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Philco (an acronym for Philadelphia Battery Company) is an American
electronics Electronics is a scientific and engineering discipline that studies and applies the principles of physics to design, create, and operate devices that manipulate electrons and other Electric charge, electrically charged particles. It is a subfield ...
manufacturer headquartered in
Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
. Philco was a pioneer in battery, radio, and television production. In 1961, the company was purchased by
Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...
and, from 1966, renamed "Philco-Ford". Ford sold the company to
GTE GTE Corporation, formerly General Telephone & Electronics Corporation (1955–1982), was the largest independent telephone company in the United States during the days of the Bell System. The company operated from 1926, with roots tracing furth ...
in 1974, and it was purchased by
Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), simply branded Philips, is a Dutch multinational health technology company that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, its world headquarters have been situated in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarter ...
in 1981, which 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 Electrolux AB () is a Swedish Multinational corporation, multinational home appliance manufacturer, headquartered in Stockholm. It is consistently ranked the world's second largest appliance maker by units sold, after Whirlpool Corporation, Whi ...
. In the early 1920s, Philco made storage batteries, "socket power"
battery eliminator An AC adapter or AC/DC adapter (also called a wall charger, power adapter, power brick, or wall wart) is a type of external power supply, often enclosed in a case similar to an AC power plugs and sockets, AC plug. AC adapters deliver electri ...
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 RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...
,
Atwater-Kent Arthur Atwater Kent Sr. (December 3, 1873 – March 4, 1949) was an American inventor and prominent radio manufacturer based in Philadelphia. In 1905, he invented the Unisparker which combined ignition points, condenser, centrifugal advance m ...
,
Zenith Electronics Zenith Electronics, LLC, is an American research and development company that develops ATSC and digital rights management technologies. It is owned by the South Korean company LG Electronics. Zenith was previously an American brand of consumer e ...
, 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
radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3  hertz (Hz) and 300  gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...
s and
television set A television set or television receiver (more commonly called TV, TV set, television, telly, or tele) is an electronic device for viewing and hearing television broadcasts, or as a computer monitor. It combines a tuner, display, and loudspeake ...
s, including the classic
cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...
-shaped wooden radio of the 1930s (aka the "Baby Grand"), and the
Predicta The Philco Predicta is a black and white television chassis style, which was made in several cabinet models with 17” or 21” screens by the American company Philco from 1958 to 1960. The Predicta was marketed as the world’s first swivel-s ...
series of television receiver sets of the 1950s.
Philo Farnsworth Philo Taylor Farnsworth (August 19, 1906 – March 11, 1971), "The father of television", was the American inventor and pioneer who was granted the first patent for the television by the United States Government. Burns, R. W. (1998), ''Televisi ...
, credited for inventing the first fully functional all electronic television system (, filed Jan 7, 1927), worked at Philco from 1931 to 1933.


