THE GREAT MULLARD MAGIC BLOG — mullard

Today's episode.......... In the components factory, cathodes are cut, trimmed and shaped and one automatic machine was capable of reeling off 2500 cathodes per hour and when one considers that only one or two are needed per valve, this level of production represents a lot of valves. At the end of each bench I noticed a squared sheet headed Quality Control Chart where defects can be recorded every fifteen minutes.  This scrutiny in the search for the ideal, I found, was the forte of the entire works with 100 people in the factory doing nothing else but inspect the product...

Here we go again - a long newspaper article this -  And so to the technical side, valve production is in three parts - metal components come from the components factory; glass pieces and bulbs from the glass factory and filaments and fine wire from the wire factory.    Most fascinating of all was the wire factory where I saw how a tungsten bar two feet long was drawn down and stretched until it was 100 miles long to a thickness of 1/10 that of a single human hair. But that's not the end of the wonders as the wire...

The Blackburn Times factory tour article continues apace........ In yet another section of the works, I found older men who were still learning - highly skilled scientists experimenting with processes on the secret list, all aiming for even speedier and better methods of production.  In glass walled rooms filled with weird apparatus was a complicated array of tubes and taps and of course acid carboys,  It had been assembled to discover new materials for valve making.   The Laboratory housed 40 scientists working in a series of areas, subdivided into sections: Analytical; Electrical; Metallurgical; Physical & Glass Research.  Here too...

And so the story continues....... In the sick bay, first impression was of the cleanliness of the well equipped rooms.  The Sister presiding told of how she and her four staff had dealt with 70 patients before 10 o clock that morning.  Apparently, all manner of cuts, burns and sores are tended at the sick bay.   If an employee chances to be troubled by lumbago or gout then there's a Physiotherapy Deartment with it's modern heat treatment. But Mullard is really quite a healthy place, possibly fittest in it's "baby" section -- the Training School.  Here, there is full...

Hi everybody, and a very warm welcome to the new-look Mullard Antiques Online Shop!

You may recognise the Mullard name and logos from our existing online shops Mullard Magic and Mullard Antiques and Collectibles. 

Mullard Magic specialises in vintage radio accessories, vintage valves or tubes, components, military radios and equipment.

Mullard Antiques specialises in the unusual. We offer a wide range of vintage and quirky items for all sorts of collectors and home improvers; from pottery, vintage technology,  vintage lamps and lighting, clocks and watches, militaria, vintage radios, transport and automobilia,jewellery, vintage books, vintage photography and imaging, vintage toys and games, artwork and signage, and much more!