalogues, OSA is listed as one of their registered trade marks.

My guess is that OSA lamps were standard Osram products, manufactured for export to a country in which Osram was not permitted to brand lamps under their own name. In the UK and British Colonies, for instance, the Osram name was a trade mark of the General Electric Co. of London (no connection to GE of America). As such, Osram was not permitted to sell lamps under their own name in British colonies, and over here all their lamps were branded Wotan. It is possible that in some countries, they chose the name Osa instead of Wotan. This situation existed until quite recently, it was only in 1988 that Osram purchased the lampmaking activities of the GEC, and for the first time was able to brand all their lamps as Osram, worldwide.

FYI here's a photo of some OSA photoflash bulbs, these use the same brand name Vacublitz as is used for photoflash lamps sold under the Osram and Wotan names, and also look like they were actually manufactured by Philips.

Hope this helps!

James.

Bob Masters · « **Reply #5 on:** June 07, 2001, 10:38:00 am »

Thanks James for the wonderful information.
The more I know about an item, the more interesting it becomes.

You are a valuable asset to this group and your assistance is certainly appreciated !

Tim · « **Reply #6 on:** June 10, 2001, 11:59:00 pm »

Thanks for that information James - this will guide me in a better direction. It makes sense too since that pocket mirror came from France and the German glow lights I have were sold here in the US from what I can gather so far. Here's the "OSA" base marking that appears on my German glow lights:

If anyone has any information on Osram's involvement with figural neon glow lights, specifically the years when they were made or some kind of original sales material, I would be interested! I'm aware of Osram's production of "Osglim" spiral filament lamps which I think were first made in the 1920s but the figural bulbs I have really don't resemble the Osglim lamps I have.

Thanks again!

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-Tim
BulbCollector.com
DewCollector.com

James · « **Reply #7 on:** June 11, 2001, 08:49:00 am »

Hi Tim,

I'm afraid I don't have any more info on the neon glow lamps specifically, however Osglim should not be confused with the Osram we are talking about here.

There are two types of Osram lamps - German Osram, which is a trade name of Siemens, and British Osram which is a trade mark of the General Electric Co. of London. There has been no connection between the two companies since the first world war. Furthermore there is no connection between GE of the US and GEC of England.

"Osglim" was another brand name of GEC, which was applied to their neon glow lamps. "Osram" was used for metal filament lamps, and "Robertson" was used for carbon lamps. "Marconi-Osram" (also known as the M-O Valve Company) was the name under which GEC valves and radio tubes were sold.

The whole lot was cleared up in 1988 when German Osram bought a 51% share in the GEC's lampmaking activities, and subsequently took it all over.

Bob Masters · « **Reply #8 on:** June 12, 2001, 05:42:00 am »

James,

Thanks again for the super-informative response ! Do you know of any written histories of British or European bulb manufacturers ? I'd sure like to get my hands on some of that information. I grow more and more interested in overseas (at least to us here in the U.S.) manufacturers !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tim · « **Reply #9 on:** June 12, 2001, 09:34:00 am »

Thanks for clearing that up James. The ties and relationships between these overseas companies has always been confusing to me - this clears it up for me now.

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-Tim
BulbCollector.com
DewCollector.com

James · « **Reply #10 on:** June 12, 2001, 09:12:00 pm »

Hi Bob,

Perhaps the best history of British Osram's operations is a book called "The Story of the Lamp" which I believe Tim has scanned in and put on his site already. If you'd like more detailed info on the links between German and British Osram before the first World War, let me know and I will scan in and email to you a couple of early papers from Hugo Hirst, founder of the GEC. Or perhaps if Tim is reading this, it may instead be possible to host them permanently on this site as I've found out how to create PDF files properly now

Also more archive material is at http://www.marconi.com/media/everything.pdf

There is very little in print on corporate histories, but if you are interested in Philips Lighting, there were two superb volumes written by their Alex Heerding about 10 years ago. Sadly he died before the third and final volume was completed but the first explains a general social history of electric lighting firms in Europe up to I think about 1910, and the second takes it up to about 1925 dealing mainly with the Philips operations. For more recent info, Philips occasionally prints a history booklet which goes right up to the present day.

Details of the Edison-Swan operations are given in an out of print book "The Pageant of the Lamp" of which I have a copy and again could relistically scan in now that I could translate it into a small PDF file. This only goes up to about 1930 though, for more recent details of how Ediswan amalgamated with Metrovick and a whole host of other lampmakers, to then be incorporated into British Thomson-Houston and Associated Electrical Industries, refer to another out of print book "Anatomy of a Merger" by Lord Chandos, former chairman of BTH. I don't have a copy of that one but it would be obtainable through any main library.

There is also a history book of the British Siemens operation but I can't remember who wrote that, and in any case it doesn't feature much on their lighting involvement.

All this is a topic I find fascinating, but like you I already know quite a bit about my home country and would like to know more about what went on overseas. Ed Covington has done a stunning job in documenting the history of National, but finding info of anything like the same quality on Westinghouse and the smaller independents is virtually impossible. Gradually I am accumulating info and references to put together a similar document on lamp making in the UK, but I think I'll be retired by the time I get an opportunity to do it properly! One thing I will do fairly soon though is a timeline showing the links between and takeovers of each of the hundred or so lamp makers over here. There is already a pretty good one showing the larger firms which became part of GEC online at http://www.marconi.com/html/about/therootsofgec.htm and I will do something along these lines to cover all the rest which ended up as parts of the present Thorn, GE, Philips and Sylvania.

Tim · « **Reply #11 on:** June 20, 2001, 05:56:00 pm »

Hey James, thanks for the book titles and additional info on these companies. Finally (and I do mean finally!), I tracked down a copy of Pageant of the Lamp and it should be here shortly. I'll be looking into the other titles you mentioned. I already have a copy of Heerding's Vol I but have had no luck finding Vol II - I wasn't sure it even existed. For anyone reading this I highly recomend the Heerding book if you have any interest in overseas incandescent lamp history.

My offer is still open if you or anyone else has information that they would like to post online. I will of course credit your name with any material that you would like to share with others via this website.

Thanks James!

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-Tim
BulbCollector.com
DewCollector.com