Early history

Philco 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, in 1906 it began making batteries for
electric vehicle An electric vehicle (EV) is a motor vehicle whose propulsion is powered fully or mostly by electricity. EVs encompass a wide range of transportation modes, including road vehicle, road and rail vehicles, electric boats and Submersible, submer ...
s. They 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 A generic vacuum_tube.html" ;"title="triode vacuum tube">triode vacuum tube circuit showing "A", "B" and "C" batteries In the early days of electronics, devices that used vacuum tubes (called ''valves'' in British contexts), such as radios, wer ...
which were expensive, needed frequent charging, and leaked
battery acid Sulfuric acid (American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphuric acid (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth spelling), known in antiquity as oil of vitriol, is a mineral acid composed of the elements sulfur, oxygen, ...
, reducing the
wife approval factor Wife acceptance factor, wife approval factor, or wife appeal factor (WAF) is an assessment of design elements that either increase or diminish the likelihood a wife will approve the purchase of expensive consumer electronics products such as high ...
in the home. A very successful August 1925 Philco consumer product, called the "Socket Power
Battery Eliminator An AC adapter or AC/DC adapter (also called a wall charger, power adapter, power brick, or wall wart) is a type of external power supply, often enclosed in a case similar to an AC power plugs and sockets, AC plug. AC adapters deliver electri ...
", was a
rectifier A rectifier is an electrical device that converts alternating current (AC), which periodically reverses direction, to direct current (DC), which flows in only one direction. The process is known as ''rectification'', since it "straightens" t ...
unit which enabled users to operate radios from standard
light socket A lightbulb socket, lightbulb holder, light socket, lamp socket or lamp holder is a device which mechanically supports and provides electrical connections for a compatible electric lamp base. Sockets allow lamps to be safely and conveniently r ...
s. By 1927 over a million of these units had been sold, but from that year the industry began manufacturing
batteryless radio A batteryless radio is a type of radio receiver that does not require the use of a battery (electricity), battery to provide it with electrical power. Originally this referred to units which could be used directly by AC mains supply (mains radio ...
s using
RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...
'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 Mains electricity, utility power, grid power, domestic power, wall power, household current, or, in some parts of Canada, hydro, is a general-purpose alternating-current (AC) electric power supply. It is the form of electrical power that is de ...
. The first Philco radios were introduced in mid-1928, and 96,000 were produced that year, making Philco radios 26th in the nation in production volume. Up to that time most radios were handmade and priced for relatively wealthy consumers. Atwater Kent, the leading radio seller, coincidentally was also located in Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Storage Battery Company decided that prices of radios could be scaled for a mass market by incorporating assembly line techniques then only used by the automobile industry. 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, they 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 which were by then called "farm radios", most of which had cabinets identical to their AC powered versions. The Philco "Baby Grand" (today called "cathedral" radios by collectors) was a shape that featured an arched top that wrapped from the sides over the 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 of them 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, they 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 World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
military production contracts. Another interesting product was the Philco "Beam of Light" 78 RPM record players offered in 1941 and 1942. These units 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 Electronics is a scientific and engineering discipline that studies and applies the principles of physics to design, create, and operate devices that manipulate electrons and other Electric charge, electrically charged particles. It is a subfield ...
, 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 Ford Aerospace was the aerospace and defense division of Ford Motor Company. It was based in Dearborn, Michigan and was active from 1956 (originally as Philco and then Philco Ford) through 1990, when it was sold to the Loral Corporation. Major di ...
organization. Philco began marketing car radios in 1930 and later expanded into other areas including air conditioners (1938), refrigerators (1939), home freezers (1946), consumer televisions (1947), electric ranges (1949), home laundry washers and dryers (1954), and home entertainment products. Their first consumer television set, the 1948 table Model 48-1000, had a
black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white to produce a range of achromatic brightnesses of grey. It is also known as greyscale in technical settings. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, ...
screen and sold for US$395 . By 1954, Philco had led the radio industry in sales volume for 24 straight years, selling over 30 million radios. Philco was also a pioneer in television broadcasting, launching Philadelphia experimental station W3XE in 1932. In 1941, the station became the third commercially licensed TV operation in the United States as WPTZ. It was sold to
Westinghouse Broadcasting The Westinghouse Broadcasting Company, also known as Group W, was the broadcasting division of Westinghouse Electric Corporation. It owned several radio and television stations across the United States and distributed television shows for syndi ...
in 1953 and became
KYW-TV KYW-TV (channel 3), branded as CBS Philadelphia, is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It is owned and operated by the CBS television network through its CBS News and Stations division alongside WPSG (channel 57 ...
, a
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
owned and operated In the broadcasting industry, an owned-and-operated station (frequently abbreviated as an O&O) usually refers to a television or radio station owned by the network with which it is associated. This distinguishes such a station from an affiliate ...
station. The Philco Predicta TV set was introduced in 1957 for the 1958 model year. It was a black-and-white television with the picture tube mounted in a unique steerable pod on a pedestal. There were many versions: 17" or 21" picture tubes, wood or metal cabinets and table or floor standing versions, some with rare UHF tuners. Its specially designed, high-deflection-angle (to achieve a shallow front-to-back depth) picture tube turned out to be unreliable, and cost the company dearly in repairs and reputation. The 1959 model included a console and a table model. Many of them were sold to motels and bars due to the convenience of the swivel tube arrangement. It was discontinued in 1960; a disappointing failure for Philco. Due to the unique design, the Predicta is a collector's favorite and restored examples can easily be found.


Transistor research and product development

In late 1953, engineers at Philco Corporation invented the
surface-barrier transistor The surface-barrier transistor is a type of transistor developed by Philco in 1953 as an improvement to the alloy-junction transistor and the earlier point-contact transistor. Like the modern Schottky transistor, it offered much higher speed than ...
, the first high frequency transistor suitable for use in high speed computers. Philco Corporation had produced a late 1950s production film about its surface-barrier transistor manufacturing processes and product developments that was titled, "''Philco Transistors - The Tiny Giants Of The Future'

