This topic is a departure from the intended topics to be brought forth in this web site. The subject involves the fluorescent lamp - not the incandescent lamp. The development of the fluorescent lamp deserves to be discussed in a web site devoted strictly to it; perhaps in time that will happen. The lamp itself is not the topic here but rather some of the people who were involved in its development at Nela Park, the headquarters of GE Lighting.

When men and women make a momentous impact on the welfare of society, and at the same time contribute substantially to the success of the lamp business, it is fitting that a tribute be paid to them. It is also incumbent on those who follow in time to make sure their names are not forgotten. Certainly it is not possible to acknowledge the efforts of all contributors; that is a misfortune of life. However, we would be remiss not to expend some effort in that direction. This short writeup is one such effort.

If it were possible for society to compile a list of the most important inventions and/or developments in human history it would have to be assumed that the fluorescent lamp would hold rank somewhere near the top. In the commercial and industrial world it provides extended areas of uniform brightness with little glare, at efficacies at least three times higher than incandescent lamps. The fluorescent lamp results in safety to a far greater extent than what its predecessor provided and has reached the point of being taken for granted. However, to those who develop lamps it is still regarded as a marvelous composition of glass, tungsten, phosphor, gas and other metals.

The story of the early work and the development phases has been told many times and the viewer is referred to those writings for a proper understanding of the business aspects and rivalries that existed during the early years. One can read the comprehensive study made by Arthur A. Bright, Jr., a version written by George Inman, one written by Richard Thayer, the account by Keating, or a brief treatment by Inman and Amick, which was written in 1946. That broad subject will not be broached here. Instead, the writer looks briefly at the lives of participants in the development some 65 years ago.

William Enfield was the Manager of the Lamp Development Laboratory during the fluorescent lamp development period. It was his task to assign an individual to be group leader of the nucleus of people who were to concentrate full time on the development of a practical fluorescent lamp. Enfield's chioce for that job was George E. Inman.

Nine persons were chosen by the writer as the main players in this early development work. Later in time some of the people changed, as did the nature of the contributions.

On Oct 14, 1941 U.S. Patent No. 2,259,040 was issued to George E. Inman; the filing date was Apr 22, 1936. It has generally been regarded as the foundation patent. However, some companies were working on the lamp at the same time as GE and some individuals had already filed for patents. GE strengthened its position when it purchased a German patent that preceeded Inman's. GE paid $180,000 for U.S. Patent No 2,182,732 that had been issued to Friedrich Meyer, Hans J. Spanner and Edmund Germer. While one might argue the real inventor of the fluorescent lamp, it is clear that GE was the first to introduce it.

Biographical sketches of "the nine-man team" follow, being listed in alphabetical order. Each player had his own talents and the diversity of their backgrounds was important to ensure success.

Aicher was the "youngster" on the team. A native of Leadville, CO, he attended E. Denver High school and graduated in Jun 1929. He then attended the University of Denver and in Jun 1933 was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering. His minor subject was Mathematics.

Aicher started to work at Nela Park in Feb 1934. From the standpoint of timing it couldn't have been better. He was there to see the start of the fluorescent lamp work and, as it turned out, he spent his entire working career in that area. Aicher first worked on various design aspects of the lamp as well as manufacturing techniques. He also worked on emission mixes.

Aicher's U.S. Patent 2,306,925 was for an ELECTRODE AND ITS FABRICATION. It made the SLIMLINE lamp practical. The world has followed in the adoption of this "overwind" electrode. He was co-developer of the POWER GROOVE lamp. His experimental techniques and results were beyond reproach.

John Aicher was awarded nine patents during his career and was nominated for a Steinmetz Award in 1975. Aicher married and had two daughters.

A native of Naples, NY, Harold Blake joined the Engineering Department of the National Electric Lamp Association on Jul 20, 1909. He transferred to the Lamp Development Laboratory in Jan 1911; later he was promoted to the position of Technical Director.

In the pre-fluorescent lamp days Blake contributed to the advancement in the use of getters in incandescent lamps. During his role as Technical Director a flood of new products were introduced into the marketplace. It was in this role (as a consultant) that he also acted during the development of the fluorescent lamp. One of his patents, U.S. 2,158,849, detailed the base for the LUMILINE lamp, which was also used on the first fluorescent lamp.

Harold Blake married and had four daughters. He retired to Mount Dora, FL.

