Might I point out that the OP asked specifically for a Golden Glow reflector and the first six responses totally ignored the issue of color. Maybe those folks should have googled it before they started suggesting stainless steel salad bowls.

Still unanswered, was the uranium dioxide added to the glass reflectors strictly for color, or did it add some other desirable property to the glass? Could a glassblower obtain raw uranium glass to make a reproduction reflector?

According to the thesprucecrafts.com article i most recently posted:

"Vaseline glass is also called "uranium glass," at times, and for good reason. Like all types of colored glass, minerals are added to the molten mixture during production to achieve the color. The type of mineral added to vaseline glass is actually what makes it glow.

Source of the Color and Glow
As little as 0.1 to 0.2 percent of uranium dioxide is added to the formula of glass to give it the yellow-green tint, according to Vaseline Glass Collectors Inc.

The small amount of uranium dioxide not only gives the glass its color, but it also makes it glow. When you place a piece of glass you believe to be vaseline in a dark area and illuminate it with a blacklight, it should fluoresce bright green. If it doesn't glow green, it's not vaseline glass. Some pieces of light yellow glass appear to be vaseline, but once this test is performed, that designation is thoroughly ruled out if they glow a different color (manganese causes an orange or peachy glow, for instance) or the piece doesn't glow at all.

That bit of uranium in the glass also makes it slightly radioactive. Not to worry though, the radioactivity of the glass is so minute that it doesn't pose a threat if displayed in your home."

Yeah, I read that... but it's from the artsy-fartsy web page about identifying "Vaseline glass" curios. I somehow doubt that the "glow" did anything to increase the light output of the headlight. Meanwhile boron trioxide is added to glass to make it more resistant to breakage. Could the uranium dioxide have been added for similar effect, and the color only a side effect?

I could see where the uranium may have increased the reflecting capabilities of the glass. Elements in that section of the periodic table have strange properties. I can also see it being used as a sales pitch.

Did Pyle and other manufacturers of headlamps use the same glass reflectors?

Are there any dimensional drawings for the 18" reflector? I am willing to bet that a glass artist would love the opportunity to try and make one.

You would need a telescope maker...not a glass artist. Headlights use a parabolic reflector to create a focused beam of light. Salad bowls and other such dodges are spherical and would only give a diffuse light. Having made a reflector telescope mirror by hand grinding while walking around a barrel.....I know I would never even try to create a parabola on a chunk of glass that size.

Yeah, I never understand that, though I bet I'm guilty of it as well.
It's much easier to just post a link than to write "google it"...

In the USA, "Golden Glow" was a registered Trade Mark of the Electric Service Supply Company of Philadelphia. Golden Glow headlights were used on streetcars, interurbans and locomotives, steam, electric and diesel.

Here's a Japanese site discussing Golden Glow headlights on steam locomotives. There, they were supplied by the Koito Manufacturing Co. Note that the article has US Pyle National and Sunbeam headlights which do not claim to be Golden Glows.

http://uranglass.gooside.com/goldenlight/goldeneng.htm

Phil Mulligan

I suspect the mirrors are pressed, not blown, because one of the discussions google came up with was about re-silvering a reflector, and somebody warned not to let them polish the ESSCo. mark out. I assume the mark is someplace on the margin.

But in this day and age, a CNC lathe can easily generate a perfect parabolic form, either positive or negative, and skilled glass blowers can provide a large constant thickness sheet to form to it.. Yeah, at that point it needs polishing, but only for surface, not for shape. So, it appears a reproduction could be possible when some kid with a rock takes out the last Golden Glow in the world, IF there is a source for the glass.

As to static displays, I bet the proper color LEDs in front of a polished stainless bowl would capture the effect. The spherical bowl won't focus a beam; even the proper reflector won't focus a beam from a multi LED array, but is would likely look pretty good in a display hall.

Was the reflective silvering on the back side of the glass?

If a spun metal reflector was used it would probably be of brass or copper and would be polished and plated with nickel and possibly chrome. If desired, I suspect one could get a hint of the golden color in the plating process.

Maybe go to someone who does stained and colored glass? Someone with skills could probably make a lens with whatever color you want, if you go to the right person.

If one wanted to find a supplier for a new reflector in glass I would start with firms that do curved glass for furniture or architectural purposes or who create custom windshields. Creating a metal reflector by metal spinning would probably be more practical and cost effective.

Not the best photo, but from a page definitely identified as uranium glass/ Golden Glow lamp.

http://uranglass.gooside.com/goldenlight/GGL-2.jpg

You can see the non machined imperfections in the reflection. Pretty sure this was hand blown into a parabolic mold. Then silvered on the backside as a regular mirror. Light reflecting through the yellow tint glass gives the color. May be a little more efficient than regular glass given the very warm color of the old incandescent bulbs.
If you can’t afford an original, and can’t find someone to blow a Uranium doped, then silvered, glass parabolic reflector , then may be just using a lower color temperature lamp would do.

A Google search turned up this 18" aluminum parabolic reflector for $64.93

https://www.scientificsonline.com/produ ... lectors-18

That may have possibilities if you’re building a functional light. It would depend where the focal point is and what the structure of your light source is. From flash lights to headlights, the position of the light source in relation to the reflector, i.e. the bulb filament in this case, determines if you have a beam or a flood or a useless scatter of light. Think of your Mag Lite with the adjustable beam - it varies the position of the reflector closer or further away from the light source to change the beam size. That’s why you can’t put an LED bulb in an old car headlight and expect to get the same result as you had with an incandescent bulb. The relationship of light source to reflector will be way off.

It might be made to work, it just won’t have that slightly yellower cast from the glass. I would think that the only time you’d really notice that the reflector wasn’t made from uranium glass is when the headlight was off. Just a guess, though.