In conjunction with ISA-UK, Butterfield Signs have been looking back into the history of neon signs. We are one of the oldest neon sign suppliers in the UK that still to this day, supply in house made neon signs and designs

Neon tubing has been described as “The living flame” and we are proud to celebrate that we have been producing Neon tubing for 75 years.

At the beginning of the 20th Century the introduction of Neon tubing had a significant impact in the development of urban nocturnal spectacles as Neon could produce effects which far outstripped the capacity of any earlier light sources.

Furthermore, Neon tubing could be manipulated into shapes for use in the creation of spectacular signage and the lavish silhouetting of buildings to express a sense of exuberant vitality, dynamism and prosperity.

So where did it all begin:

• In 1683 Otto Von Guericke of Magdeburg managed to obtain light from the discharge of a static electrical device.
• 26 years later Francis Hawksbee in his book ‘Physico-Mechanical Experiments’ describes how he had produced light by shaking a vacuum tube filled with mercury.
• In 1744 Johann Heinrich Winkler, (not to be confused as an antecedent of the Fonz) a Professor in Physics at Leipzig conducted a similar experiment in a heat-bent tube forming a name.
• Over 100 years later in 1856 Heinrich Geissler produced the first prototype of the modern luminous tube when he experimented with a sealed low-pressure tube in which he produced light using a high voltage, alternating current.
• In subsequent years in England both Michael Faraday and William Crookes experimented and proved that all gases or vapours are capable of carrying a current and can produce light even more effectively than incandescent lamps.
• Between the 1860s and 1890s various people were issued with British patents for a process that used coloured lights from Geissler tubes, filled with gases potentially for maritime signalling purposes, regrettably this was without success.
• During the 1890s both Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla (a former employee of Edison) went head to head and engaged in a battle in America to create an answer to all mans’ electrical energy needs. Both men experienced success initially and demonstrations from both parties were sensational. However, the gases and vapours within the tubes inter-reacted chemically with the electrodes which caused deterioration and ultimately, failure.
• Mcfarland Moore (another former employee of Edison) overcame the issue of the corroding electrode and started to produce tubing in a large diameter format which was more effective than incandescent lamps. This breakthrough was quickly recognised by General Electric (G.E.) as a threat to their light bulb business and so G.E. purchased the patents from Moore.
• Meanwhile back in England Sir William Ramsey and Morris W. Travers developed a process of fractional distillation of liquid air that made it possible to isolate rare gases. In 1897 at an Exhibition to commemorate Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee Ramsey and Travers mounted a display of Geissler tubes filled with these rarer gases which included Neon, Argon, Krypton and Xenon. The brilliance and resistance to oxidation promised a new stage in tube lighting, but the cost was still highly prohibitive.
• It then remained for the Frenchman Georges Claude and simultaneously in 1907 the German Karl Von Linde to utilize liquid air on a scale large enough to make the fractional distillation of Argon and Neon gases commercially viable.
• Claude began a process of producing high quality oxygen. During this process he found himself with sizable quantities of rare gases as a leftover. Searching for a way to utilise these by-products he came across the Moore tube. By filling these tubes with either Neon or Argon gas and then bombarding them with electricity he was able to achieve clear intense red (Neon) and greyish blue (Argon) lights. He was then able to experiment with coating the interior surface of the glass tubing to create a range of different colours.
• Claude saw the lamps as a form of indoor and outdoor illumination far superior to anything previously utilised. Claude’s associate Jacques Fonseque recognised the potential of using the product for advertising and created the first Neon sign for a barber’s shop in Paris named ‘Palais Coiffeur’. A year later the first roof mounted and more spectacular sign was installed on the Paris skyline – 1m high lettering “CINZANO”, which was followed by striking illumination to the entrance of the Paris Opera in 1919.
• After ‘Claude Neon’s’ unsuccessful attempt to sell G.E. an exclusive licence in 1924 ‘Claude Neon’ began an early form of franchising instead in starting to sell territorial licences to produce the technology outside of France.
• The venture was fraught with issues most notably with infringement rights as the popularity of Neon spread. In addition, the tubing was fragile and did not travel well which resulted in a proliferation of small Neon shops and the necessity for localised manufacture.
• In 1929 ‘Claude Neon’ reported annual sales of 9 million dollars but the empire later collapsed in the early 1930s as the patents expired.

The popularity of Neon then began to gather momentum as creative influences in various parts of the world embarked on the design of spectacular static and animated images, signage and the building of decorative features.

The technologies employed in the 1930s to create the tubing is not too far removed from today’s methods of production.

The Argon filled tubing was also conventionally formed in grids as a backlighting to illuminate Perspex panelling in signs but this was eventually replaced by the use of the fluorescent lamp which in turn in today’s market has been superseded by low voltage LED technology.

