Texture black for
Altman was 1957-1962 as I'm told. World's Fair 1962
Altman got a large sales order for it and had to change colors to get it done on time. Was about the history of two 3" Fresnels I was researching from the primary owner when I bought them. Only trouble with the lore I was told was it was NY World's Fair instead of Seattle World's Fair.
Altman is a NY brand so easy to confuse.
I have it as a note in question, one of my texture gray/black radial
Leko's is an
Altman #360 radial
Leko and not a
Hub Electric #8663 6x9
Leko. What year the #360
Leko series radial
Leko started is still an operable question. The parts on the
fixture are
Altman not
Hub. The aluminum body casting on this
fixture is clean as opposed to normal
Hub castings (lore about
Hub buying old used up
Altman castings - so that's why the vent holes are often sharper or have cast material sticking out into vent holes, but otherwise the casting and parts are the same.)
I have not done a color match comparison of this #360
fixture to the ?
Altman #3300 radial
Leko... I think is the first
Altman Leko style I have in
stock. Could be, but could also be Century or
Hub. The three brands and many brands during about that 12 year period were seemingly copying designs or buying parts from each other. Have Leco brand
Leko's with Kliegl vent hole patterns, but the red knobs associated to them or other brands also. Possible
Hub in re-doing someone else's design used the Century paint color/supplier in theory
Altman started with. If
Altman started and broke from Century, one might have the same paint supplier.
Lore to me from my old TD says
Altman started from a train wreck of Century
Leko's. He was around back than but is dead now.
Altman history is different in leaving it at that except a family or working at them relation to Century.
The
Altman 360Q Axial Leko "Hammertone Brown" dates to 1974. Thus the Medium
Bi-pin G-9.5 based EHG lamp to about the same date.
Altman 360Q went black in 1993.
Hub Electric, I believe went out of business in around 1998 - Ken Hanson - the last owner of
Hub could confirm this as a member, but he has not been active. My doubt is that
Hub Electric bought any
360Q castings from
Altman in its last years.
I am not aware of any other brands of fixtures having bought a spent casting to an
Altman fixture in making their own. In above photo's in post, I would like to see the yellow sticker on the
yoke on the photo. Be it brand sticker or union sticker - made by Chicago verses New York would tell
Hub or
Altman fixture by way of which sticker on it.
Most likely it's a bad color renering on a photo of a dirty
fixture. Black or brown, the
Altman 360 has never been texture black - and short of re-painting with not heat rated paint should not be. An
Altman 360Q is in photo.
TBA. photo a is it Kliegl or LECO
Leko brand?
Axial (
360Q) type lamp on center to the
reflector, but with a P-28s lamp
socket. Kliegl style vent holes, but red knobs associated with LECO brand. And the Century (before Century
Strand) radial
Leko's where at some
point Century/
Strand went G-9.5 EHG adaptors to make the radial
Leko's use the more modern lamp.
About 1974 or up to say 1970 before was appairently a very important change in
Leko/Lamp design - fixtures and lamps were very much re-designed either to create a
fixture using existing P-28s lamps in a new
axial fixture design to use them, or adapt a
current radial design so as to mount a new modern
Altman 360Q lamp.
Attached is a Century/
Strand #2321 - I believe this the G-9.5 lamp version part number, or will be once I upgrade it. My P-28s version of the
Leko is corrupted and will to check another source for it's part number as converted to TBA what Major called them. Same
fixture, decals from them were removed by the retailer Major in Major reselling them as per their own with a normal P-28s lamp type. Big
yoke knobs on the sides saying Major. Don't know what year Major did this, seemingly they never did the upgrade from P-28s to G-9.5, so pre- 1974. Also, don't know what year Major was bought out by
Hub Electric. Small world - both Chicago.
This period of
Leko or
stage lighting design fixtures - between say 1957 and 1974 should not be a mystery about brands and
fixture history, yet it often is harder to research than between 1910 and 1928. Black holes with both periods, but living memories I have tales from often complicate in those dying before I can confirm at least the last era, or tales of the first.
Anyway, perhaps not texture black in bad photo, or if cleaned and the color... I would be more worried about the paint applied and research into if the fact not heat rated paint was used.