Tungsram was a
manufacturing company
A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of people, whether Natural person, natural, Legal person, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common p ...
located in
Hungary and known for their light bulbs and electronics. Established in
Újpest (today part of
Budapest,
Hungary) in 1896, it initially produced telephones, wires and switchboards. The name "Tungsram" is a
portmanteau of "
tungsten" and "wolfram" (the two common names of the metal used for making light bulb
filaments).
Before becoming nationalized by the Communist government in 1945, the company was the world's third largest manufacturer of light bulbs and radiotubes, after the American General Electric and RCA companies.
History
On 13 December 1904, Hungarian
Sándor Just
Alexander Friedrich Just (12 April 1874, in Bremen – 30 May 1937, in Budapest) was an Austro-Hungarian chemist and inventor. Later, in Hungary he used the name Just Sándor Frigyes. In 1904 with Austro-Hungarian Franjo Hanaman he was the first ...
and Croatian
Franjo Hanaman were granted Hungarian patent no. 34541 for the world's first
tungsten filament bulb that lasted longer and produced brighter light than a carbon filament. The co-inventors licensed their patent to the company, which came to be named Tungsram after the eponymous tungsten incandescent bulbs, which are still called Tungsram bulbs in many European countries. In 1934, Tungsram incorporated a patent by
Imre Bródy for bulbs filled with
krypton gas, providing for longer bulb lifetime. During
World War I mass production of
radio tube
A vacuum tube, electron tube, valve (British usage), or tube (North America), is a device that controls electric current flow in a high vacuum between electrodes to which an electric potential difference has been applied.
The type known as a ...
s began and became the most profitable division of the company. Hungarian physicist Zoltán Bay together with György Szigeti pre-empted led lighting in Hungary in 1939 by patented a lighting device based on SiC, with an option on boron carbide, that emitted white, yellowish white, or greenish white depending on impurities present.
British Tungsram Radio Works was a subsidiary of Hungarian Tungsram in pre-war days.
In 1990,
General Electric acquired a majority stake in Tungsram and over six years invested $600 million in the venture, thoroughly restructuring every aspect of its operations. To date, this has been the largest manufacturing investment by a U.S. firm in Central and Eastern Europe. Thereafter Tungsram operated as a subsidiary of General Electric and the name merely was retained as a
brand.
As of February 2018, the CEO of
GE Hungary, Jörg Bauer agreed to buy GEʼs lighting business in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Turkey, as well as its global automotive lighting business. The business continues to operate again under the name ''Tungsram Group''.
Since February 2020, the business partners of the company have been able to use the recently opened Tungsram Lounge at the
Ferenc Liszt International Airport with conference rooms.
Famous engineers and inventors
Gallery
File:Tungsram advertisement.jpg, Hungarian advertising of the Tungsram-bulb from 1906. This was the first light bulb that used a filament made from tungsten instead of carbon. The inscription reads: ''wire lamp with a drawn wire – indestructible''
File:Izzólámpák.jpg, Incandescent light bulbs with carbon filaments (left) and the modern tungsten bulb (right)
File:Tungsram MR-X radio transmitter tube for audio communication (1917).png, Tungsram MR-X radio transmitter tube for audio communication (1917)
File:Tungsram H2 radio transmitter tube 1916.jpg, Tungsram H2 radio transmitter tube prototype 1916
File:Tungsram searchlight.jpg, Tungsram searchlight for air defense (1914)
File:Tungsram Television prototype in 1937.png, Tungsram television prototype in 1937
File:Tungsram vacuum tubes.jpg, Tungsram commercial vacuum tubes from the 1970s
File:TAL4.JPG, Tungsram vacuum tubes
File:Magic eye tube EM1.jpeg, Tungsram vacuum tubes
File:Az Egyesült Izzó látképe.jpg, The factory in Budapest in 1920
File:Budapest XIII., Egyesült Izzólámpa és Villamossági Rt.-Váci út 77.jpg, Former Headquarter of the ''United Lightbulb and Electronic Ltd''
File:Radio vacuum tubes.jpg, Tungsram vacuum tubes
File:ECL80.jpg, Tungsram vacuum tubes
File:EZ80 var.jpg, Tungsram vacuum tubes
File:ECC83 var.jpg, Tungsram vacuum tubes
See also
*
Tungsram SC
Tungsram Sport Club was a Hungarian football club from the town of Budapest, Hungary. The club was affiliated with the Tungsram Hungarian company.
History
Tungsram Sport Club debuted in the 1954 season of the Hungarian League and finished nin ...
(sports club)
External links
* Free English language book about the detailed history of Tungsram
Patent US1018502, Incandescent bodies for electric lamps
References
{{General Electric
Hungarian brands
Lighting brands
General Electric acquisitions
Guitar amplification tubes
Manufacturing companies of Austria-Hungary
Manufacturing companies based in Budapest
1896 establishments in Austria-Hungary
1990 mergers and acquisitions
Former General Electric subsidiaries