The history of Osram in Italy began in 1897 when the “Edison company for the manufacture of lamps Ing. Clerici & C.” was founded in Milan; the latter was a talented technician who boasted personal acquaintances with the US inventor Thomas Edison, from whom he exploited the patent for the metal filament lamp using the new vacuum technology in the ampoule invented by the Italian Arturo Malignani. In 1919 the “Edison Clerici” passed to the American “General Electric” which also acquired two other Italian factories: Itala and Zeta. At that time the company was certainly the most important Italian factory in the production of electric lamps. Meanwhile in Berlin in 1919, from the union of AEG, Siemens and Auer, the company “Osram” was born, the name of the 1906 patent obtained from the first two letters of osmium (osmium) and the last three of wolfram (wolfram or tungsten), the two metals that made up the filament of the light bulbs; in 1920 the Italian branch of the German Osram was established. In 1930 the “Edison Clerici” joined the Osram group giving rise to the “Osram Edison Clerici” in Milan.
In 1916 the logo of the German Osram consisted of black writing with graceful characters; that of the Italian company was reproduced with stick characters and with different movements over time.
At the beginning of the 1920s, the logo appeared for the first time with the light bulb facing downwards and with the small cusp on the bulb which was simply due to the fact that the air was removed from below and the bulb closed on that side; only later was the technique of emptying from above implemented and the cusp disappeared from the logo.
Over time, the thread has become essential as, on the other hand, the oval of the frame.
Since the early 1980s, the logo has consisted of a single word made up of orange bat characters, although, since 2001, it has lived together with the restyling of the oval with the light bulb, for the first time upside down.
