I know this isn't your usual format, and it probably isn't your preference, but you've done an amazing job with this video, Fran. Excellent educational value, impeccable presentation and delivery, perfect production.
Thanks.... This was in the making since 2019. Had to put in a few days to condense all the data down to a workable script. There is no way I could do something like this on a regular basis.
Yin and Yang. As the system tries to dumb us all down, people like you do the opposite. And for this I am eternally grateful. Keep up the good work, and my little thumb thingy will be in the ascent.
Thank you for sharing this tidbit of knowledge. I used to sell electrical supplies in another life....never heard of Mr. Moore. Fascinating that the operational length of a single tube could be 200 feet. Moore was ahead of his time.
This is the first I have heard of this gas discharge tube for general lighting, and including a gas replenishment and a vibrator inside the tube - wow. Thanks.
I love these stories of engineers having brilliant ideas and just brute forcing the into existance with whatever technology they had. It may not have been practical but it was genious.
Your illustrations all show Moore to be left handed. As a left hander myself, I can see why Moore's systems were so complicated. Left handers all have to re-imagine work they do in a world biased to the needs of right handers. I have always wondered who was the main driving force for that alternate to incandescent, older forms of gas discharge types of lighting. Thanks to you I now know. Edison once again drops in my estimation for the suppression of proper credit he managed by his company's publicity. My 1950s school days in shop class were filled with GE "Progress Posters" on the walls, and the library books I found on electronics touted GE's Steinmetz, but Tesla was rather unknown to me. Of course such key technology developments are really a hierarchy of levels of genius, many unsung.
DMM was my mother's grandfather. She hoped that I had perhaps inherited a bit of his brilliance . . . but such brilliance comes only once in generations if it comes at all.
A bright, luminous video! The world needs more historic knowledge and context. The history of artificial light is a superb subject. Mr Moore was a genius, as other pioneers, inventing stuff of dreams before we even knew we loved it. Light tubes, flourescent or led, are still a workhorse in the light industry. In factories, schools, hospitals, shopping malls, arquitectural and domestic indoors, etc. Thanks FRAN Cheers 🇵🇹
I appreciate this. I was in the neon business from 1994 to 2014 as a glass bender forming the tubes for, assembling, installing, and servicing neon signs. I guess I owe my career to this man. Thank you for this.
Very interesting history of the inventions that Daniel Moore made, with an excellent presentation. It is amazing how many engineering innovations he did in the late 1800's before the scientists caught up with the theory of atoms and molecules. I am sorry too hear of his tragic ending.
Great video on a man that should be better known. I had heard the name and knew he'd done something with early electric lighting but nothing at all about what or anything else he'd done.
As someone whose living room is bathed in the light of 160 feet of fluorescent tubes (best mood stabilizer ever), I appreciate this look into their history.
Hey Fran, i have a few 16mm television commercials from the 60's that are tours if you want them! I think they are commercials for Archway cookies. I'm downsizing my collection of stuff, and you were rhe first person i thought of for these items!
A basic 2-stage Hazard Frought “HVAC” vacuum pump does the job for those tubes. A small CO2 bottle and a regulator is not expensive either. The external electrode idea makes it much easier than it otherwise would need to be.
The key difference to a 'neon' sign was the use of noble gasses to eliminate the need for refreshing the atmosphere inside the tubes. While neon, with it's orangey-red color, is the best known there are an assortment used and mixed along with mercury vapor to produce a variety of colors.
Neon bulbs are still made and are still very useful things. You can use them in: 1) Home made light dimmer circuits 2) Oscillators to make beeping noises or to do radio transmitters. 3) Radio receivers by biasing them just below where they strike. (works rather poorly) 4) Various blinking lights. 5) ESD detecting devices. 6) Mains voltage detectors including ones that give a rough measure of voltage. 7) UFO detectors.
@@JohnMulleeMy father used to have two different ones. One was for making actual contact. The other was the screwdriver one that is likely like the one you have. One leg on the NE-2 goes to the blade of the screw driver and the other goes to a metal tube that is inside the plastic handle.
Iirc it was usagi electric channel that said that they used also to be used like memory in electronic countets. He did say that the characteristics of modern ones don't suit that use though as they don't strike or extinguish at the same voltages old ones did. The idea was you could use them as a counter display but they were also the data containing element as well, ie you only needed the neon bulbs and not a data holder and a display.
@@crabby7668 Yes, you can build a counter out of a string of NE-2 based flip-flops. It takes two bulbs and a few other parts per bit in the counter. I saw one many years back that did this for the faster counting stages and then drove an electro-mechanical counter about once every 10 seconds for the rest of it. The thing was counting how many widgets the punch machine punched out.