W.L. Enfield was born in Chase, KS. He attended Kansas State Teachers College, the University of Chicago and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering in 1909 from Kansas State College.

Enfield started to work for GE on Feb 1, 1910 in the Engineering Department of the National Electric Lamp Association. He transferred into the Manufacturing Department in 1911 and then into the Special Engineering Department in 1913. He became Manager of the Lamp Development Laboratory in 1914. Enfield held that position until 1939, when he became a consulting engineer. He was in the role of Manager during the fluorescent lamp work. While he attended to administrative affairs Blake served as a technical advisor. His was also an inspirational role; he possessed a conciliatory voice when disagreements existed on lamp issues.

On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the founding of Kansas State College of Agriculture and Applied Science Enfield was awarded an honorary Doctor of Engineering degree in 1938. His character was such, however, that he didn't use the title "Doctor."

Enfield never took the credit for any development achieved in his group. He said - "No man ever invents anything by himself. Every invention is the result of the ideas and work of countless people." His philosophy might then be summarized with the following words: We stand on the shoulders of those who came before us and benefit from those who stand next to us.

Enfield married and had two daughters. He died of a heart attack in his office at Nela Park.

This writer has to conclude that the life of Theodore Frech was one of the most unique in GE's lighting history. Born in Somerville, NJ, at different times he served as Vice President and General Manager of the Peerless Motor Car Company - as well as Vice President of the General Electric Company. However, he spent the last twelve years of his GE career doing what he preferred to do - working at the bench doing experiments.

Frech first served as an assistant to Franklin S. Terry in the summer of 1901. Later in that year he worked at the Fostoria Glass Specialty Company in Fostoria, Ohio. In the early months of 1902 he worked at the Bryan-Marsh factory, a manufacturer of incandescent lamps, in Marlboro, Massachusetts and later in the year was with the California Incandescent Lamp Company in San Francisco. Frech was called back in early 1903 to perform special work for Terry and by summer was put in charge of the Columbia Incandescent Lamp Company in St. Louis. Not to rest, he packed his suitcase again and in the fall of the same year was working in the factory in Warren, Ohio.

Between the years 1904-1913 Frech held several positions in Cleveland, including the properties at 45th street (the former site of The Brush Electric Company) as well as working on the development of the tantalum filament lamp, the pressed tungsten filament lamp and the drawn tungsten filament lamp.

Some of National's founders had financial interest in the Peerless Motor Car Company in Cleveland. H.A. Tremaine was treasurer and his brother-in -law, J.B. Crouse, was Vice President. They enticed Frech to Peerless and so he wasn't with GE during the period 1913-1921.

From 1922 to late 1925 Frech was the Manager of the National Lamp Works. In May 1927 he became Manager of the Incandescent Lamp Department. In 1934 Frech retired as Vice President and General Manager of the Lamp Department. This move was made so that he could devote time to the things he really liked to do. This was at the beginning of the fluorescent lamp development period. Frech contributed to this effort with circuits, ballasts and phosphor coating techniques. He was issued 16 patents.

Theodore Frech married and had a daughter. He moved to Phoenix, AZ in 1946.

George Inman was born in Kenosha, WI, spent a short time in Patterson, NJ, but grew up in Warren, OH, where his father worked for the City in the Water Department. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from Colgate University in 1918, after which he served as an assistant in chemistry. Later, in 1923, he did graduate work in colloidal and physical chemistry at Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

Inman entered the Lamp Development Laboratory as a development engineer in 1919 and served in that capacity until 1952. He was a liason engineer during the period 1952-1956 and was Manager of Discharge Lamp Advance Engineering from 1956 to 1960, when he retired. He lectured at Case Institute of Technology from 1939 to 1955. In late 1934 he was chosen to lead the development of a practical fluorescent lamp.

In 1930 George Inman received a Charles A. Coffin Award. The award was given for contributions to "lamp mechanics." Quoting from the May 1931 issue of THE MAGAZINE OF LIGHT, "George E. Inman, although a chemist by training, has made signal offerings to improvement of the MAZDA lamp in the fields of physics and mechanics. Especially noteworthy is a contribution of a physical nature which has resulted in distinct improvements in our product. Mr. Inman has done much to improve the chemical getters applied to incandescent lamps, and his work in connection with the physical characteristics of glass as related in lamp fabrication has also been of great value."

