Expanded Neon Museum in Las Vegas reopens

LAS VEGAS (AP) — In a city known for detonating buildings past their prime, Las Vegas' Neon Museum stands alone in its zeal for salvaging the blinking, glowing memories of Sin City's past.

The museum that once consisted of a dirt lot with a handful of retired motel and casino signs is stepping up to the big leagues, unveiling a visitors center Saturday and lighting up its large outdoor collection to allow night tours soon.

"I don't think there's another opportunity to experience the history of the city in such a unique way," said museum Executive Director Danielle Kelly. "It's a cultural experience as the signs being art, artifacts of innovative design."

The museum was founded in 1996 as a way to rescue old signs when buildings were demolished or remodeled. It has amassed some 160 signs, most housed in the Neon Bone yard just outside downtown on the north end of the Las Vegas Strip.

The hour-long guided tours that wind through the two-acre bone yard — and sell out weeks in advance — offer a visual history of Las Vegas. There's the museum's oldest sign: a 1930s relic that once marked a restaurant frequented by Boulder Dam construction workers. It's an entry point into the story of how that public works marvel shaped the southern Nevada economy, and how businesses relished the end of Prohibition.

Kelly said that with the changes and expanded tour capacity, the museum hopes to welcome 60,000 visitors this year — up from an average of 12,000.

Admission is $18 for adults and $12 for students, seniors, veterans, and Nevada residents. Children are free.

How Neon Signs Are Made

Neon Bulb

Neon bulbs are used throughout the world as indicating lights. Other gases are available to produce bulbs with varying and dazzling colors. These bulbs indicate whether water is flowing from the water purification plant to our house or whether the water is pouring out all over Main St. They indicate whether the hand brake is on in our car and whether our gas tank is nearing empty. We rely on these kinds of bulbs for a variety of things, including denoting whether the power is on for this monitor you are looking at.

The neon bulb can be used as an alternative electroscope to determine electric charge. When one electrode of the bulb is brought into contact with an object that is charged, a flash occurs. The neon bulb contains two electrodes in a space filled with neon gas. The light inside the neon bulb occurs nearest the negatively charged electrode (or cathode). When the bulb is lit with the 9-V transistor batteries note that the side of the bulb that is lit is always the side connected to the negative voltage of the batteries. If you switch the battery leads, the side of the bulb that lights will also switch. The light will always occur near the negatively charged electrode whether the source of charge is from a battery or from static charge.



The voltage difference causes an electric field to form which accelerates the electrons released by the cathode (negative electrode). These fast electrons then collide with the neon gas in the bulb causing the neon atom to lose an electron (ionization) or to shift an electron to a higher energy state (excited state). When the excited electron decays to a lower energy state or when the positive neon atom collects a free electron, energy will be released by the neon atom in the form of a photon or light flash. This causes the the red-orange light characteristic of neon. The flash occurs nearest the negative electrode because that is where the neon atom is most likely excited.

Iphone 3G Neon Clock

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Neon Architectural Terms

Arc: A line segment that is deflected at a certain angle to form a curve.
Awning: A shelter constructed of non-rigid materials on a supporting framework which projects from and is supported by an exterior wall of a building

Balustrade: An entire railing system (as along the edge of a balcony) including a top rail and its balusters, and sometimes a bottom rail
Canopy: A permanent roof structure attached to and supported by a building projecting over public property, but does not include a projected roof.
Capitals: The crowning feature of a column or pilaster
Coffer: To create a surface using recessed panels in ceilings, vaults or domes.
Column(A): A vertical support. Decorative columns usually consist of a base, circular shaft, and spreading capital.
Dome: A curved roof structure, more or less hemispherical in shape, covering an area.
Facade: The front or principle entrance of a building.
Pediment: In Classical architecture, a triangular piece of wall above the entablature.
Statuary: A collection of statues
Vault: An arched covering in stone or brick over any building.

Neon Lighting Terms

Chase:1) The illusion of movement in neon tubes or incandescent bulbs created by turning the light sources on and off in sequence. Chasing is more closely related to animated signs than to flashing. It is achieved by using a "chaser", and electrical component which can be programmed to provide the on and off sequence.
2) To decorate metal, typically by engraving or cutting.

• Column(B): Vertical rows of lamps in a lamp bank, or a vertical row of light emitting diodes in an LED matrix.
  
• Cove lighting: A type of indirect decorative illumination that is created by placing either neon or fluorescent tubes inside a light box to produce a halo effect.
  
• Double Neon: Each letter is formed with two lines of tubing, to give the appearance of varying strokes of letters.
  
• Exterior illumination: Illumination that is provided from a source separate from the sign
  
• Fiber optic display: A type of sign that transmits its message utilizing light directed through thread-like fibers of glass or plastic.
  
• Flash: to shine (a light) suddenly and usually brightly, but only for a short time
  
• Flasher: A mechanical device designed to interrupt the electrical current in a sign at regular intervals, turning the light source on and off.
  
• Halo: A ring of light. In sign making, the effect achieved by reverse channel letters, which appear to be ringed by light because the light source is reflecting on the background from which the letters are pegged out.
  
• Incandescent bulb: An electric lamp consisting essentially of a glass or quartz bulb, evacuated or filled with an inert gas in which a filament, commonly of tungsten, gives off light when it is heated to incandescence by electric current.
  
• Intensity: The density or opaqueness of a color. Also, the amount of light put out by a lamp.
  
• Internally illuminated: A sign which is lighted through the use of internal electric fixtures or lamp banks.
  
• LCD (liquid crystal display): A type of electronic changeable copy sign utilizing liquid crystals that become opaque or clear when exposed to a controlled voltage. They are sometimes used in time and temperature displays.
  
• LED (light-emitting diode): A type of electronic changeable copy sign that utilizes hundreds of light-emitting diodes - electronic ship and colored lens assemblies - in single and tri-color matrixes. LEDs are physically flexible and inexpensive to operate when compared with other message centers.
  
• Matrix: The number and amount of lighting units in a changeable message sign.
  
• Neon: A tasteless, colorless, inert gas. When an electric current is discharged through it, neon produces a reddish-orange glow. Neon is also used synonymously with a type of luminous tube sign where a glass tube is bent to a desired shape, fitted with an electrode at each end, the atmosphere is pumped and burned out, and the resulting vacuum is filled with a rare gas, such as neon, helium, argon, mercury vapor or a combination of gases.
  
• Oscilation: To move repeatedly from one position to another. A wave or an electric current which oscillates changes regularly in strength or direction.
  
• Pulse: A pulse is also a short burst of energy which is repeated regularly, such as a brief loud sound or a brief flash of light.
  
• Radiate: to produce (heat and/or light), or (of heat or light) to be produced. to spread out in all directions (from a central point). itself, such as a spotlight. Indirectly illuminated.