OUR PRODUCT MANUFACTURERS

Edison Swan of 36-7 Queen Street, London (1908) Joseph Swan experimented with incandescent lamps but lacked an adequate vacuum pump. He heard about a newly invented air pump known as a Sprengel pump and applied this to his experiments. 1877 Thomas Edison turned his attentions to electric lighting towards the end of 1877. He believed that commercially successful lighting needed to have similar characteristics to the existing gas lighting. His early experiments using carbonized paper and carbon were failures. The lamp usually cited as his first success was made on 19th October 1879 but the carbonized cotton used as the...

Ekco 1904 Eric Kirkham Cole born in Rochford. 1924 Started business with girlfriend in Leigh-on-Sea, repairing radio sets and charging batteries etc. Developed Battery Eliminator (i.e. mains transformer). 1925 Joined by W. S. Verrells 1926 E. K. Cole Limited formed. 1927 Funding obtained to move to larger premises in Leigh. 1928 A.W. Martin joined business (later to become chief Engineer and designer of the famous round Bakelite radio) – 500 employees. 1929 Land acquired in Priory Crescent – building commenced. 1929 British Industries Fair Advert for Ekco Mains Power Radio Devices. For obtaining the power supply for Radio Receivers direct from electric supply mains...

In the early days of radio broadcasting in the 1920s, many listeners were pioneers who built their own sets. For those who preferred to buy ready-made products, however, there were soon complete radio sets in the stores. The first-generation products were tube sets that required headsets for listening. The first radio receiver produced by Svenska Radioaktiebolag (SRA) in 1922 was a two-tube model. Over the following years, the standard of radio receivers improved, and they were sold under the Radiola brand. In 1927, Ericsson became the majority owner of SRA with Marconi as a minority owner. SRA was also responsible...

Ferguson Radio Corporation, of Enfield  1935 Started making radio receivers (and later televisions); presumably owned by Jules Thorn. 1937 Thorn Electrical Industries was its sole distributor. 1946 Rights issue by Thorn Electrical Industries to finance the acquisition from Jules Thorn of the entire share capital of Ferguson Radio Corporation. The Ferguson name continued to be used by Thorn, and its successor Thorn EMI, until 1992. 1946 Conversion from war work was a protracted process; made preparations for production of television sets

Ferranti of Hollinwood, Lancashire. Telephone: Failsworth 161; City 7618 and Central 9325. Cables: "Ferranti, Hollinwood"; "Ferranti, Estrand, London". (1929) Ditto Address: Telephone: Failsworth 2000. Telegraphic Address: "Ferranti, Hollinwood". (1937) Ferranti was a major UK electrical engineering and equipment firm, known primarily for defence electronics and power grid systems. The company is also famous in the computer industry for building the second commercial computer, the Ferranti Mark I, which went on sale in 1949 and started their computer business which lasted into the 1970s. They had influential collaborations with the University computing departments at Manchester and Cambridge, which resulted in the development of...