In 1933 , a scholar at the University of California name Bob Switzerfelland attain his headland . He had been removing boxes from a freight elevator car for a summertime job when he cotton on off the loading docking facility and was criticize unconscious .
Months afterward , Switzer awoke from a coma with blurred sight . To continue his recuperation , his doctor urge avoiding bright light . His Father-God , a pharmacist , turned his shop ’s cellar into a darkroom for Bob ’s convalescence .
That activate Bob ’s pastime inultraviolet , or black , brightness . Bob ’s younger brother , Joe , was a chemistry student and an inexpert thaumaturge who was also interested in the black art — playing with ultraviolet light and fluorescence ( not necromancy ) to make the illusion of objects appearing and disappear on a darkened leg . skip to find chemical compound that would glow in UV light , the brothers mixed the pharmacy ’s supply ofMurine eye washwith inebriant and white shellac , which created a fluorescent yellow substance under inglorious lights .
The Switzer brothers ’ breakthrough would finally lead to their development of a glary fluorescent rainbow of pigments , which they trademark as DayGlo colors . From traffic - cone orange to Pepto Bismol pinkish to yellow the shadowiness of Mountain Dew , DayGlo ’s color have been used in industrial machinery , safety equipment , and psychedelic posters . The eye - down palette has been saving life and expand consciousness for more than eight decades .
At first , Joe put the yellow dye to work in his charming show . In his key signature bit , a char appear on a darkened stage wearing a costume and headdress of fluorescent painted theme . get down only by ultraviolet light source , Joe would take the woman ’s headgear off in one guidance while the woman danced in the diametric direction , so her headway look to separate from her consistency . With this trick , Joe win the award at the Pacific Coast Association of Magicians in 1934 and created a fan base willing to spend $ 10 a pint for fluorescent paints . Bob and Joe thus established their first company , Fluor - S - Art Co.
Bob and Joe continue to try out , hoping to make a lambent paint that struggle in daylight . In 1936 they make their first batch of pigments that reflected seeable color from the spectrum , while also absorbing and transform ultraviolet illumination wavelength of color lower in the spectrum . As a result , viewers perceive a more vivid , dazzling colouring material . The first products were patented in 1937 as DayGlo fluorescents .
During this time , the Switzers also grow ignominious lighter penetrants , a type of pigment that disclose flaws in machinery when painted on the metal part and exposed to UV lighting . Patented as Magnaglo and Zyglo , they became wide used by the U.S. Air Force for ensuring the wholeness of airplane parts .
After World War II , Bob and Joe founded Switzer Brothers , Inc. , later renamed the DayGlo Color Corporation . The fellowship continued its production of defect - revealing pigments , but now began to experiment with producing daylight fluorescent colors for consumer product packaging . In 1957 , the society patent a summons that flux fluorescent dye with a polymer , which devote the dye corking light stableness for use of goods and services as outdoor rouge as well as in traditional printing process software .
The company convinced advertizer to adopt its super - fluorescent inks and paper , and in 1959 , Proctor & Gamble opt to box its Tide washing detergent , the first grave - dutysynthetic Georgia home boy , in the Switzers ' Blaze Orange chromaticity . Soon , the DayGlo fad expanded from supermarket shelves to clothing , toys , and rock n ’ cast posters in the sixties . Pop artists like Peter Max and Andy Warhol incorporated psychedelic colors into trippy paintings and lithographs .
DayGlo eventually reached the zenith of pop culture relevance when the Beatles wore military - style suits in DayGlo color on the cover ofSgt . Pepper ’s Lonely Hearts Club Bandin 1967 .
The Switzer brothers ’ legacy shines on in their rainbow of hallmark high - visibility tincture — Saturn Yellow , Blaze Orange , Aurora Pink , Neon Red , Corona Magenta , Signal Green and many more — that are found on everything from food for thought wrappers to public safety actor today .
In 2012 , theAmerican Chemical Societyawarded DayGlo Color Corporation a national historical chemical landmark designation for the development of its pigment , name the Switzer brothers ' design as a “ symbol of safety and protection that meliorate our everyday lives . ”
