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Solari di Udine SpA is an Italian company that designs and manufactures public information displays, historically
Solari di Udine SpA is an Italian company that designs and manufactures public information displays, historically split-flap display
A split-flap display, or sometimes simply a flap display, is a digital electromechanical display device that presents changeable alphanumeric text, and occasionally fixed graphics. They were (from the 1960s to 1990s) commonly used as public tr ...
s. The company was founded in 1725 in Udine
Udine ( ; ; ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in northeastern Italy, in the middle of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, between the Adriatic Sea and the Carnic Alps. It is the capital of the Province of Udine, Regional decentralization entity ...
, a small city in northeastern Italy. Initially, the company specialized in clocks for towers. It began working with designer Gino Valle after World War II, and developed signs with four flaps, each with ten digits, to display the time. The company eventually designed displays with 40 flaps, with the help of Belgian inventor John Myer. The new displays could include numbers and letters, allowing for a much wider use.
The company's Cifra 5 clock was awarded the Compasso d'Oro
The Compasso d'Oro (; ) is an industrial design award originated in Italy in 1954. Initially sponsored by the La Rinascente, a Milanese department store, the award has been organised and managed by the Associazione per il Disegno Industriale (ADI ...
in 1956. In this year, Solari sold its first moving sign to Liege railway station in Belgium. It subsequently sold thousands to airports and train stations. There is no known record of surviving Solari split-flap displays, though hundreds have been replaced with more modern displays across the world.
Specific displays
*For its conversion into the TWA Hotel which opened in 2019, the full restoration of theTWA Flight Center
The TWA Flight Center, also known as the Trans World Flight Center, is an airport terminal and hotel complex at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in New York City. The original terminal building, or head house, operated as a terminal ...
at John F. Kennedy International Airport
John F. Kennedy International Airport is a major international airport serving New York City and its metropolitan area. JFK Airport is located on the southwestern shore of Long Island, in Queens, New York City, bordering Jamaica Bay. It is ...
included its classic Solari split-flap message board with authentic original mechanical operation manufactured in Italy in 1962.
* The Solari board at 30th Street Station
30th Street Station, officially William H. Gray III 30th Street Station, is a major intermodal passenger transport, intermodal transit station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The station opened in 1933 as Pennsylvania Station– ...
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, operated there from the 1970s to 2018, the last to operate in an Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...
station. The board was subsequently moved to the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of land transport, next to ro ...
.
* Penn Station in New York City operated a Solari board from 1967 to 1985. Its removal upset the public, though subsequent displays mimic some aspects of the Solari board.
See also
*References
External links
* {{Authority control Italian brands Italian companies established in 1725 Watch manufacturing companies of Italy Clock manufacturing companies Compasso d'Oro Award recipients