A May 1954 news article describes Philco's development of a pre-production indium-coated transistor that used silicon instead of germanium that relied on further improvements in silicon refinement to bring to production. In June 1955, the
National Security Agency The National Security Agency (NSA) is an intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the director of national intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collection, and proces ...
and the
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...
entered into a contract with Philco to build a specialized scientific transistorized computer based on Philco's surface barrier transistor technology. The project was called SOLO, since the idea was to have powerful personal workstations, and the computer was later commercially named the Philco Transac S-1000. The SOLO transistorized large scale scientific computer was finally built and delivered to the National Security Agency in November 1957. Philco also entered into a contract with the U.S. Navy's David Taylor Basin Research Division in 1955, to build a larger scale fully transistorized computer using its surface-barrier transistor technology, which was named the CPXQ model and later became the Philco Transac S-2000. Philco had developed and produced a miniature transistorized computer brain for the Navy's jet fighter planes in 1955 and it was called the "Transac" (C-1000, C-1100), which had stood for "Transistor Automatic Computer." The Philco Transac computer brain had used its high-frequency surface-barriers transistors in the circuitry design.
Chrysler FCA US, LLC, Trade name, doing business as Stellantis North America and known historically as Chrysler ( ), is one of the "Big Three (automobile manufacturers), Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn H ...
and Philco announced that they had developed and produced the world's first all-transistor car radio and it was announced in the April 28, 1955, edition of the ''Wall Street Journal''. Chrysler made the all-transistor car radio, Mopar model 914HR, available in Fall 1955 for its new line of 1956 Chrysler and Imperial cars, as a $150 option . Philco's radio manufacturing plant in Sandusky, Ohio, had produced the all-transistor car radio unit for the Chrysler Corporation, which also used Philco's
surface-barrier transistor The surface-barrier transistor is a type of transistor developed by Philco in 1953 as an improvement to the alloy-junction transistor and the earlier point-contact transistor. Like the modern Schottky transistor, it offered much higher speed than ...
s in its circuitry design. In 1955, Philco developed and produced the first all-transistor phonograph models TPA-1 and TPA-2. This was announced in the June 28, 1955, edition of the ''Wall Street Journal''. Philco had begun selling these phonographs in the fall of 1955 for $59.95 . The October 1955 issue of ''Radio & Television News'' magazine (page 41) printed a full-page, detailed article, on Philco's new consumer phonograph. The Philco all-transistor portable phonograph TPA-1 and TPA-2 models played only 45rpm records and used four 1.5v "D" batteries for its power supply. "TPA" stands for "Transistor Phonograph Amplifier". Its circuitry used three Philco
germanium Germanium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ge and atomic number 32. It is lustrous, hard-brittle, grayish-white and similar in appearance to silicon. It is a metalloid or a nonmetal in the carbon group that is chemically ...
PNP alloy-fused junction audio frequency transistors. After the 1956 season ended, Philco discontinued the all-transistor portable 45rpm phonograph models, for transistors were too expensive compared to vacuum tubes. The Philco Transac models S-1000 scientific computer and S-2000 electronic data processing computer, were the first commercially produced large-scale all transistor computers, which were introduced in 1957. It used discrete surface barrier transistors instead of vacuum tubes (the integrated circuit had not yet been invented). It also used a fast adder, invented by Bruce Gilchrist, James H. Pomerene and Y.K. Wong of the
Institute for Advanced Study The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry located in Princeton, New Jersey. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent scholars, including Albert Ein ...
. It incorporated a speed-up technique for asynchronous adders reducing the time for additive carry-overs to propagate.Gilchrist, Bruce
"Remembering Some Early Computers, 1948-1960"
, ''Columbia University EPIC'', 2006, pp.7-9. (archived 2006)
In 1959, Philco developed and produced the first battery-powered portable transistorized TV. This TV model was called the "Safari" and contained 21 transistors. Philco had developed the VHF micro-alloy diffused transistor (MADT) and used them in the Safari portable TV. The retail selling price was $250.00 plus the cost of the rechargeable battery, which was $5.25 extra . In 1962, the Philco 2000 Model 212 computer was chosen for use in the
North American Aerospace Defense Command North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD ; , CDAAN), known until March 1981 as the North American Air Defense Command, is a Combined operations, combined organization of the United States and Canada that provides aerospace warning, air ...
's famous
Cheyenne Mountain Complex The Cheyenne Mountain Complex is a United States Space Force installation and defensive bunker located in unincorporated El Paso County, Colorado, next to the city of Colorado Springs, at the Cheyenne Mountain Space Force Station, which host ...
. Three of them were installed that year and ran until 1980. They were also used by research labs at
Westinghouse Electric The Westinghouse Electric Corporation was an American manufacturing company founded in 1886 by George Westinghouse and headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was originally named "Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company" and was ...
and
General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...
.


