Collaro was the name of a major early

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

manufacturer of gramophones,

record players A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

, and tape decks, throughout the early years of sound reproduction. Collaro Ltd was founded in 1920 by Christopher Collaro at 23 Garway Road, London, and became a private company in 1924. The company moved to the Culmore Works, Culmore Road, Peckham, London in 1926. During World War II the company was engaged in munitions work and temporarily relocated to the Valley Works,

Langley Mill Langley Mill is a large village in the Amber Valley district of Derbyshire, England. History Originally named ''Long Lea'', the village of Langley Mill was a major employer throughout the mid 1900s with many companies including The Flour Mi ...

, Derbyshire when its London factory was bombed. In 1948 the company moved to the Ripple Works, By-Pass Road, Barking, Essex. In 1961 it was described as the largest manufacturers of record changers in the United Kingdom, and also manufactured

fan heater A fan heater, also called a blow heater, is a heater that works by using a fan to pass air over a heat source (e.g. a heating element). This heats up the air, which then leaves the heater, warming up the surrounding room. They can heat an enc ...

s. In 1960 it was reported in US publication 'Billboard' that the President of the American

Magnavox Magnavox (Latin for "great voice", stylized as MAGNAVOX) is an American electronics company that since 1974 has been a subsidiary of the Dutch electronics corporation Philips. The predecessor to Magnavox was founded in 1911 by Edwin Pridham and ...

corporation,

Frank Freimann Frank M. Freimann (1909–1968) was an American businessperson who was the head of Magnavox from 1950 until his death in 1968. Biography Born in Hungary in 1909, Freimann migrated to Chicago at a young age, where he studied at Crane High School ...

had announced the 'acquisition' of Collaro, along with managing director of Collaro,

Isaac Wolfson Sir Isaac Wolfson, 1st Baronet FRS (; 17 September 1897 – 20 June 1991) was a Scottish businessman and philanthropist. He was managing director of Great Universal Stores (G.U.S. or Gussies) 1932–1947 and chairman 1947–1987. He establishe ...

. However, he is also reported as noting that "the linking of the two firms carries not only product but distribution ramifications," which suggests some sort of cooperative alliance with acquisition of selling rights rather than a total 'buy-out'. Isaac Wolfson, a major British industrialist, was at the time also the head of

Great Universal Stores GUS plc was an FTSE 100 retailing, manufacturing and financial conglomerate based in the United Kingdom. GUS was an abbreviation of Great Universal Stores, the company's name before 2001, while it was also known as the ''Glorious Gussies'' amo ...

, a large chain of retail outlets throughout Britain, Continental Europe, and the British Empire, suggesting perhaps that an earlier link-up took place between Wolfson and the originators of Collaro. The record decks comprised the mechanical unit incorporating a turntable and pickup, without electronics, and were built into many manufactured and home-constructed record players of the time.

were acquired by

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters i ...

in 1974. The Collaro Transcriptor, and Collaro Studio were tape decks (mechanisms without associated electronics) that were incorporated into many home tape recorders at the time. Unlike some other makes of deck, they accommodated 7-inch tape reels, rather than 5.75-inch, giving longer playing time, and had three speeds selectable up to 7.5 inches/second.

References

{{Reflist

External links

* http://www.radiomuseum.org/dsp_hersteller_detail.cfm?company_id=8303 Defunct manufacturing companies of the United Kingdom Companies based in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham Phonograph manufacturers Audio equipment manufacturers of the United Kingdom Manufacturing companies based in London

See also

References

External links