Little or no use was made of the new found element, neon, until l910, when Georges Claude experimented with the effects of passing an electrical discharge through the neon gas. The spectacular results obtained by the use of neon led to its adoption by the advertising industry, and neon sign advertising became commonplace. It is a member of the family of rare or inert gases. The others are helium, argon, krypton, xenon and radon. Neon and argon are best known for their use in neon signs.
Most neon signs contain neon, argon, or argon and mercury.
The various mixtures of these elements along with phosphors on the inside of the neon tubing gives you the brilliant colors, the trademark of neon signs. Neon Signs are made basically the same way they were 50 years ago. It takes a glass bender many years to become proficient at this task. In the production process, sticks of glass are heated and then bent into letters or shapes by the glass bender, who closely follows a pre-made pattern. Most neon signs last 20 years or more.