Author Topic: Why actually the americans calls the circular fluorescents "Circline"?  (Read 3638 times)
dor123
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Why actually the americans calls the circular fluorescents "Circline"? « on: July 14, 2016, 02:47:03 PM » Author: dor123
Google Translate (Or any other online english-hebrew-english dictionary) don't receives and translates the word "Circline" to hebrew (Aka don't finds hebrew results for "Circline), Meaning that the word "Circline" isn't a linguistic word worldwide (A word that don't exist)(The same situation happened with Google Translate also with other languages).
So why in North America, it is so much used to describe circular fluorescent lamp?
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Re: Why actually the americans calls the circular fluorescents "Circline"? « Reply #1 on: July 14, 2016, 03:00:54 PM » Author: Ash
Same reason why "PL" describes all TC-* lamps from all manufacturers
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dor123
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Re: Why actually the americans calls the circular fluorescents "Circline"? « Reply #2 on: July 14, 2016, 03:05:37 PM » Author: dor123
So "Circline" was a trademark of GE, as they are the inventor of the circular fluorescent lamps. PL is a trademark of Philips, the inventor of the commercial TC type CFL. So Circline is indeed a generic name in North America for a circular fluorescents.
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Re: Why actually the americans calls the circular fluorescents "Circline"? « Reply #3 on: July 14, 2016, 03:53:35 PM » Author: Lumex120
I think "circline" was a brand name started by a company and then everyone started calling them that.
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Re: Why actually the americans calls the circular fluorescents "Circline"? « Reply #4 on: July 14, 2016, 05:37:35 PM » Author: wattMaster
Circline is essentially "Circular", it is a generic branded term like "Photoshopped" as in "That photo was photoshopped!", or "Kleenex", which really means "Tissue", but it is not a real word. The circular tubes are still branded Circline, one of my packages says that it is a Circline tube, which is technically improper, but they do it anyway.
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Re: Why actually the americans calls the circular fluorescents "Circline"? « Reply #5 on: July 14, 2016, 06:44:49 PM » Author: sol
Many brand names have gotten into regular usage. Here in North America, we use the Electrolux to clean the carpets, we use Kleenex to blow our nose, we use Skidoos as one possible transportation in the snow and we sit on the Chesterfield. The generic names in order are vacuum cleaner, paper tissue, snowmobile and sofa. These words are used interchangeably. There are others as well such as the Circline lamp.
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dor123
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Re: Why actually the americans calls the circular fluorescents "Circline"? « Reply #6 on: July 15, 2016, 01:57:54 AM » Author: dor123
What I've seen, is that companies don't put ® or ™ after "Circline" on their circular fluorescents, even GE on their first circular fluorescents, which I think the first to use this brand, if they are the inventor of the circular fluorescent, according to James Hooker's site .
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Re: Why actually the americans calls the circular fluorescents "Circline"? « Reply #7 on: July 15, 2016, 06:40:09 AM » Author: sol
Well maybe the trade mark registration expired and was never renewed.
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Re: Why actually the americans calls the circular fluorescents "Circline"? « Reply #8 on: July 15, 2016, 11:47:40 AM » Author: Medved
It may well be, they offered that term for general use (by other makers as well), as it was in their interest to make such lamp format a standard, even if it means allowing the competitors in. Because if they would be the only supplier of that format, people would be hesitant to use that to not run into a vendor lock-in problem. For GE it was a choice of either sharing that business with competitors, or having no business at all.
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Re: Why actually the americans calls the circular fluorescents "Circline"? « Reply #9 on: January 01, 2017, 05:48:11 AM » Author: dor123
Update: Found the answer to this question, after searching in Google "what is the company that coined the term "Circline"": http://pressroom.gelighting.com/facts/the-evolution-of-lighting .
GE indeed uses trademark on the name "Circline", and that they are even the inventor of the circular fluorescent lamp. So "Circline" is indeed a genericized trademark in the United States.
What is strange: GE and other american manufacturers, don't uses trademark on this name on the lamp etch and their package printing of their circular lamps.
« Last Edit: January 01, 2017, 06:24:06 AM by dor123 » Logged

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Re: Why actually the americans calls the circular fluorescents "Circline"? « Reply #10 on: January 01, 2017, 02:38:11 PM » Author: sol
Sylvania does use the term Circline on their packaging, see here
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dor123
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Re: Why actually the americans calls the circular fluorescents "Circline"? « Reply #11 on: January 01, 2017, 03:35:40 PM » Author: dor123
I didn't mean that they don't uses the term itself on their packing, but not uses the TM symbol (Trademark) on the term "Circline".
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Re: Why actually the americans calls the circular fluorescents "Circline"? « Reply #12 on: January 01, 2017, 04:15:03 PM » Author: sol
Well maybe GE revoked their rights on the name so it is no longer a trade mark ?
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Re: Why actually the americans calls the circular fluorescents "Circline"? « Reply #13 on: January 02, 2017, 12:51:25 AM » Author: tolivac
Its like "Skilsaw" is a brand/trade name for portable hand held circular saws made by Skil.Now people call all types of portable circular saws "Skilsaws" even though they aren't made by Skil tools.Like "Kleenex" for tissues.So "Circuline" for other types of circular flourescent bulbs.
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dor123
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Re: Why actually the americans calls the circular fluorescents "Circline"? « Reply #14 on: January 02, 2017, 03:51:58 AM » Author: dor123
Generic names can be exists in specific languages and countries (Like in Israel and in Hebrew, "Pelephone" (פלאפון) for a celular phone, "EL" for integrated CFL, "LED" for a TV set). However, there were some generic names in English that I've took long time to discover that they are that, since either I didn't know that they were trademarks because of their common use, or since they aren't in use in Hebrew/Israel, and/or the companies don't uses (Or I didn't noted that they uses) trademark on these names. Examples: "Super glue" for Cyanoacrylates. "Multiball" and "Multi-ball" for a state of more than one ball at a time in a Pinball machine, "Sellotape" for an adhesive tape, "Thermos" for a vacuum flask, "Tippex" for an eraser fluid etc..., and here in Israel/Hebrew: "Pladelet" (פלדלת) for a steel security door, "Acamol" (אקמול) for analgesic drugs.
With "Circline", I've a long time to discover that this is actually a trademark of GE for circular fluorescent lamps, since no american company that uses this name, uses trademark on it, Google Translate don't recognises this term, and there is almost no sources that this was actually a trademark. The first time I've began to thought that Circline was a trademark, was after seeing this picture, in which despite not using a trademark on the name Circline, Westinghouse used it on the packages in a suspicious way that causes me to think that "Circline" was a trademark actually, that gone genericized in the US and Canada. However, I didn't found in Google proofs until now, that "Circline" is (or was) a trademark. Only after finding that page at GE website about the evolution of lighting from GE view, I finally discovered that they uses trademark on the name "Circline" (First time ever to actually see a trademark on that name), meaning this was their trademark for circular fluorescent lamps, that gone genericized in North America.
« Last Edit: January 02, 2017, 03:54:11 AM by dor123 » Logged

I"m don't speak English well, and rely on online translating to write in this site.
Please forgive me if my choice of my words looks like offensive, while that isn't my intention.

I only working with the international date format (dd.mm.yyyy).

I lives in Israel, which is a 220-240V, 50hz country.

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