In 1964 Inman was awarded the IES Gold Medal. In an announcement of that award it was stated in LIGHTING NEWS: "...In his first years at GE, he made valuable contributions working on problems related to filament lamp design and manufacture. Some of his developments were: a method for uniformly coating filaments with getter - a chemical agent used to obtain better vacuum and reduce bulb blackening; a steel mandrel dissolving process for coiled filaments; and a meter glow testing device for indicating impurities in incandescent lamps. For the latter device, Mr. Inman in 1930 received GE's Coffin award for unusual meritorious contribution."

The Inman patent of 1941 does not have some of the characteristics of lamps today. For example, the end discs of a LUMILINE lamp were used and direct heating of the electrodes was not possible. Starting was achieved by use of a starting stripe and a high voltage impressed from end to end. The Meyer-Spanner-Germer patent did employ a heatable electrode, which could be used to "activate" the emission material.

In 1938 George Inman presented the first IES paper on fluorescent lamps. His last patent, U.S. No 3,047,763, was for a "panel" lamp. It was a tremendously popular product within the engineering community but it did not achieve great usuage in application, for reasons other than technical.

Inman married and had two daughters and a son.

Gene Lemmers was a native of Cleveland, OH and was the only "hometown" member of the cooperative effort to develop the fluorescent lamp. He graduated from Glenville High School and attended Fenn College, the precursor of Cleveland State University.

Lemmer's career cannot be embellished by anything said here; his achievements are a matter of record. He was issued more than 77 patents in the area of high intensity discharge and fluorescent lamps. He worked at Nela Park from 1925 until shortly before his death in 1992.

In the early days of fluorescent lamp development Lemmers was involved in circuit and ballast design. He was also concerned with manufacturing techniques, as the requirements were vastly different from those of the incandescent lamp. Among his many accomplishments Gene was a codeveloper of the POWER GROOVE lamp (with John Aicher) and he also developed the RAPID START system of operation.

Lemmers married in 1932 and had a daughter and two sons.

Philip Pritchard was a native of Birmingham, England. As early as 1901 he worked at the Standard Electric Manufacturing Company in Niles, OH. He followed that experience with a stint at the Fostoria Lamp Works in Fostoria, OH and at the Canadian Sunbeam Incandescent Lamp Works in Toronto, Ontario. He started to work at Nela Park about 1913. He pioneered work in manufacturing as well as development, of incandescent, vacuum and radar tubes. He led the manufacturing effort on the fluorescent lamp.

During World War I Nela Park undertook the manufacture of pliotron transmitting tubes. About a year later it was also decided to manufacture Coolidge X-ray tubes at Nela, also under the supervision of Pritchard. Half-finished designs were handed to the Nela people and the final product was of better quality than any tubes made in the experimental laboratories in Schenectady. Such experience eminently qualified Pritchard for the work to come in the fluorescent era.

Pritchard married and had a daughter.

Willard Roberts was born in Newberg, OR. He graduated with Bachelor of Science degrees in Physics and Chemistry from Earlham College in Richmond, IN in 1911. In 1916 he earned a Ph.D. degree from the University of Chicago. He then served as an instructor in chemistry from 1916-1917 at Iowa State College. He served as a Lieutenant in the Sanitation Division of the U.S. Army during the period 1917-1918. Dr. Roberts started to work at Nela Park in 1919. He developed the first "white" phosphor for fluorescent lamps. He also developed phosphors for use on instrument dials with the use of "blacklights."

Dr. Roberts married and had a daughter and son.

Dick Thayer was a native of Pittsburgh, PA. He was a summa cum laude graduate of the University of Pittsburgh in 1928. He was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics.

Thayer joined GE at Nela Park in 1928 as a development engineer. His investigations regarding coiling machines in the 1930s revealed that he was an investigator of the first rank. His approach to problems and his documentation were atypical of engineers, both before and since that time. Some of his work was aimed at finding the causes of "hotspots" in the coiling of wire.

Because of his careful attention to detail and his competence in the execution of plans, Thayer was given the task of determining design characteristics of the new fluorescent lamps and he monitored much of the testing of the lamps.

Thayer was named Assistant to the Technical Director of the Lamp Development Laboratory in 1945. That appointment was followed by one in 1950 to Supervisor of Product Design and Quality. In 1955 Thayer was called to serve as Manager of Discharge Lamp Design Engineering and then in 1964 was named Manager of Fluorescent Engineering.

Thayer married and had three daughters.