Space systems

In 1960, the Courier 1B, built by Philco, became the first active repeater satellite. Courier 1B was built by the Western Development Labs (WDL) division of Philco, previously known as "Army Fort Monmouth Laboratories" (
Fort Monmouth Fort Monmouth is a former installation of the Department of the Army in Monmouth County, New Jersey and the site of a major upcoming Netflix film production campus, alongside a variety of other redevelopment. The site is surrounded by the commun ...
). In 1960,
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
contracted with Philco to build the worldwide tracking station network for
Project Mercury Project Mercury was the first human spaceflight program of the United States, running from 1958 through 1963. An early highlight of the Space Race, its goal was to put a man into Earth orbit and return him safely, ideally before the Soviet Un ...
, and all subsequent man-in-space space projects until the ground station network was replaced by the TDRS communication satellites in the 1990s. Philco's Western Development Labs ultimately became
Space Systems/Loral SSL, formerly Space Systems/Loral, LLC (SS/L), of Palo Alto, California, is a wholly owned manufacturing subsidiary of Maxar Technologies. SSL designs and builds satellites and space systems for a wide variety of government and commercial cust ...
, which continues to manufacture spacecraft. In later years, the company produced automotive electronic controls, aerospace tracking systems, and artificial satellites. In 1963, Philco was also responsible for the design, manufacturing, installation, and service of all the consoles used in both Mission Operations Control Rooms (a.k.a. Mission Control) at Building 30 of NASA's Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Philco technical representatives worked with NASA staff to design and integrate the consoles with NASA hardware and systems. The consoles were used for the
Gemini Gemini most often refers to: * Gemini (constellation), one of the constellations of the zodiac * Gemini (astrology), an astrological sign Gemini may also refer to: Science and technology Space * Gemini in Chinese astronomy, the Gemini constellat ...
,
Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...
,
Skylab Skylab was the United States' first space station, launched by NASA, occupied for about 24 weeks between May 1973 and February 1974. It was operated by three trios of astronaut crews: Skylab 2, Skylab 3, and Skylab 4. Skylab was constructe ...
, and
Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable launch system, reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. ...
missions until 1998. The Philco-designed and installed consoles in Mission Control 2 at the Johnson Space Center have been preserved and will be restored to their Apollo-era configuration for historical purposes. The control room is listed in the National Register of Historic Places as the "Apollo Mission Control Center".


Water purification systems

In 1971, Philco-Ford began to sell
reverse osmosis Reverse osmosis (RO) is a water purification process that uses a partially permeable membrane, semi-permeable membrane to separate water molecules from other substances. RO applies pressure to overcome osmotic pressure that favors even distribu ...
-based water purification systems that used tube-shaped membranes developed by the company to filter and desalinate raw polluted water for municipal utilities and manufacturing.


Demise

On December 11, 1961,
Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational corporation, multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. T ...
purchased Philco and continued to offer consumer products, computer systems and defense related projects. The company, which had supplied Ford with some of its car radios as early as the 1930s, continued to provide Ford with car and truck radio receivers; consumer product investments were also made to color television production. Along with color and black and white television, Philco continued to produce refrigerators, washers, dryers, air conditioners, stoves, radios, portable transistor radios, portable phonographs, console audio systems with high quality "Mastercraft" furniture cabinets, and component stereo systems. The company branded Philco products as "Philco-Ford" in 1966, and console stereo systems reached their zenith during 1966 and 1967, with high quality cabinet construction and powerful stereo chassis systems of 100- and 300-watt consoles. Philco at one time was one of the largest furniture producers in the world, but the end was near for "high quality" furniture cabinets along with stereo equipment. Solid wood cabinets with veneers were replaced with cheaper wood composites covered in vinyl paper and plastic wood pieces. The quality electronic systems that had been built in the United States were replaced with new designs and systems, engineered and built at a plant owned by Philco-Taiwan. Eventually, all consumer electronic goods would be made by Philco-Taiwan, to lower costs of production and be more competitive in the market. The prevailing industry trend was to move consumer electronic manufacturing to Asia in order to lower the cost of labor and production, and Philco-Ford was no exception to this. Heavy consumer goods (major appliances) such as refrigerators, air conditioners and washer-dryers continued to be built in the United States, along with television receivers. Ford dropped the computer business a few years into its ownership of the company. In 1973, a complete line of breakthrough refrigerators was introduced, consisting of eight side-by-side "Cold Guard" models, which used about one-third less electricity than comparable competitive makes. But by January 1974, Ford was eager to rid itself of the home products in Philco's lines, which was not doing well. Negotiations with appliance maker White Consolidated Industries (WCI) started in January, but were called off in March. By September, Ford and GTE Sylvania – Philco's largest competitor – announced the sale of the non-automotive parts of the business, with the exception of the new refrigerator range, which Ford also kept. The deal closed on December 11. In 1977, GTE sold Philco International to earlier suitor White Consolidated Industries. (In 1986, WCI was bought by AB Electrolux.) The company (as well as the Sylvania brand name) was acquired from GTE by
Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), simply branded Philips, is a Dutch multinational health technology company that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, its world headquarters have been situated in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarter ...
(NAP) in 1981 so that NAP could use its trademark in the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
. Philco had been able to keep NAP from using its trademark because of the similar-sounding names, so NAP had sold its products in the United States under the name "
Norelco Philips Norelco is the American brand name for electric shavers and other personal care products made by the Personal Care division of Philips. For personal care products marketed outside the United States, Palau, Micronesia, and the Marshall I ...
". In 1987, NAP became a wholly owned subsidiary of Dutch electronics company Philips. Philips later used the Philco name for promotional consumer electronics and licensed the name for private brands and retro-style consumer electronics. Philips also licensed the Philco brand name to
Funai is a Japanese consumer electronics company headquartered in Daitō, Osaka. Currently, it is in liquidation. Apart from producing its own branded electronic products, it was also an OEM providing assembled televisions and video players/recor ...
for digital converter boxes for analog TVs in the USA. As of September 2019, the US website is no longer functioning.


