Incandescent Lamp Company/Sylvania Electric

• 1905--the Novelty Incandescent Lamp Company (NILCO) had been organized in St. Mary’s and Emporium, and was busily engaged in making miniature specialty and decorative lamps for various markets.



• 1906--the OSRAM name registered by Auer-Gesellschaft; The name OSRAM derives from the names of two elements: Osmium, a metal; and Wolfram, the German word for tungsten.



• 1909--Poor started the Hygrade Incandescent Lamp Company to sell new lamps made by his Bay State Company.



• 1910--General Motors buys controlling interest in NILCO. General Motors appointed Bernard G. Erskine to run their newly acquired light bulb factory.



• 1911--Hygrade Incandescent Lamp Company begins selling tungsten filament light bulbs.



• 1916--Hygrade opened a new plant and headquarters in Salem, Massachusetts; discontinued refilling lamps.



• 1919--OSRAM was the result of a merger between three companies: AEG, Siemens & Halske AG, and Auer-Gesellschaft. All three companies had been pioneers in the development of electric light.



• 1922--Hygrade Incandescent Lamp Company purchased by Bernard Erskine and two associates from General Motors, who then officially formed the Nilco Lamp Works. Their lamp production was first totally in St. Marys, then, by 1924, expanded into Emporium as well.



• 1924--NILCO formed their Sylvania Products Company in order to manufacture radio tubes. Shortly after the formation of Sylvania, NILCO branched out into the manufacture of colored specialty lamps, including Christmas lights.



• 1931--Erskine's NILCO and Sylvania companies and Frank Poor's Hygrade Lamp Company merged into one company, now known as the Hygrade Sylvania Corporation. The company sold lamps under the Hygrade name, and radio tubes under the Sylvania name.



• 1938/39--Hygrade Sylvania started preliminary research on a new project involving fluorescent technology, and later that year, introduced the first linear, tubular, fluorescent lamp ever made; it was offered for sale under the Sylvania name.



• 1940/41--Saw the opening of the first-ever fluorescent fixture manufacturing plant; Sylvania located the plant in Ipswich, Massachusetts.



• 1942--the company changed its name to Sylvania Electric Products Inc. and debuted the "flashing S" logo.



• 1945--A few months after the War had ended, Sylvania marketed their new innovation: fluorescent Christmas lights.



• 1949--Sylvania Canada Limited was launched with the establishment of a head office in Montreal, Quebec and a fluorescent plant in Drummondville, Quèbec.



• OSRAM debuted its famous tagline, "OSRAM Bright as daylight,"



• 1954--OSRAM relocated its headquarters to Munich in 1954.



• 1959--Sylvania Electronics merged with General Telephone to form General Telephone and Electronics (GTE).



• 1965--Opens its Danvers headquarters.



• 1971--the company’s name was changed to GTE Sylvania Incorporated. Its parent, General Telephone & Electronics Corporation, reorganized its manufacturing operations into five worldwide business groups.



• 1980--GTE Electrical Products was formed, and Lighting became part of that group.



• 1993--OSRAM GmbH purchased GTE Sylvania’s North American operations and formed OSRAM SYLVANIA, which is in business to this day.