Another company from Chicago built these and marketed them to J.C. Whitney & Co. for sale out of their famous catalogs from back in the day... I was able to score on this one still in the box. These guys made a fancy metallic cover to hide the flasher, wiring and guts. Same concept as Dan's Mars and the Whelen clear flasher.
DoRay, another Chicago-based firm, added vertical fresnelling to the inside of the dome, enhancing the bulb's filament by adding something, but not much.
Grote also added to the inside of theirs, too but there too, not much enhancement.
It wasn't until the outside lens fresnelling, (more-often utilized in the marine industry) was added to the outside, did any of these old flashing beacons get noticed and even then... realistically, that's all that was needed.
The latter-mentioned flashing beacons of the glass-lensed and double-fresnelled variety were actually in-place long BEFORE these later-modeled "clear" or transparent domed units which makes me wonder why these types were even introduced when obviously the long-range outputs were reduced... any thoughts, gentlemen? (other than the price savings) These units were being built at a time when automotive lighting was advancing and the SAE and DOT minimum specs were being conceived due to the higher roadway speeds and highway safety was being scrutinized from every angle...
Thinking about it, taillights were the size of a silver-dollar, headlights put out as much light as a candle and a pie tin and road signs weren't reflective. A light like any of these was quite the beacon in it's day if you think about it and those using the roads respected any flashing light and it's visual message..not like the idiots on the roads nowadays!
