Pacific Scientific Sells Troubled Solium Unit

Pacific Scientific Co. has sold its troubled Solium fluorescent unit to Chicago Miniature Lamp Inc., which is adding to its technology for fluorescent light controls.

The companies didn’t disclose terms of the agreement Thursday.

Pacific Scientific said Solium will be better off with an established lighting company. In April, the Newport Beach company put the money-losing Solium unit up for sale, saying that it would cost the company too much to gain market share and that Pacific had underestimated the time it would take to develop such a market.

Chicago Miniature, which started as a maker of tiny lamps used in products such as computers and auto dashboards, bought closely held Sylvania Lighting International in September, giving it a line of larger lights. The company hopes to breathe life into the Solium products, used to adjust the brightness of or otherwise control fluorescent lights.

The licensing agreement gives Chicago Miniature use of 18 Solium patents, Ward said, while Pacific Scientific will get unspecified royalty payments from sales.

The technology allows fluorescent lights to be dimmed or equipped with three-way switches. Chicago Miniature, based in Canton, Mass., will produce Solium ballasts, devices that deliver electricity to the bulbs.

When Pacific Scientific introduced the technology in September 1994, it predicted that Solium would add up to $100 million in annual sales by 1996, calling its products a “major technical advance” and the first-ever adjustable fluorescent lightbulb.

In April 1997, Pacific discontinued Solium and took a charge of $12 million against fiscal first-quarter earnings, bringing Solium’s three-year losses to $2.04 a share.

On Wednesday, Pacific Scientific said it acquired Ireland-based AEG Servo Systems Ltd., a motor maker, for an undisclosed amount.