Interesting! I wonder if those were made before the acquisition of MagneTek around 1984. Can't make out any sort of date codes on the top though.

Yeah I didn't see any sorta datecodes on them. All the text i see is below (since its alittle hard to take a pic of something shiny).

Universal Mfg Corp
Paterson NJ
14-15-20 Watt Ballast
118v 60Hz .38a
Cat No 200
Made In USA
(CSA)
(UL)
Listed
474B

I took one out & looked at the back..nothing at all there
There's a sticker on the outside of the fixture (probably a mfr label) but unfortunately its faded completely out...

Cool looking ballasts, as for the label I've found that shining a blacklight over it might reveal the faded text in some cases.

@joe_347V: Thanks .. i'll have to try the Blacklight trick (LOL i just recently picked up an extra Blacklight cheap at the thrift store too )

Did the blacklite trick work for you?

It worked om my R47's label which was severely faded.

Guess I forgot to reply back on this..

Yep the B.L. trick worked ... contents of the label are:

E-54764
<Sears Logo> (guess we know what store sold it originally now )

Underwriters Laboratories Inc
Listed
Portable Lamp
Issue No. C-9022
Low Power Factor
118 Volts
60 Cycles

For Line Volt Amperes Multiply Wattage By 1.5

A622-18D (this number was printed vertically)

This is a sears fixture then. They apparently had there own lighting line way back when. I wish i was around when all the good stuff was.

A 2 foot preheat Sears shoplight...the little cousin of my 4' rapid start one with the .8 amp GE BonusLine ballast (which is lit as I type this!)...