I’ve made neon tubes since the 70s. It’s been a while, but I knew people who collected Geissler tubes. They are a different thing than neon. Some glass artists still make them.
That's really fascinating, I never knew heard of CO2 light tubes, let alone wondered who invented neon indicator lamps. Turns out this Moore chap was pretty interesting. Purely coincidentally, I'm working on a "retro look" device which will use neon indicators.
Great history lesson, Fran! My wife and I have an original Geissler tube and a Crookes Paddlewheel tube in our collection and it’s great to hear Moore get some love. His current/temperature activated mercury valve was brilliant.
These history lessons are fantastic. There is a ham radio TH-camr over in the UK who has supplemented his ham electronic with history lessons of various communications related topics. I think you have hit upon a great subtopic that you can continue with. Many of these history snippets have been "lost in time" but need to be taught.
07:39 I still have a few of those little neon bulbs, souvenirs of a career in telecommunications. IIRC they were used as power indicator lamps. Nice to hear how they originated.
Imagine how mesmerizing it would have been 150 years ago. You've only ever seen dim flickering amber light from candles, oil lamps, acetylene miners lamps, and gas gause lamps, and early incandescent lamps. All of a sudden you see a futuristic, hollow glass tube, emitting a bluish, cold white. It must have seemed like futuristic alien technology.
I think Fran found her stride. This content is top notch and I foresee that she will star finding that traction that she has been looking for for a while. Good luck with this new format!
Poor bloke was shot dead "Moore was shot to death on the lawn of his home in East Orange, New Jersey, by an unemployed inventor who became enraged after finding that an invention he filed for was already the subject of a patent granted to Moore" Keep up the great video's Fran.
Thanks for covering the overview of D. MacFarland Moore's remarkable achievements. You continue your legacy of digging up the most forgotten but interesting technologies and devices before the rest of the TH-camrs who strive to do that. You diplomatically didn't play up the idea that Edison sought to maximize his own fame and legendary status with the public, including neutralizing the work of fellow inventors who might be rivals to his credits and his target markets. When Edison asked employee Moore "What's wrong with MY light?" and Moore undiplomatically replied "it's too dim, too red, and too hot" he undoubtedly gained a quiet enemy for life. Edison had a reputation for being petty and vindictive towards detractors and rivals. The record strongly suggests Edison meant to ensure that Moore's system would never gain widespread use, his company would go bankrupt, and Moore's name relegated to the dustbin of history. It would not be the first or the last time IP has been purchased primarily to keep rival solutions to the same problem (those using entirely different, incompatible technologies that could not be incorporated into the new owner's existing ones) safely off the market.
Granted the whole obvious *murder is bad* aspect aside, that is an interesting bit in retrospect how two people (at least) Independently Invented the Concept. A devil’s advocate could even tell a sort of “inverse” of this story, you make something but are beat out by the other guy etc. Interesting how often this happens design/theory wise. Either way really neat video! I love these types of lamps, would love to make one sometime. That and i want a SULFUR LAMP.
I like it, Fran. Your wording, pronunciation and tone seemed pretty much ideal to me. .. and what a relief to hear a real speaker! It's an interesting story, but in my life fluorescents were largely used in businesses, seldom at home (except over washing sinks). Perhaps that explains why they are poorly understood.
For ages i've been hoping to see some actual artifacts from moore's lamps other tha just illustrations or photos. I hope someday to be able to build a small replica of a moore light
Hi Fran, been watching you for awhile now, and your channel is always interesting! Just watched your old video " Coping with bullying and abuse" I had no idea. I'm a straight 65 year male, and I think you are very attractive. Don't sell yourself short! Keep up the good work! No place for hate!
Very interesting, little known inventions. A bit ironic that he had trouble hanging on to co2, while apparently now we have trouble by producing too much. I wonder if his invention could be used as a co2 scrubber (whilst producing usable light and carbon and oxygen to burn again!)? Yes I know its a perpetual motion idea.
Forty years working with electronics and still learning from Fran.Thank you.
Holy moly, this was epic engineering history! Thank you Fran!!
As a 64yo EE, this is the first time I've heard of this obscure piece of history ! Thanks Fran !
I know this isn't your usual format, and it probably isn't your preference, but you've done an amazing job with this video, Fran. Excellent educational value, impeccable presentation and delivery, perfect production.
Thanks.... This was in the making since 2019. Had to put in a few days to condense all the data down to a workable script. There is no way I could do something like this on a regular basis.
