Day-Glo

The Day-Glo Color Corp. (DayGlo) is an American paint and pigments manufacturer based in Cleveland, Ohio. It was founded in 1946 by brothers Joseph and Robert Switzer and is currently owned by RPM International. DayGlo specializes in producing fluorescent paint and pigments, such as those used in safety applications, artwork and signage. The company invented both black-light fluorescent and daylight fluorescent paints and nondestructive testing methods that use fluorescent dyes.

Brothers Robert and Joseph Switzer of Berkeley, California, began investigating fluorescence in the 1930s using a black light to identify naturally occurring fluorescent compounds. By mixing these compounds with shellac, they invented the first black light fluorescent paints. Joseph used these paints in his amateur magic show and sold magic kits based on the black light fluorescent costumes they created.

The brothers established the Fluor-S-Art Co. in 1934 to develop and sell black light paints for advertising purposes. The company later partnered with Continental Lithograph (a subsidiary of Warner Brothers Pictures) of Cleveland, Ohio, to develop fluorescent paints for use in movie posters and advertising displays. In 1936, the brothers moved their company to Cleveland, which was a center of the paint manufacturing industry.

In 1938, the brothers invented Zyglo and Magnaglo, two flaw-detection processes that used fluorescent dyes. The dyes penetrate defects in machined parts, allowing the defects to be detected by inspecting the parts under black light. (Magnaglo was based on a preceding process of magnetic particle inspection that detects flaws in ferromagnetic materials. Because Magnaglo uses fluorescence instead of magnetism, the process can be used on non-ferromagnetic materials.) After a dispute with Continental Lithograph over the rights to Zyglo and Magnaglo, the brothers established the independent Switzer Brothers, Inc., in 1946 to continue developing and marketing new uses for fluorescent materials. The company changed its name to Day-Glo Color Corp. in 1969.

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