Philco (an acronym for Philadelphia Battery Company) is an American electronics manufacturer headquartered in Philadelphia. Philco was a pioneer in battery, radio, and television production. The company was purchased by Ford in 1961, and renamed "Philco-Ford" in 1966. Ford sold the company to GTE in 1974, which sold it to Norelco in 1981, that became a subsidiary of the Dutch company Philips in 1987. In North America, the Philco brand is owned by Philips. In other markets, the Philco International brand is owned by Electrolux. In the early 1920s, Philco made storage batteries, "socket power" battery eliminator units (plug-in transformers), and battery chargers. With the invention of the rectifier tube, which made it practical to power radios by electrical outlets, in 1928, Philco entered the radio business. They followed other radio makers such as RCA, Atwater-Kent, Zenith Electronics, Freshman Masterpiece, FADA Radio (Frank A. D'Andrea Radio), and AH Grebe into the battery-powered radio business. By the end of 1930, they were selling more radios than any other maker, a position they held for more than 20 years. Philco built many iconic radios and television sets, including the classic cathedral-shaped wooden radio of the 1930s (aka the "Baby Grand"), and the Predicta series of television receiver sets of the 1950s. Philo Farnsworth, credited for inventing the first fully functional all electronic television system (U.S. patent 1,773,980, filed Jan 7, 1927), worked at Philco from 1931 to 1933.
Early history Philco (PHIL = Philadelphia and CO = Company) was founded in 1892 as Helios Electric Company. From its inception until 1904, the company manufactured carbon-arc lamps. As this line of business slowly floundered over the last decade of the 19th century, the firm experienced increasingly difficult times. As the Philadelphia Storage Battery Company, it began making batteries for electric vehicles in 1906. It later supplied home charging batteries to the infant radio industry. The Philco brand name appeared in 1919.
Radios
Until the mid- to late-1920s, all radios except crystal sets were powered by vacuum tube batteries, which were expensive, needed frequent charging, and leaked battery acid, reducing the wife approval factor in the home. A very successful August 1925 Philco consumer product, called the "Socket Power Battery Eliminator", was a rectifier unit which enabled users to operate radios from standard light sockets. By 1927 over a million of these units had been sold, but from that year the industry began manufacturing batteryless radios using RCA's AC tube. The almost immediate end of demand for battery eliminators forced Philco to quickly design and manufacture its own radios that used household power. The first Philco radios were introduced in mid-1928, and 96,000 were produced that year, making Philco 26th in the nation in radio production volume. Up to that time most radios were handmade and priced for relatively wealthy consumers. Erstwhile competitor Atwater Kent, the leading radio seller, was also located in Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Storage Battery Company decided that radio production costs could be reduced by incorporating assembly line techniques then only used by the automobile industry, and began producing less expensive mass market radios. 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, it had captured 30% of the domestic radio market.
Philco radios were economical 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, then known as "farm radios", most of which had cabinets identical to their AC powered versions. The Philco "Baby Grand" (today called "cathedral" radios by collectors) featured an arched top. This was for economic 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; many exist today in collections. By today's standards, most are still excellent performing AM band radios when restored. A few of their innovations were very futuristic. From 1939 to 1941, Philco sold radios that were operated by wireless remote control, the one-tube "Mystery Control", used on their 13-tube model 116RX-SU (or 39-116). This feature was not offered by any other maker until the 1970s stereo receivers. Philco ranked 57th among United States corporations in the value of World War II military production contracts. Another interesting product was the Philco "Beam of Light" 78 rpm record players offered in 1941 and 1942. These 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 photoelectric 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.
Expansion In 1941, in response to outside needs for personnel skilled in electronics, Philco founded a training and installation organization that evolved into its TechRep division, with hundreds of personnel styled as Field Engineers or TechReps in positions worldwide. This division later became the foundation for the Ford Aerospace organization.
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