Non-U.S. branding

In
Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
, Philco (then Philco-Hitachi) was acquired in 1989 by
Itautec Itautec is a Brazilian electronics company founded in 1979. It is part of Itaúsa, a Brazilian business group. Itautec is an ATM, kiosk, and computer manufacturer in the Brazilian and South American markets. The company also has a key role i ...
, becoming Itautec-Philco and in August 2005 Itautec sold Philco to Gradiente. In August 2007, Gradiente sold the brand to a group of investors, who intended to license the brand to Brazilian appliance maker Britânia. In 2003, the Merloni Group acquired rights to the Philco brand (from Philco International) for use in
Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
.AntonioMerloni.it
The Italian Philco produces household appliances in affiliation with ex-
Bendix Corporation Bendix Corporation is an American manufacturing and engineering company founded in 1924 and subsidiary of Knorr-Bremse since 2002. During various times in its existence, Bendix made automotive brake shoes and systems, vacuum tubes, aircraft ...
and
Thorn EMI Thorn EMI was a major British company involved in consumer electronics, music, defence and retail. Created when Thorn Electrical Industries merged with EMI in October 1979, it was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituen ...
Moyor Electronics (e.g. Bendix 71258 1000 automatic washing machine 1986). As of 2006, the company is mainly known in
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
. In
Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...
, in March 2004, Philco was acquired by a group of Argentine investors. The presence of Philco in Argentina dates from 1930 and remains a traditional mark of appliances in this country. It manufactures refrigerators by Helametal Catamarca S.A. (Philco Argentina). All the line electronics, LCD TV, Car Stereos, Air Conditioning, MWO, Audio & DVD, is represented by Newsan SA SANYO and DatandHome SA, with the line of washing machines, dishwashers, air conditioning, water heaters, also the same group. In
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...
, the brand belongs t
Fuji Corp S.A
, a company that markets speakers, headphones, accessories for audio, TV and telephony, as well as appliances and electrical items, under this brand. In
Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
, Philco brand televisions were produced during the 1980s by Imperial Electronics of
Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...
.


See also

*''
The Philco Television Playhouse ''The Philco Television Playhouse'' is an American television anthology series that was broadcast live on NBC from 1948 to 1955. Produced by Fred Coe, the series was sponsored by Philco. It was one of the most respected dramatic shows of the ...
''


References


External links


A brief history of Philco

The Internet's Leading PHILCO Resource with comprehensive history and photo gallery sections as well as on online forum devoted to Philco

Everything for the Philco antique radio collector and restorer

Online community of former Philco Tech Reps

PhilcoRadio.com

Video: Philco's Early Computers
{{Philips Defunct electronics companies of the United States Battery manufacturers Consumer electronics brands Electrolux Ford Motor Company Philips History of radio in the United States History of television in the United States Manufacturing companies based in Pennsylvania American companies established in 1892 Electronics companies established in 1892 1892 establishments in Pennsylvania American brands Defunct computer hardware companies Radio manufacturers Defunct computer companies of the United States Defunct computer systems companies