Sprague Electric Company was an electronic component maker founded by Robert C. Sprague in 1926. It was best known for making a large line of capacitors used in a wide variety of electrical and electronic in commercial, industrial and military/space applications. Other products include resistive components, magnetic components (transformers and coils), filter assemblies, semiconductors and integrated circuits.
History overview In 1926, Sprague used $25,000 of his savings to open Sprague Specialties Company at his home in Quincy, MA. One of his first products was the mini condenser, an old name for capacitor. Mini condensers were commonly used in radio applications for noise filtering, signal coupling and tone controls. Early capacitors were two pieces of metal foil wrapped between wax paper or any other type of suitable insulation material. The type of insulating material determined the capacitor's capacitance and maximum voltage. Capacitors are also useful in high power applications like motors, and soon Sprague turned his attention those areas as well. Sprague found a sustainable product line in capacitors. The increase in the types of radios using AC created demand for many different types of capacitors. By 1929, Sprague Specialties Company needed a bigger facility, and in 1930 Sprague purchased a plant on Beaver Street in North Adams, MA, in Berkshire County. When local residents heard the company was expanding, Sprague received all kinds of incentives from the banks and other businesses to relocate there. Sprague chose the area because he wanted to open a shop where his father Frank had grown up. By the mid-1930s Sprague had become a recommended source for capacitors by radio manufacturers, radio repair and many electrical applications. As the size of the company grew, there was a desire from the manufacturing workers to form an organized labor union. The Wagner Act of 1935 prohibited company unions. In 1937, the company agreed with the workers to form an independent union, the Independent Condenser Workers Union. From 1936–1944, the Sprague Specialties Company sales increased seven-fold. Expansion put a damper to profits. For many years the company sustained losses. Robert felt strongly connected to his company and to the people of North Adams, and always tried to consider the company's effects as the largest employer in town.
By 1942 the Sprague Specialties Company had relocated to the abandoned Arnold Print Works Facility on Marshall St. This became the main facility, and eventually consisted of 26 buildings that were interconnected by tunnels and bridges. Former employees remember the complex layout and interesting ways to get from one department to another. Previous to the Sprague Specialties Company, the Arnold Print Works had been the largest employer in North Adams, operating in the area from 1860–1942. In 1942, the company's name was changed from Sprague Specialty Products to Sprague Electric. The Sprague Electric name remained until its last owner Penn Central started to sell off pieces of its Sprague division in the early 1990s.
The Sprague Log (1938–1985) Beginning in 1938, as CEO, Sprague tried to bridge the gap between the employees and the business, with the publication of the Sprague Log. Sprague used this newsletter to bring management and workers closer, and to maintain morale after forcing workers to take a 10% pay cut that same year. The publication was divided into two sections. Part 1 discussed the company accomplishments, achievements and the loyalty of Sprague employees, often spotlighting individuals. Part 2 contained employee announcements: births and weddings, social activities, and other family events.
Sprague Electric: Early years (1942–1960) After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 and the declaration of war that followed, US manufacturing stopped commercial production and switched to wartime activities. Sprague Electric's participation in the US war effort improved its reputation, future contracts, and sales, and propelled the Sprague name to the forefront of the growing American electronic business. One of Sprague Electric's biggest contributions to the war effort was in the manufacturing of the variable timing proximity fuse. The proximity fuse was a small transmitter, and in some cases a receiver, built on a bomb or artillery shell that would detonate the bomb or shell before impact, causing greater destruction. Sprague Electric continued to make capacitor and resistive components to meet military requirements of quality and reliability. Robert C. Sprague was also a member of War Production Board for the Advisory Committee on Capacitors (1942-1945).
During the Second World War, Sprague invented the tantalum capacitor. The use of tantalum allows capacitors to achieve high values of electron storage or capacitance along with higher operating voltages, shrinking the capacitor to a fraction of the size of a more conventional design. Vishay Intertechnology, which currently owns the Sprague capacitor brand, calls their tantalum capacitors the Sprague tantalum.
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