In the UK today there are only a rare few producing traditional Neon tubing which is still preferred by those trying to create a retro look and feel and Butterfield Signs are proud to be part of both the heritage and continued story of Neon.

Our new sign maintenance website is now live!
 
Have a look online at www.butterfieldmaintenance.co.uk 
 
The site outlines our service provision which is aimed not only at clients we manufacture for but also clients who utilize the services of other manufacturers.

• Butterfield Maintenance provide a nationwide service to ensure your identity retains its professional and caring appearance throughout its lifespan.
• We offer a number of services tailored to suit each client’s own individual requirements and budget including Preventative Planned Maintenance Programmes, Ad-Hoc Reactive Call Out Services, and Site Safety /Integrity Inspections.
• All works are carried out by teams of 2 directly employed, fully experienced, and certificated engineers, operating from full liveried vehicles, wearing corporate uniform, and carrying identification passes.
• Our teams are strategically located throughout the UK, working from local depots, to ensure we are able to offer a first-class experience at the most competitive rates.
• Our dedicated maintenance vehicles are stocked with replacement components to maintain our First Time Fix policy.
• We also operate 5 full-time MEWPS which can eliminate expensive hire charges when working at high level.
• Being part of the Butterfield Group, one of the UK's largest sign manufacturers, will ensure any sign repairs or replacements are carried out quickly to a high quality at a very competitive rate.

 
In most circumstances, the signage that promotes your business is your most visual form of advertising and your first chance to make a good impression. 
 
That being said, please remember, if you need help maintaining your signage, to get in touch on either 01274 722244 or maintenance@butterfieldsigns.co.uk

Wm Morrison Supermarkets plc, trading as Morrison’s, is the fourth largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, with its headquarters based in Bradford, West Yorkshire.
 
Founded in 1899 by William Morrison, hence the abbreviation Wm Morrison, it began as an egg and butter stall in Rawson Market, Bradford. His son Ken Morrison took over the company in 1952, aged 21. In 1958, Morrison’s opened a small shop in the city centre, It was the first self-service store in Bradford, the first store to have prices on its products, and it had three checkouts. The company opened its first supermarket, "Victoria", in the Girlington district of Bradford in 1961. Until 2004, Morrison’s store locations were primarily focused in the North of England, but with the takeover of Safeway in that year, the company's presence increased significantly in the South of England, Wales, and Scotland. Today the company has in excess of  500 superstores spread across the UK, Morrison’s employ 110,000 people and serve around 11 million customers each week.
 
The latest Rebranding was carried out over a 4 year period and included all exterior building signage, wayfinding, totem units, car park signage, plus all petrol filling stations signage.
 
The programme was unfortunately halted for a period of months due to the initial Covid lockdown restrictions but recommenced as the original restrictions were lifted to enable us to complete the remaining 115 sites on a fast track basis over a concentrated 8 week period.
 
The programme was internally managed by a dedicated experienced project management team, plus we also set up a separate dedicated remote factory hub to carry out final product assembly, testing, warehousing, and distribution of products to site. This process was adopted to ensure smooth delivery of the programme to Morrison’s without affecting the normal/general day to day operational functions of the business.
 
The programme of works included:

• Production and installation of 90 totems units within the accelerated 8 week period.
• Use of 30 miles of energy-saving LED illumination
• 7000 miles of petrol filling station canopy fascia being installed.
• 900 tonnes of steel-cut, fabricated, and welded.
• Total attendance of 2500 individual installation days by our engineers/crews

Butterfield signs have recently completed the branding at the newly opened My Lahore London restaurant.

My Lahore has a mixed retail estate of edge of town and high st locations and offers traditional Indian tastes but with a modern twist and personal touch.

Signage at this location included the exterior roof-mounted signage, window graphics, internal signage, and a host of specialist wallpaper graphics.

My Lahore has also invested in digital signage to enhance their marketing activities in the form of slimline double-sided window suspended 42" portrait digital screens. The units are sleek at only 22mm in thickness, house their own android player, and are complete with a WIFI connection. 

Butterfield assists My Lahore with animated content creation, plus deployment of campaign content via Butterfields own CMS management system. 

The Butterfield CMS management system is accessed via the Amazon Cloud so the management is stand-alone and does not need to interface with a clients own IT system. 

Simply log in on the Butterfield website, click on the CMS tab and this takes you directly to the Amazon cloud to manage and deploy marketing campaigns.

Digital signage has been rolled out across the entire My Lahore estate which also includes Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, and Bradford to assist with special offers etc as the client re-engages with its customers following the lockdown.

