As I wanted to promise, I said in the past I'd something similar to
@SussexEuroSOX board post. I also got encouraged to do it buy one or two members.
Here it all starts, THIS is all my knowledge, I'll add more as I find new stuff.
Polish lighting with real metal bulbs started off in the late 40s, a few years after WW2. A-23 lighting In Giżycko was the main manufacture to start of to make Incandescent fixtures which would the streets of Poland (Later in 1951 A-23 plant moved to Wilkasy). They made a few more Incandescent fixtures in the 50s like the OB series, OŻA series and OZŻ series. As far as lighting, only Incandescent was popular in the 40s and 50s. In 1959, made by A-20 Lighting in Kożuchowie, was the first ever made Fluorescent fixture, named USOF at the start, later called OUSF. These were then used around Poland to reduce the electricity from Incandescent fixtures that ran 300w, 500w or even 1000w. Not even half a decade past and two years, A-20 made the first HPMV fixture in Poland. It was know as a "Bucket" type, the fixture was named ORZ 1. Not only was the ORZ to be the first HPMV series, but also the first Fibreglass series, which I basically mean, ORZ 1, ORZ 2, ORZ 3, ORZ 4, and ORZ 5, had the body made of Fibreglass. At the same year, A-24 in Gostynin started to make Electromagnetic ballasts for HPMV fixtures, which were first used in the A-20 ORZ series. Two years later in 1963, A-24 manufacture was renamed to Elgo Gostynin. In the early 60s, Mesko also produced some of their first HPMV fixtures, such as the OUR 2250, OUR 250, OUR 400, bla bla bla. They also made 3 of their first fluorescent fixtures in the early 60s. When A-20 in the mid 1965 stopped making streetlights, their ORZ 1, ORZ 6 and ORZ 7 fixtures were sent to Mesko, which was in Skarzysko Kamienniej, and the production of ORZ 1 lasted up to 1968, which were sold under Mesko. The manufacture also then started to make their own version of ORZ 6 and ORZ 7 fixtures. After all, during the rest of the 60s, and to very early 70s, manufactures made their HPMV and Fluoescent fixtures in Peace, and Elgo Gostynin made Ballasts for the manufactures fixtures. It all changed in 1972, then the manufacture Polam was found. Polam was a union manufacture, and as of PRL times after WW2, Almost every city / town which had a manufacture had their products sold by Polam's name. This also affected Elgo Gostynin, Elekrim Wilkasy (before known as A-20), Farrel (From 90s known as Philips Lighting), and a manuacture in Gdańsk that was known for making Incandescent C-series fixtures. So let me explain in a quick version, Elgo made products before, and sold them by their manufacture, and that Polam entered, Elgo made stuff, but were sold by Polam brand, which was almost everywhere. This I believe didn't hit Mesko, and a few other manufactures. However, in 1978, Elgo Gostynin made the first HPS fixture in Poland, called OUS 400, which was sold under Polam as Polam Gostynin. This meant that Elgo also made HPS ballasts for the fixture, but ALSO UNFORTUNATELY, sold under Polam. They also started to produce ingniters for these fixures. However, as HPMV fixtures didn't give out a lot of light, and using 400w HPMV was worse than 400w HPS, all most every city used these HPS fixtures in the 80s, they also made a few HPS and HPMV fixures. By 1983, Polam I believe changed their name to Polamp, which was affected everywhere, even by Elgo which than Polam Gostynin was then Polamp Gostynin. At the time, Polamp in Warszawa was popular for making bulbs for streetlights. Happily by the end of 1989, Polam was ended, and all of the manufactures had their freedom again. That was the end of PRL times (1944 - 1989). After that HPMV and Fluorescent were stopped pretty much being made and only afew were in production. Mostly now it was HPS and MH. By 2009, first LED polish streetlight was made I believe, the Elgo Advision. At the 2000s, fixtures were started to be given names, so that's why you're wondering why this fixture has a name perhaps? HPS and MH was stopped being made by late 2010s, and only LED fixtures were being made, through a bunch of different manufactures, even some just having random code names for every model. By 2020s, LED was almost getting everywhere, until we have ended up 2026, and who knows where history may carry us...
I'll now explain the manufactures history:
A-20 Zakłady Wytwórcze Aparatury Teatralnej i Oświetleniowej w Kożuchowie:
The plant first started off in 1953, where it was found in Kożuchowie. The name first started of AS A-20 Zakłady Wytwórcze Aparatury Teatralnej i Sygnalizacyjnej. I guessing they made electrical equipment stuff just like most PRL Manufactures at the time. In 1959, the name was renamed to what is mostly known as in 1959, and started to produce streetlights. They made the first fluorescent fixture called UOSF in 1959, and in 1961, ORZ 1 fixture was the first HPMV fixture to be ever made in Poland. Their ORZ series was the first fibreglass series which had fixtures from ORZ series made of Fibreglass. By 1965, or 1966, some fo their fixtures, ORZ 1, ORZ 6 and ORZ 7 went to Mesko in Skarzysko Kamiennej, and were sold by Mesko. The rest of fixtures were stopped being made. By that, the manufacture changed their name to A-20 Zakłady Sprzętu Motoryzacyjnego w Kożuchowie. At thats a small story about the factory.