Au contraire, the phrasing of the narrative is jerky, strange and unconventional. I've seldom heard worse.
@@NoName-zn1sb Louse!
@@NoName-zn1sb feel better now?
@@FranLabyou're on to something big here. Clear, concise, and your mellow voice all adds up to a popular series
Now this is the type of history I really like watching! You really nailed it Fran!
Yin and Yang. As the system tries to dumb us all down, people like you do the opposite. And for this I am eternally grateful. Keep up the good work, and my little thumb thingy will be in the ascent.
Thank you for sharing this tidbit of knowledge. I used to sell electrical supplies in another life....never heard of Mr. Moore. Fascinating that the operational length of a single tube could be 200 feet.
Moore was ahead of his time.
This is the first I have heard of this gas discharge tube for general lighting, and including a gas replenishment and a vibrator inside the tube - wow. Thanks.
Really interesting video! I was not aware of Mr Moore's contribution to lighting technology at all. Thanks for sharing the story. Cheers!
I love these stories of engineers having brilliant ideas and just brute forcing the into existance with whatever technology they had. It may not have been practical but it was genious.
Fran, that is why we watch you. You tess us about, often even show us amazing gadgets of the past. Oh, I also miss you making things.
I love her historical bits
"Blinded By The Light" ~ Manfred Mann's Earth Band (1976)
Written and first recorded by Springsteen.
Your illustrations all show Moore to be left handed. As a left hander myself, I can see why Moore's systems were so complicated. Left handers all have to re-imagine work they do in a world biased to the needs of right handers.
I have always wondered who was the main driving force for that alternate to incandescent, older forms of gas discharge types of lighting. Thanks to you I now know. Edison once again drops in my estimation for the suppression of proper credit he managed by his company's publicity. My 1950s school days in shop class were filled with GE "Progress Posters" on the walls, and the library books I found on electronics touted GE's Steinmetz, but Tesla was rather unknown to me. Of course such key technology developments are really a hierarchy of levels of genius, many unsung.
I love all of these vacuum electronic gizmos from the late 19th to early 20th Century.
Fran, you are the coolest!
DMM was my mother's grandfather. She hoped that I had perhaps inherited a bit of his brilliance . . . but such brilliance comes only once in generations if it comes at all.
A great history lesson that Wasn't taught in school. Thanks Fran. Great stuff.
A bright, luminous video!
The world needs more historic knowledge and context. The history of artificial light is a superb subject.
Mr Moore was a genius, as other pioneers, inventing stuff of dreams before we even knew we loved it. Light tubes, flourescent or led, are still a workhorse in the light industry. In factories, schools, hospitals, shopping malls, arquitectural and domestic indoors, etc.
Thanks FRAN
Cheers 🇵🇹
LED is boring, plasma is the king.
Love this techy history. Nicely narrated by Fran.
Jeez, i love these stories🍀
One of the most interesting things I never knew...thanks !
The trying and vexing life of an inventor
Wonderful video, Fran!
Excellent video! Very clear explanation of the technology behind the precursor of fluorescent lighting. Thank you!!!
I appreciate this. I was in the neon business from 1994 to 2014 as a glass bender forming the tubes for, assembling, installing, and servicing neon signs. I guess I owe my career to this man. Thank you for this.
Very interesting history of the inventions that Daniel Moore made, with an excellent presentation. It is amazing how many engineering innovations he did in the late 1800's before the scientists caught up with the theory of atoms and molecules. I am sorry too hear of his tragic ending.
Thats crazy.
I always thought that type of light was invented way way way way later.
Interesting to see
Ohhh, I read about this in a physics book from 1904 and always wanted to try the experiments, described in this book!
Wow, mind blown... I never of this man. Awesome job Fran!
Well done! I love stuff like this. Really interesting history.
That was great.
It would be nice to hear the story of regular fluorescent lights too.
I learned something new. This has been a good day. Thanks!
That was so interesting . Thank you Fran
Another exceptional video, Fran. I never heard of the guy or his tubes. More Moore representation!
Huh. The Moore you know!
Great video on a man that should be better known. I had heard the name and knew he'd done something with early electric lighting but nothing at all about what or anything else he'd done.
Every day is a day at school with Fran.
A fascinating video. So many inventions have come and gone over time. It is good to be reminded of some of what has been lost. Thanks.
As someone whose living room is bathed in the light of 160 feet of fluorescent tubes (best mood stabilizer ever), I appreciate this look into their history.
You must have one huge living room!
Oh no. Not at all. That's the special bit.@@bobboo540
@@bobboo540Or it's brighter than the surface of the sun ... Assuming it's 40x48in T12 tubes, that's 80,000 lumens, or more if they're HO lamps.