Butterfield signs have recently completed the fast track nationwide re-brand for the new joint branding of EE and BT.

We were directly employed by the client to carry out the complete management process from initial site surveys, full liaison with landlords and local authorities for permissions and permits, provision of photographic schematics for approval, followed by the manufacture of all products plus a nationwide installation programme.

The programme was awarded based on our existing good working relationship with the client and previous programmes completed where we had demonstrated our ability to deliver high-quality products, at competitive rates to contractual timelines.
 
Programme statistics included :

• An 8 week window to manufacture and install new branding to in excess of 500 retail sites.
• The Full In house manufacture of all product.
• In excess of 80,000 sqft of aluminium sheet was fabricated and powder coated.
• In excess of 8 miles of CNC Laser cutting and Router Cutting of metals and acrylics.
• Plus 3 miles of LED Light modules utilised.

 
The project involved an initial phased visit to install the new branding over an eight week period, followed by a secondary visit to all 500 locations over a few nights to swap out panels and provide the dual-brand unveil.
 
Including initial site surveys, we made a total of 1500 site visits over the contractual period engaging 60 nationwide installation teams.

Butterfield group the incumbent signage manufacturer to McDonald's in the UK and a number of European destinations have produced various protective components to assist McDonald's with the planned reopening of their stores.
 
The product was manufactured and distributed to in excess of 1,500 stores over an eight-week period and consisted of a total of 22,000 separate items.
 
The items included 2,500 drive-thru booth window screens, 1,500 drive-thru counter collection screens, 3,000 screens for the till areas, plus 15,000 back of house free standing Kitchen screens in two alternative designs.
 
Butterfield adapted one of their factory areas as a temporary dedicated manufacturing plant for McDonald's adopting all the government's social distancing rules to ensure the safety of its management and factory operatives.
 
Other areas of the factory were then adapted to assist a number of our other clients with producing bespoke screens, graphics, barrier systems etc to meet their own individual social distancing requirements.
 
The materials used in the production of the safety equipment for McDonald's included 17,000 square meters of clear acrylic, this would cover an area of over 4 acres of land and 80,000 metres (50 miles) of powder coated steel tube.
 
All product was sanitized and protected prior to despatch, which involved in excess of 3500 timed delivery visits to sites throughout the UK and Republic of Ireland.
 
A spokesman for the Butterfield group, Tony Bairstow, Account Director stated it would have been a significant task during normal times, with lots of businesses closed and self isolating we had to obtain vast levels of materials from a number of nationwide sources, we provided specialist protection for our own factory personnel, whilst our extensive projects team worked tirelessly from their home offices to ensure the production and logistics/ distribution ran as smoothly as possible. McDonald's is one of the businesses key accounts, we have worked with them for in excess of 25 years, it is a fantastic feeling to know that they had the confidence and trust in our ability as a business to deliver what was a highly complex and significant project that assisted with the reopening of their stores.
 
In 2019 Butterfield Group were Winners of the Best Roll Out Project for the McDonald's programme Awarded by The International Sign Association.

A reduced Butterfield management and operational team have been in place throughout the lockdown to facilitate any site maintenance issues and provide an eclectic mix of social distancing products for a number of our existing clients. 

Many social distancing products were of a bespoke design to facilitate the client's own retail environment requirement.

Social distancing products included the manufacture of 22,000 screen units supplied and delivered to in excess of 1000 Mcdonald's outlets throughout the UK and the Republic Of Ireland.

Various areas within the factory were adapted to facilitate a skeleton production team and meet all social distancing government requirements.

All areas of the factory have now been adapted to meet the social distancing requirements, and additional operatives have now returned as our clients are making contact and re-engaging with works.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank our existing highly valued clients for their continued support.

We would like to reassure you that during this period of uncertainty in relation to the spread of COVID-19, we are committed to ensuring all of our customers receive our usual high levels of service as normal. Our team remains fully available for you via all the usual channels – phone, email and online.

One of our key responsibilities is to protect the health and welfare of our employees, customers, and partners; whilst helping to slow the wider spread of the virus.

To maintain an uninterrupted service, we have taken proactive measures in line with government advice. This will ensure we can continue to operate, delivering products and services on time, while managing the developing situation.

All Butterfield employees have the capability and systems to work remotely from home.

We have restricted travel to business-critical (both internationally and domestically) and are using other means of communication, such as video conferencing, to minimise face to face meetings.

Thank you again for your continued support. Our team remain here for you and we will continue to monitor the position and provide you with further communications as and when necessary.

Sneeze screens designed and custom-built to client requirements. Simple to install, with no mechanical fixings necessary, using hygienic acrylic and aluminium materials.