Tung-Sol was an American manufacturer of electronics, mainly lamps and

vacuum 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 ...

s.The History of Tung-Sol
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History

Tung-Sol was founded as Tung-Sol Lamp Works Inc. in Newark,

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

in 1907. Their early products were mainly geared towards the automotive market and included

headlamp A headlamp is a lamp attached to the front of a vehicle to illuminate the road ahead. Headlamps are also often called headlights, but in the most precise usage, ''headlamp'' is the term for the device itself and ''headlight'' is the term for ...

pilot light Merker Tankless water heating, tankless gas-fired water heater from the 1930s, with pilot light clearly visible through the aperture in the front cover. The large opening allowed for the manual lighting of the pilot light by a lit match or taper ...

s, and flashlight bulbs. The trade name was formed from the first syllable of "tungsten" and the Latin word "sol" meaning sun. The company entered the electronics field in the 1920s. In time they established themselves as leaders in the development and production of vacuum tubes, with their main competition including

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

and Sylvania. By 1951, they began doing business as Tung-Sol Electric Inc. Soon after, they were acquired by Wagner Electric, which itself merged into

Studebaker-Worthington Studebaker-Worthington was a diversified American manufacturer created in 1967 through a merger of Studebaker-Packard Corporation, Wagner Electric and Worthington Corporation. The company was in turn acquired by McGraw-Edison in 1979. Origins F ...

in 1967. Tung-Sol was also active in the semiconductor industry, with its transistors being easily recognizable by their sky blue color. Tung-Sol was privately held and run like a laboratory. This gave Tung-Sol vacuum tubes a reputation of having some of the best metallurgy and chemistry in actual production. The Tung-Sol brand name is now owned by the New Sensor Corporation, the same company that owns the brands

Sovtek Sovtek is a brand of vacuum tube owned by Mike Matthews's New Sensor Corporation and manufactured in Saratov, Russia. They are often used in guitar amplification and include versions of the popular 12AX7, EL84, EL34, and 6L6 vacuum tubes. Many o ...

and

Electro-Harmonix Electro-Harmonix (also commonly referred to as EHX) is a New York City-based company that makes electronic audio processors and sells rebranded vacuum tubes. The company was founded by Mike Matthews in 1968. It is best known for a series of gu ...

.The New Sensor Corporation
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Products

Tung-Sol developed the first successful car

headlight A headlamp is a lamp attached to the front of a vehicle to illuminate the road ahead. Headlamps are also often called headlights, but in the most precise usage, ''headlamp'' is the term for the device itself and ''headlight'' is the term for ...

in 1907, followed in 1913 by a single bulb two filament high and low beam headlight. Other Tung-Sol inventions included the flashing

turn signal The lighting system of a motor vehicle consists of lighting and signalling devices mounted to or integrated into the front, rear, sides, and in some cases the top of a motor vehicle. They illuminate the road ahead for the driver and increase th ...

. Tung-Sol created the

6550 Tung-Sol was an American manufacturer of electronics, mainly lamps and vacuum tubes. History Tung-Sol was founded as Tung-Sol Lamp Works Inc. in Newark, New Jersey in 1907. Their early products were mainly geared towards the automotive mark ...

, a specialized Hi-Fi audio tube in 1954.

6550

The 6550 is a

beam tetrode A beam tetrode, sometimes called a beam power tube, is a type of vacuum tube or thermionic valve that has two grids and forms the electron stream from the cathode into multiple partially collimated beams to produce a low potential space cha ...

vacuum tube introduced by Tung-Sol in 1954 for application as an audio frequency power amplifier. Based on the 6L6 vacuum tube, the 6550 was designed to have higher output power and better stability. It operates with a maximum plate voltage of 600VDC, a screen voltage of 400VDC, and plate dissipation of 35 watts. The

KT88 The KT88 is a beam tetrode/kinkless tetrode (hence "KT") vacuum tube for audio amplification. Features The KT88 fits a standard eight-pin octal socket and has similar pinout and applications as the 6L6 and EL34. Specifically designed for audio ...

, KT90, and 6550, although not identical, are often interchangeable, dependent on external circuit parameters. The 6550's glass envelope was originally wider in the middle than at the top and bottom, but a straight-sided design was later introduced by GE and

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 ...

. The 6550 continues to be manufactured in the 21st century, as it is used by companies like

Marshall Marshall may refer to: Places Australia * Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria Canada * Marshall, Saskatchewan * The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia Liberia * Marshall, Liberia Marshall Islands * Marshall Islands, an i ...

and

Ampeg Ampeg is a manufacturer best known for its bass amplifiers. Originally established in 1946 in Linden, New Jersey by Everett Hull and Stanley Michaels as "Michael-Hull Electronic Labs," today Ampeg is part of the Yamaha Guitar Group. Although ...

in amplifiers for electric guitar and for bass, and in certain Leslie speaker systems.

References

External links

Reviews of KT88 tubes.

Complete 1948 Technical Data Book (vacuum tube manual)
-- 28 MB PDF, 1028 pages {{Commons category, Tung-Sol, position=left Electronics companies established in 1907 Incandescent light bulbs Electronics companies of the United States Defunct semiconductor companies of the United States 1907 establishments in New Jersey Defunct manufacturing companies based in New Jersey