So why haven't I heard of him? Obviously he deserves to be better known! Thanks Fran
I wasn't aware of this mans work until now, very interesting
This is by far the most interesting video I have seen in a while. Sad ending but neon tube in that time surprised me.
Hey Fran, i have a few 16mm television commercials from the 60's that are tours if you want them! I think they are commercials for Archway cookies. I'm downsizing my collection of stuff, and you were rhe first person i thought of for these items!
Its such a shame that a Moore lamp installation never got preserved.
You'd be able to build one if you wanted.
A basic 2-stage Hazard Frought “HVAC” vacuum pump does the job for those tubes. A small CO2 bottle and a regulator is not expensive either. The external electrode idea makes it much easier than it otherwise would need to be.
Most definitely interesting!
Great mini documentary!
Back in the last century I ran a neon shop. Was the trade of a thousand details.
The key difference to a 'neon' sign was the use of noble gasses to eliminate the need for refreshing the atmosphere inside the tubes. While neon, with it's orangey-red color, is the best known there are an assortment used and mixed along with mercury vapor to produce a variety of colors.
Very well made. Good work, Fran.
Wow, this guy was cool. Good stuff Fran! 👍
Neon bulbs are still made and are still very useful things. You can use them in:
1) Home made light dimmer circuits
2) Oscillators to make beeping noises or to do radio transmitters.
3) Radio receivers by biasing them just below where they strike. (works rather poorly)
4) Various blinking lights.
5) ESD detecting devices.
6) Mains voltage detectors including ones that give a rough measure of voltage.
7) UFO detectors.
I have one of those detector neon lamps in the transparent handle of a screwdriver
@@JohnMulleeMy father used to have two different ones. One was for making actual contact. The other was the screwdriver one that is likely like the one you have. One leg on the NE-2 goes to the blade of the screw driver and the other goes to a metal tube that is inside the plastic handle.
Iirc it was usagi electric channel that said that they used also to be used like memory in electronic countets. He did say that the characteristics of modern ones don't suit that use though as they don't strike or extinguish at the same voltages old ones did.
The idea was you could use them as a counter display but they were also the data containing element as well, ie you only needed the neon bulbs and not a data holder and a display.
@@crabby7668 Yes, you can build a counter out of a string of NE-2 based flip-flops. It takes two bulbs and a few other parts per bit in the counter. I saw one many years back that did this for the faster counting stages and then drove an electro-mechanical counter about once every 10 seconds for the rest of it. The thing was counting how many widgets the punch machine punched out.
@@kensmith5694 interesting, thanks.
Those were some really brilliant solutions. Quite a bit to be learned from that to this day.
I’ve made neon tubes since the 70s. It’s been a while, but I knew people who collected Geissler tubes. They are a different thing than neon. Some glass artists still make them.
That was a great little history lesson, Fran. Thank you!
5:20 so those new types were basically EEFL tubes, as later used (and likely patented) by LG for backlighting purposes.
Thanks for the history and science information. I had no idea. Love your videos Fran.
That's really fascinating, I never knew heard of CO2 light tubes, let alone wondered who invented neon indicator lamps. Turns out this Moore chap was pretty interesting.
Purely coincidentally, I'm working on a "retro look" device which will use neon indicators.
Glad you found my Geissler tube picture useful (1:00) , it looked strangely familiar. 🙂
Ah! Awesome!
Great history lesson, Fran! My wife and I have an original Geissler tube and a Crookes Paddlewheel tube in our collection and it’s great to hear Moore get some love. His current/temperature activated mercury valve was brilliant.
These history lessons are fantastic. There is a ham radio TH-camr over in the UK who has supplemented his ham electronic with history lessons of various communications related topics. I think you have hit upon a great subtopic that you can continue with. Many of these history snippets have been "lost in time" but need to be taught.
07:39 I still have a few of those little neon bulbs, souvenirs of a career in telecommunications. IIRC they were used as power indicator lamps. Nice to hear how they originated.
Great Video!
So you recorded this is in the early 1900s and it took how long to get it uploaded onto TH-cam? 🙂
Hey Fran, any reason why closed captions are disabled?
Imagine how mesmerizing it would have been 150 years ago.
You've only ever seen dim flickering amber light from candles, oil lamps, acetylene miners lamps, and gas gause lamps, and early incandescent lamps.
All of a sudden you see a futuristic, hollow glass tube, emitting a bluish, cold white.
It must have seemed like futuristic alien technology.
*Thanks!* What? No chemists looked into why the CO2 was being destroyed?
