Yes.
Square fluorescent bulbs were manufactured and sold by GE back in the 1960s.
They were called panel fluorescent lamps.
They were 12 inch X 12 inch square panel bulb made by GE.
FP12S

55 watt bulb, no lumens given.
They can be run in series with the correct ballast.

They even had a special rapid start ballast just for them, the 7G3733 rapid start.
It is shown in my 1966 GE ballast catalog.
Must not have been a hot seller as I don't think I have ever seen one anywhere.

Here is some information.

http://scienceservice.si.edu/pages/025038.htm

The GE Panel Fluorescent lamps are cool as heck. A couple of members own one, seen here and here. They were only on the market for a short time before being pulled. If I remember right they suffered from sudden premature vacuum loss.

The GE Panel Fluorescent lamps are cool as heck. A couple of members own one, seen here and here. They were only on the market for a short time before being pulled. If I remember right they suffered from sudden premature vacuum loss.

Thanks.

These look so modern for the early 1960s.
Looks like the forerunner of many of todays fluorescent bulb designs.
Too bad it did not take off, but maybe it really did in a way.
Just a little late is all.

I have one too! They are made of thick glass. Very interesting lamp nonetheless.

I have one too! They are made of thick glass. Very interesting lamp nonetheless.

It must be a rare bulb for sure.
I should have known that a few members would have one.

I wonder if thermal expansion of the glass panel was a problem as it would seem that the side with the two electrodes would run hotter than the other parts of the bulb.
If one side ran hot and the other side was cooler a small crack might develop somewhere in the glass due to the temperature differences and the different rates of expansion.

If the whole bulb expanded and contracted at the same rate, like a window would for instance it should not matter.
But if there was a hot and cold side to the bulb, I don't see how this would work unless it was something like Pyrex which is expensive.
Maybe if the electrodes were located one on each side of the square bulb, the temperature differences through out the glass panel would have been less.

Fluorescent bulbs will expand and contract a small amount length wise with temperature.
The 8 foot GE slim lines I have will click and pop some when they are first turned on a cool day until they warm up.

I would guess with enough time spent on product development, it could have been a success.
But someone must have pulled the plug on it when the problems started.


 

The thick and rather complex shape caused there a lot of stress just from  the manufacture itself. The required complex shape didn't allowed the use of thin glass, what normally absorb the manufacturing stresses way better.
So technically it may be developed, but the resulting creation would be way too expensive to compete with the conventional tubular lamps with a flat diffuser.

I remember they had this type of lamp in a recessed, square fixture on the exterior perimeter of the GE Carosel of Progress exhibit in Tomorrowland, Disneyland Resort, Anaheim California. I believe the building is still there, but it is another attraction.  Not sure if the fixtures are still there!