Philco, the Philadelphia Storage Battery Company (formerly known as the Spencer Company and later the Helios Electric Company), was a pioneer in early battery, radio, and television production as well as former employer of Philo Farnsworth, inventor of cathode ray tube television. It is currently a brand of Philips.
Philco's rise to the top of radio makers was an amazing feat. While other makers like Atwater-Kent, Zenith Electronics, RCA, and many now-forgotten others (Freshman Masterpiece, FADA Radio, AH Grebe, etc.) sold many battery-powered radios in the early 1920s, Philco made only batteries, "socket power" units, and battery chargers. With the invention of the rectifier tube, which made light socket powered radios practical, Philco knew their business was doomed, and decided in 1926 to get into the booming radio business. By 1930 they would sell more radios than any other maker and hold that first place position for over 20 years.
Philco built many iconic radios and TV sets, including the classic cathedral-shaped wooden radio of the 1930s (aka the "Baby Grand"), and the very futuristic (in a 1950s sort of way) Predicta series of television receivers.
Philco was founded in 1892 as Helios Electric Company.[1] From its inception until 1904, the company manufactured carbon-arc lamps. As this line of business slowly foundered over the last decade of the 19th century, the firm experienced increasingly difficult times. As the Philadelphia Storage Battery Company, in 1906 it began making batteries for electric vehicles. They later supplied home charging batteries to the infant radio industry. The Philco brand name appeared in 1919. From 1920 to 1927, all radios were powered by storage batteries which were fairly expensive and often messy in the home. A very successful product, called the "Socket Power", was a rectifier unit that allowed users to operate their battery-powered radios from standard wall current. By 1927 over a million of these units had been sold. However, the invention of the vacuum tube rectifier (incorporated into the coming 1928 line of radio sets) made this technology obsolete.
In 1926, Philco decided to begin making radios.[2] The first Philco radios were introduced in mid 1928, and 96,000 were produced that year, making Philco radios 26th in the nation in production volume. Up to that time most radios were handmade and priced for relatively wealthy consumers. Atwater-Kent, the leading radio seller, coincidentally were also located in Philadelphia.
The Philadelphia Storage Battery Company decided that prices of radios could be scaled for a mass market by incorporating assembly line techniques then only used by the automobile industry. By the 1929 model year Philco was in third place behind Atwater-Kent and Majestic (Grigsby-Grunow Corp) in radio sales. In 1930 the company sold 600,000 radios, grossed $34 million, and was the leading radio maker in the country. By 1934 they had captured 30% of the domestic radio market.[3]
Philco radios were notable for their economy of design without sacrificing quality or durability. Like other makers of the era, they offered a wide line of radios beginning with five-tube sets all the way up to high-fidelity consoles with 20 tubes in 1937-38. Philco also made battery-powered radios which were by then called "farm radios", most of which had cabinets identical to their AC powered versions. The Philco "Baby Grand" (today called "Cathedral" radios by collectors) was a shape that featured an arched top that wrapped from the sides over the top. This was for economical reason partly, as one piece of wood formed both the top and sides. Philco sold far more of this style than any other maker, a total of over two million (in over twenty models, with from four to eleven tubes) from 1930 to 1938;[4] many of them exist today in collections. By today's standards, most of them are still excellent performing AM band radios when restored.
A few of their innovations were very futuristic. From 1939 to 1941, they sold radios that were remotely operated by wireless controls, the one-tube "Mystery Control", used on their 13-tube model 116RX-SU (or 39-116).[5] This feature was not offered by any other maker until the 1970s stereo receivers. Another interesting product was the Philco "Beam of Light" 78 RPM record players offered in 1941 and 1942. These units had a tiny mirror attached to the player's needle. A beam of light was focused on the mirror which caused a vibrating light to hit a solar cell and produce the audio signal. While this system had some advantages over the standard crystal phono cartridge of the time, it was unreliable and is today a very difficult unit to restore.