Was the carbon a dust or a coating inside the tubes by the electrodes?
Why you did disable subtitles?
As tragic as the FM radio inventor. Cool video!
And also Philo Farnsworth with television.
I think Fran found her stride. This content is top notch and I foresee that she will star finding that traction that she has been looking for for a while. Good luck with this new format!
This was fantastic! I had never heard about this guy. An idea for your next one in this format - Nathan B. Stubblefield
Amazing, would love to see that in person. Reminds me of the microwave sulfur lighting tubes that never went anywhere
oh, thank you for telling me that.
Poor bloke was shot dead "Moore was shot to death on the lawn of his home in East Orange, New Jersey, by an unemployed inventor who became enraged after finding that an invention he filed for was already the subject of a patent granted to Moore" Keep up the great video's Fran.
FRAN-tastic Again. Great presentation. This is true history. Thanks, perfect
Awesome History!
Fantastic Fran, highly detailed history of a subject I only had a sketchy idea off, nice presentation too 🌻🌻😊
Makes a great name for an EV car company, everybody wants Moore.
Thanks for covering the overview of D. MacFarland Moore's remarkable achievements. You continue your legacy of digging up the most forgotten but interesting technologies and devices before the rest of the TH-camrs who strive to do that.
You diplomatically didn't play up the idea that Edison sought to maximize his own fame and legendary status with the public, including neutralizing the work of fellow inventors who might be rivals to his credits and his target markets. When Edison asked employee Moore "What's wrong with MY light?" and Moore undiplomatically replied "it's too dim, too red, and too hot" he undoubtedly gained a quiet enemy for life. Edison had a reputation for being petty and vindictive towards detractors and rivals. The record strongly suggests Edison meant to ensure that Moore's system would never gain widespread use, his company would go bankrupt, and Moore's name relegated to the dustbin of history. It would not be the first or the last time IP has been purchased primarily to keep rival solutions to the same problem (those using entirely different, incompatible technologies that could not be incorporated into the new owner's existing ones) safely off the market.
What happened to the CO2 to make the continuous replacement necessary ?
Back up the video just a bit.
Granted the whole obvious *murder is bad* aspect aside, that is an interesting bit in retrospect how two people (at least) Independently Invented the Concept.
A devil’s advocate could even tell a sort of “inverse” of this story, you make something but are beat out by the other guy etc.
Interesting how often this happens design/theory wise.
Either way really neat video! I love these types of lamps, would love to make one sometime. That and i want a SULFUR LAMP.
And then a limelight.
The NYC DEP actually considered using a sulfur lamp system in some of its very large underground water distribution chambers.
Thanks for another great presentation xxx
I love your voice and annunciation. Have you ever tried to get an assignment as a documentary narrator?
I like it, Fran.
Your wording, pronunciation and tone seemed pretty much ideal to me. .. and what a relief to hear a real speaker!
It's an interesting story, but in my life fluorescents were largely used in businesses, seldom at home (except over washing sinks). Perhaps that explains why they are poorly understood.
For ages i've been hoping to see some actual artifacts from moore's lamps other tha just illustrations or photos.
I hope someday to be able to build a small replica of a moore light
Hi Fran, my aging and science fiction addled brain is probably over simplifying things but sounds like CO2 in & O2 out would be useful on a spaceship.
So it worked like electrolysis of water, C atoms went to one side, O2 to the other?
Are there any of these lights in operation today?
Great presentation, Fran! Very interesting. And great video editing as well. Excellent narration/voiceover.
Hi Fran, been watching you for awhile now, and your channel is always interesting! Just watched your old video " Coping with bullying and abuse" I had no idea. I'm a straight 65 year male, and I think you are very attractive. Don't sell yourself short! Keep up the good work! No place for hate!
How did they do conpressed co2 back then?
That was extremely fascinating!
Great work
Very interesting, little known inventions.
A bit ironic that he had trouble hanging on to co2, while apparently now we have trouble by producing too much.
I wonder if his invention could be used as a co2 scrubber (whilst producing usable light and carbon and oxygen to burn again!)? Yes I know its a perpetual motion idea.
COOL! 👍👍👍👍👍
Wow, totally "en-lightening" :D
Thank you Fran :)
Thanks Fran
Great research and delivery! Thank you!
Excellent presentation of a to me unknown inventor!
220 feet?!? How did they transport light tubes that long? Were they manufactured on site somehow?
Great video Fran.
5:03 the Green brothers would like that article...
Great video, I thought I knew all there was to know on this topic...
Thank and Bless you Fran
Love this video! Keep it up!
Thanks Fran!