A-23 Mazurskie Zakłady Aparatury Oświetleniowej Wilkasy koło Giżycka / Polam Wilkasy / Elekrim Wilkasy / ES-System:
The plant first started off in 1947, two years after WW2, by the name A-23 Mazurskie Zakłady. The manufacture was opened in Giżycko, though In 1951, the plant was moved to Wilkasy. In 1957, they changed their production profile and were started to make streetlights. They made a bunch of first Incandescent fixtures in the late 50s what were meant to light the streets of Poland. In the early 60s, no more than 600 people worked there, and in 1962, a company Vocational school was opened. In 1968, many Incandescent fixtures were made as for Industrial areas. And when the year 1972 hit, everything changed. Polam incorporated with A-23, and with some other lighting companies, and this is how it worked. A-23 produced stuff, Polam sold them as by the name Polam Wilkasy. At the times in production there was almost no freedom and who knew who made them. By the name of Polam Wilkasy, Park fixtures were made, such as the ORO series, OCP series and OP series, which all had HPMV bulbs in use instead of Incandescent. By the end of 1989, Polam stopped producting stuff under A-23 and gthe company had its freedowm again. Their name was now Elekrim Wilkasy. And after decade, the name was renamed to ES-System Wilkasy. They made the Boyen series, and bought the German SL fixtures and them into railway versions called SL100, and also bought the english SRL 8s and made them into Polish versions, called WSL 8. In the 2010s, they made a few LED fixtures such as the Boyen 8 LED, the Racer, the Sprinter, and a few more. In 2019, the manufacture became a part of the Glamox Group, and in 2023 or 2024, the website of ES-System was now to be found on the Glamox Group site.
A-24 Zakłady Sprzętu Instalacyjnego W Gostynin / Polam Gostynin / Elgo Gostynin:
The plant firsted started off in 1958 in Gostynin. They made Electrical equipments at the time, such as connectors, terminal tiles, etc. In 1961, the manufacture changed its production profile and started to make electromagnetic ballasts for other manufactures to use them for their fixtures. In 1963, the comapny changed its name to Elgo Gostynin. Though they still made the ballasts. In 1972, Polam incorporated with Elgo, and in the years Polam sold the stuff Elgo made. In 1978, Elgo made the first HPS fixture, called OUS 400, though it was STILL sold under the name Polam Gostynin. They made a few other HPS fixtures and HPMV ones. In 1983, Polam change their name to Polamp, which affected that Elgo's production were sold as Polamp Gostynin. By the end of 1989, the manufacture had its freedom, like others, and POLAM was long gone. PRL gone. After that, Elgo produced a lot of fixtures such as XXXd series, XXXa and XXXb series, XXXe and XXXc sereis, and many other. In 2007, Elgo named all of their fixtures that were in production, such as XXXe aand XXXc series as Leda, XXX series as Strada, etc. In 2008, the Acron series began. And from 2009, the manufacture started to make LED fixtures. On 24th Feb 2016, the company bankrupted and shut down forever. Thank you for your serice, Elgo...
Zakłady Metalowe Mesko:
The plant first started off in 1922. The manufacture was officially launched in 1924. During the interwar period the manufacture had evolved and received large grants. During World War 2, the manufacture was under the Germans, and produced weapons for them. After the war, the reconstruction of machinery and equipments began. In the 60s, production of luminaires by Mesko began. The first fixtures were OUR 2250, OUR 250, OUR 400, 10J, OUSK 340 and some other if I forgot. Over the years mesko made many of kinds of HPMV fixtures. HPS production of fixtures began in 90s, and were made till 2010s. Overall what I can say, most luminaires in the 60s and 70s had Mesko fixtures used on the roads. OURW series was very popular being used in Railway areas, same with ORZ 6 and ORZ 7 fixtures. Mesko also made the biggest luminaires, such as the first 700w HPMV (OUR-700) and 1000w HPMV (OUR-1000) fixtures. They also made industrial lights and MV / MH floodlights.
Spódzielnia Inwalidów "Rozwój" w Kłobucku:
Not much is known about this manufacture, as well as, they are very popular for making the ORZ 3kł fixture which was used a lot around in Poland, still in 2026 many places found in private areas, abandoned areas, industrial areas, etc. They are known for being a PRL Manufacture.
SEEL Giżycko:
Another not really known manufacture, though they made streetlights during the 80s. They are well known for making the ORZ 3G, but at the other side wasn't quite a durable fixture due to the material they used for the housing. They also made fixtures such as OP 2x125, OPR / OPS / OPMH (Shanta) and a unknown ball spanwire fixture.
CWEER Kraków / ZMER Kalisz:
Another manufacture not known very much, but they are known for buying 2 fixtures from Mesko, one is a OUR125, sold under CWEER Kraków and the second one is a OURW 2250 which was changed up a bit and instead of 2 250w HPMV bulbs it had 2 125w HPMV bulbs, probably 125w ballasts and had the name plate written as OUR 2125.
...add later the other 5 / 6 remaining ones later...