Philco began marketing car radios in 1930 and later expanded into other areas including air conditioners (1938), refrigerators (1939), home freezers (1946), consumer televisions (1947), electric ranges (1949), home laundry washers & dryers (1954), and home entertainment products. Their first consumer television set, the 1948 table Model 48-1000, had a 10 inch screen and sold for $395 US, or just over $3600 in 2007 US dollars.
By 1954, Philco had led the radio industry in volume sales for 24 straight years, selling over 30 million radios.[6]
The Philco Predicta TV set was introduced in 1957 for the 1958 model year. It was a black and white television with the picture tube mounted in a unique steerable pod on a pedestal. There were many versions: 17" or 21" picture tubes, wood or metal cabinets and table or floor standing versions, some with rare UHF tuners. It turned out to be a very unreliable design, and cost the company dearly in repairs and reputation. Many of them were sold to motels and bars due to the convenience of the swivel tube arrangement. It was discontinued in 1960; a great failure for Philco, like the Edsel automobile was for Ford, which ironically ran exactly the same model years. Today the Predicta is a collector's favorite and restored examples can easily be found.
In 1954, engineers at Philco Corporation invented the surface barrier transistor, the first transistor suitable for use in high-speed computers.
In June 1955, the National Security Agency and the United States Navy entered into a contract with Philco to build a specialized computer based on Philco's surface barrier transistor technology. The project was called SOLO, since the idea was to have powerful personal workstations, and the computer was later named the Philco TRANSACT S-1000.[7]
The Philco S-2000 Transac was the first solid state computer and it was introduced in 1957. It used discrete transistors instead of vacuum tubes (as the integrated circuit had not yet been invented).[7][8][9][10] It also used a fast adder, originally invented by Bruce Gilchrist, James H. Pomerene and Y.K. Wong of the Institute for Advanced Study. It incorporated a speed up technique for asynchronous adders reducing the time for additive carry-overs to propagate.[11]
In 1962, the Philco 2000 Model 212 computer was chosen for use in the North American Aerospace Defense Command's famous Cheyenne Mountain facility. Three of the machines were installed that year and ran until 1980. The machines were also used by research labs at Westinghouse Electric and General Electric.
In later years, they produced automotive electronic controls, aerospace tracking systems, and artificial satellites. In 1960, NASA contracted with Philco to build the world-wide tracking station network for Project Mercury, and all subsequent Man-In-Space projects until the ground station network was replaced by the TDRS communication satellites in the 1990s. Philco's Western Development Labs ultimately became Space Systems/Loral, which continues to manufacture spacecraft.
Acquired by Ford Motor Company on December 11, 1961 and renamed Philco-Ford in 1966, it continued to make many car radios for Ford vehicles as well as its other products. Eventually, the name was abandoned. Ford sold Philco to General Telephone and Electronics (who also owned Sylvania) in 1974. The Aerospace portion of Philco Ford was renamed Ford Aerospace in 1976.
The company was acquired by Philips in 1981 in order to gain the rights to use the Philips trademark in the United States. (Philco had been able to keep Philips from using its trademark legally because of the similarly sounding names.) Philips continues to use the Philco name for promotional consumer electronics and has licensed the name for private brands and retro style consumer electronics. Philips also licensed the Philco brand name to Funai for digital converter boxes for analog TVs in the USA.[12]
InBrazil, Philco (then Philco-Hitachi) was acquired in 1989 by Itautec, becoming Itautec-Philco and in August 2005 Itautec sold Philco to Gradiente. In August 2007, Gradiente sold the brand to a group of investors, who intended to license the brand to Brazilian appliance maker Britânia.[13]
In 2003, the Merloni Group acquired rights to the Philco brand (from Philco International) for use in Italy.[14] The Italian Philco produces household appliances in affiliation with Bendix and Thorn EMI Moyor Electronics (e.g. Bendix 71258 1000 automatic washing machine 1986). As of 2006, the company is mainly recognised in Australia.
InArgentina, in March 2004, Philco was acquired by a group of Argentine investors. The presence of Philco in Argentina dates since 1930 and remains a traditional mark of appliances in this country. It currently manufactures refrigerators and white line products by Philco Argentina S.A. and Helametal Catamarca S.A. Argentina.[15]
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