Who was the inventor of the Western Electric?
An entrepreneur, Enos Barton and an inventor, Elisha Gray, partnered to supply a rapidly expanding world of electricity and modern communications with quality manufacturing. Booming demand for electrical equipment was good for business.
Where was the first Western Electric Factory located?
The legendary Hawthorne Works, the first of over 20 massive factory complexes, opens outside Chicago. At the height of its operation, the Hawthorne Works was a fully functioning city, complete with its own power plant, fire department, retail stores, and a recreation center.
How many at & T telephones did Western Electric make?
Western Electric becomes exclusive supplier, purchaser, and distributor for AT and its subsidiaries, organized as the Bell System. By now, 600,000 telephones had been manufactured and installed.
What kind of sound equipment did Western Electric make?
“Vitaphone,” “Wide Range Sound,” and “Mirrophonic” sound equipment rounded out Western Electric’s high-fidelity endeavors through 1937. The 300B is first commissioned. By now, Western Electric is trusted worldwide for its unbeatable standards in thermionic tube manufacturing.
Who was the founder of Western Electric Company?
Incorporated in 1872 by Elisha Gray and Enos M. Barton (who got… Western Electric, the equipment division of the Bell System, was the major manufacturer of telephones and telephone-related equipment in the United States for almost a century.
When did Western Electric get back into the telephone business?
Western Electric tried to get back into the telephone business though the majority purchase of a Bell manufacturer called Gilliland Electric Co., but by 1882, the Bell Company itself had become the majority owner of Western Electric, which, in 1925, spun off all its non-telephone hardware products as Graybar, named in honor of Gray and Barton.
Why was the Western Electric 500 so popular?
Due to parent company AT’s near telephone monopoly, the 500 became the standard American telephone for the next 30 years, when more than 100 variations of its design were made. In 1951, Western Electric was forced to license the model’s design to other companies, further extending the phone’s ubiquity in American households.
When did the Western Electric B1 phone come out?
In 1927, the company introduced an improved version of its cradle phone called the B1, which was produced in a 102 version (a sidetone handset, in which both the caller’s voice and the recipient’s voice was routed into the earpiece) and a 202 version (an anti-sidetone phone with more sophisticated circuitry).
