Industrial Ingenuity. Built to Last. The American Electric Lighting LuxMaster 53 and its higher-wattage sister model, the LuxMaster 153, were once iconic American workhorses manufactured over a span of more than 25 years by five separate companies, with minimal design changes. Introduced to the market in May 1980 by ITT Outdoor Lighting, this fixture was first known as the
HPS Cutoff Luminaire Series, and it quickly revolutionized street lighting by introducing a polyester fiber "Breathing Seal" to prevent contamination and drastically reduce maintenance costs associated with constant repairs. Although it was criticized by street lighting purists for its unconventional "shoebox" shape, which was more commonly seen in parking lots than on streets, it quickly gained considerable momentum and was ordered by the thousands by municipalities across America for new developments. However, this fixture wasn't evenly distributed across the entire United States; it became a reliable workhorse for cities with harsh climates and heavy exposure to the elements, such as Phoenix, Seattle, and Minneapolis. In many ways, it handled unforgiving temperatures and constant particulate debris in ways that the GE M-400 simply wasn't yet equipped to manage. In March 1984, ITT Corp. officially trademarked the name LuxMaster, rebranding the entire 53 and 153 Series as the LuxMaster 53 and LuxMaster 153, respectively. The word "Lux" is derived from the Latin word for "light."
Corporate Shake-Ups: However, this corporate stability did not last very long. In June 1985, ITT Corporation officially sold twelve of its industrial and electrical brands, including ITT Outdoor Lighting and ITT American Electric, to the private equity firm Forstmann Little & Co. for more than $370 million. Soon afterward, Forstmann Little & Co. consolidated all twelve newly acquired divisions under the holding company FL Industries, Inc., which manufactured the entire LuxMaster Series under the American Electric Lighting brand. Former McGraw-Edison president Richard W. Vieser oversaw the consolidation of the brands, and William J. Turner was appointed CEO of FL Industries. Under Turner's leadership, factory plant managers reduced bureaucracy and gained greater autonomy over production schedules. Between 1985 and 1992, the AEL LuxMaster Series underwent several upgrades, including a removable ballast tray—which was widely praised by linemen along with multi-tap ballast configurations, flat and sag glass options, a drop polycarbonate prismatic refractor, and a choice between Type II and Type III light distributions. In 1988, FL Industries released the LuxMaster Classic LM Series. Designed as a parking lot fixture, it shared the patented "Breathing Seal" and the removable ballast tray that made the original AEL LuxMaster 53 and 153 models famous. However, this fixture looked visually distinct from the rest of the LuxMaster Series and was not quite as successful. In January 1992, FL Industries Holdings, Inc. was fully acquired by Thomas & Betts for approximately $432.5 million.
Thomas & Betts Collapses: A year later, Thomas & Betts moved its headquarters directly into the American Electric Lighting plant in Memphis. As they merged operations, American Electric turned out to be their biggest cash cow, valued at over $500 million. That momentum pushed Thomas & Betts’ total revenue past the $1 billion mark by 1994, sending Wall Street into a frenzy. In September 1999, a massive financial scandal broke out when the SEC investigated the company, uncovering cooked books, nonexistent internal controls, and hidden revenue gaps. The fallout completely wiped out the progress they had made since hitting the billion-dollar milestone. In the wake of the SEC’s findings, the stock crashed by nearly 64%, and the company’s standalone value never fully recovered. Thomas & Betts was desperately forced to sell its American Electric Lighting division to make ends meet. In October 2001, Thomas & Betts sold American Electric Lighting to National Service Industries, Inc., for approximately $80 million, a mere fraction of what the brand was once worth. In November 2001, shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, National Service Industries, Inc., spun off its American Electric Lighting brand and other parts of its lighting portfolio into Acuity Brands, Inc. and then Acuity Brands was fully in control for the entire manufacturing of the AEL LuxMaster Series.
GE Lighting Is a Copycat: In 2012, GE Lighting released the
GE ThinScape, a move widely criticized by streetlight enthusiasts for being a direct look-alike to the AEL LuxMaster Series and for severely lacking originality. Many felt like GE Lighting just deliberately ripped off the design of the AEL LuxMaster 153 and tried to pass it off as its own. The GE ThinScape was a very popular fixture in the Phoenix metro area here in Arizona and thousands were installed by SRP; however, it was ultimately discontinued in 2016 along with a wide variety of other GE Lighting HID products. Additionally, by 2012, GE Lighting had already made substantial progress in transitioning its lighting portfolio from HID to LEDs, particularly with the GE Evolve ERS Series, and many were skeptical about the long-term market vitality of the GE ThinScape. Although the AEL LuxMaster 153 and the GE ThinScape look incredibly similar, there are a couple of ways to differentiate between them. The first and most obvious difference is the "Breathing Seals." Those had already been patented under the American Electric Lighting brand for decades, and GE Lighting was legally prohibited from implementing them. The GE ThinScape also doesn't have any heat-dissipating fins on its underbelly. Second of all, look at the latch key. The AEL LuxMaster 53 and 153 both have a very subtle latch key that isn't too prominent. On the contrary, the GE ThinScape has a very long latch key that is slightly protruding.
Brighter Horizons: With Acuity Brands now in full control of the AEL LuxMaster Series, they streamlined the entire manufacturing process and updated the magnetic core and coil ballasts from the earlier iterations of the LuxMaster Series to more modern and energy-efficient electronic ballasts. Acuity Brands proliferated significantly as a company; they learned from the mistakes and victories of the companies whom they acquired. They continued to manufacture the same products those predecessors were making and they used their newfound wisdom and expertise to pave the way for a brighter future. Acuity Brands was the exclusive manufacturer of the AEL LuxMaster Series for almost twenty years, far longer than the four previous companies that made it before them. The AEL LuxMaster Series under Acuity Brands still proved to be a major success in cities such as Phoenix, Seattle, Minneapolis, and any other cities that cannot afford to yield in face of harsh climates.
The AEL LuxMaster Never Dies: Even though the entirety of the AEL LuxMaster Series was officially discontinued back in 2021, to me it never truly died. In the Town of Gilbert, Arizona, instead of swapping them all out for GE Current Evolve ERL1 units, SRP simply installed a cornbulb in each and every one of them! And it's not just Gilbert; in Queen Creek, a smaller town bordering Gilbert, it looks like SRP decided to do the exact same thing. While driving around, I saw LuxMaster after LuxMaster stretching out for miles upon miles—all retrofitted with a cornbulb! I am so grateful that these legendary workhorses are still up and running, even if they are no longer burning HPS. While out and about, I took a few pictures of AEL LuxMaster 53s in the wild across Queen Creek and Chandler, Arizona. Come check them out!
CREDITS: Thank you to
@LightsoftheWest for helping me find the document for the GE ThinScape!
