Polylux (overhead projector)

The Polylux was an overhead projector produced in the German Democratic Republic (GDR).

The Polylux was produced in the VEB (Volkseigener Betrieb: people’s enterprise) Phylatex-Physikgeräte DDR, in Frankenberg near Chemnitz (then known as Karl-Marx-Stadt).

Until the Wende in 1989, 27,000 devices were produced on average each year, and were also exported to the Soviet Union.

The body of the Polylux consisted of plastic and contained a ventilator with delayed shutdown in order to avoid a heat build-up.

In particular, the Fresnel lens with its large surface area, on which transparencies were placed, was made out of plastic.