ACOS

In the early 1950’s they made microphones in their Enfield factory of Cosmocord Ltd. England. They relocated at Waltham Cross in 1956.

AEG

In 1883, Emil Rathenau founded Deutsche Edison-Gesellschaft für angewandte Elektricität in Berlin. In 1888 it was renamed Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft. Initially producing electrical equipment (such as light bulbs, motors and generators), the company soon became involved in AC electric transmission systems. In 1907, Peter Behrens was appointed as artistic consultant to AEG. This led to the creation of the company’s initial corporate identity, with products and advertising sharing common design features

AKG

Founded in 1947 by Rudolph Goerike and Ernest Pless, this Austrian audio device-building company specializes in constructing microphones and earphones. In 1953, as a first company in the world, AKG manufactured dynamic cardioid microphone.

AKAI

Akai was founded by Masukichi Akai and his son, Saburo Akai as Akai Electric Company Ltd., a Japanese manufacturer in 1929. The original company was founded in 1946 in Tokyo, Japan as Akai Electric Co., Ltd., developing musical and audio equipment. “Akai” means red in Japanese, hence the logo color, earlier also accompanied by a red dot. Today the Akai brand is owned by Akai Sales Pte Ltd headquartered in Singapore. In addition to some development of musical instruments, the Akai brand name is also used to rebadge electronics manufactured by other companies.

AIWA

Aiwa, founded in 1951, was acquired in 2002 by Sony, which ran the company until 2008. Aiwa has been a popular brand through the years

Year 1951  Founded as Aiko Denki Sangyo

1959           Changed name to Aiwa

1968           Launched Japan’s first boombox

1969           Entered a capital tie-up with Sony

2002           Acquired by Sony

2008           Discontinued by Sony

2007           Towada Audio, based in Akita Prefecture, obtain rights from Sony to use Aiwa brand name; Establishes new company called Aiwa. Launch of 4K TV’s and other products set for autumn.

ASTATIC CORPORATION

The Astatic Corporation is a commercial audio products manufacturer founded in Youngstown, Ohio in 1933. Astatic formed CAD Professional Microphones in 1988 as a division of Astatic. The company reorganized as Omnitronics LLC in 2000, and later combined CAD, Astatic and Omnitronics under the CAD Audio brand. DAS Companies purchased the rights for Astatic Citizens Band hand microphones and is one of their acquired brand names.

ALTEC LANSING

The company was established in 1941 through the acquisition of Lansing Manufacturing Company, founded by James Bullough Lansing, by All Technical Products Company. Products in their heritage include loudspeakers, amplifiers, sonar equipment, theatre speakers, microphones, and more recently, iPod and iPhone accessories.

James Bullough Lansing (born James Martini, January 2, 1902 – September 29, 1949) was a pioneering American audio engineer and loudspeaker designer who was most notable for establishing two audio companies that bear his name, Altec Lansing and JBL, the letter taken from his initials, JBL.

AMERICAN MICROPHONE COMPANY

The American Microphone Company was founded in the 1930’s by Fern A. Yarbrough and they were based out of Los Angeles California.  In 1955, the American Microphone Company was purchased by Elgin Watch Company who then sold them to the General Cement Company of Rockford, IL.  The company was finally acquired by Electro-Voice who by the end of the 1960’s eventually retired the line.

AMPERITE

Year 1922, Amperite was born in New York City. In the beginning they just made automatic adjusting resistors for tube-operated AC/DC radio sets and began making hermetically sealed ballast regulators in vacuum tube form with helium and hydrogen gas. Around 1940 they developed several series of microphones.

BEYERDYNAMIC

One of the oldest company in the audio field. It was founded in 1924, thanks to the Eugene Bayer initiative, in Berlin. Firstly, Beyerdynamic produced sound equipment for cinemas. In 1937, the company decided to widen the range of stock, it produced the first model of dynamic earphones and started the conquest of microphone market.

B&O

It all started in 1925, when two engineers, Peter Bang and Svend Olufsen, began a modest production of radios in the attic of the Olufsen family home, ‘Quistrup’. The company of ‘Bang & Olufsen’ was founded on 17 November that same year by the two young engineers who shared a passion for radio transmissions. Their first product was developed in the attic of the Olufsen’s manor house in Denmark where the family still lives today.

BREMI

Founded in Holland. If anyone can provide more information about this Dutch company, we would be very happy.

BRENETTE

The only information I can find is that it was founded in Brussels Belgium.

Probably 1940-1950.

They made some clones of different microphones from that time.

Most likely they also sold Ronette microphones under their own brand name.

BRUSH DEVELOPMENT COMPANY

The business was founded in 1919 by Alfred L. Williams as Brush Labs to develop products that utilized piezoelectric crystals. Associates spun off the Brush Development Company in 1930 with piezoelectric phonograph pickups as its main product.

Later it began manufacturing wire recorders, microphones, and speakers. Research for improvements to wire recorders resulted in a contract from the US National Defense Research Council during World War II. 

Post-World War II, Brush Development Company manufactured a dictation recorder in 1946, then in 1950 built the Model BL-206 and BL-216 Multichannel Oscillographs, and associated Model BL-932 DC Amplifiers. 

In 1952 Brush Development Company merged with the original Brush Labs and the Cleveland Graphite Bronze company to create Clevite. 

Audio products continued to be sold under the Brush trademark until 1960. 

The Clevite company was absorbed by Gould-National Batteries in 1969

BRUNO LABS

Bruno Labs (New York City) was known for outfitting many of their early velocity mics with a unique but odd thin wafer-like matrixed element that required phantom power.

Fundamentally his microphone combines the principles of the ribbon microphone and the condenser microphone.

Founded around 1937.

CADENZA

More info will follow. Who can help ?

CALRAD

Calrad (the name comes from “California Radio”) was founded in the 1950s when the need for electronics greatly expanded after World War II, and it’s been owned by the same family ownership for more than 60 years. In the past, the company offered many different types of mics including models for radios, crystal and dynamic models for broadcast and recording as well as mics intended for live sound applications.

CROWN

International Radio and Electronics Corporation (IREC) was established in 1947 by Clarence C. Moore, an Elkhart, Indiana minister. The company started out building rugged, open reel tape recorders for use by missionaries in far off parts of the world. A converted chicken coop served as the first manufacturing facility.

In the 1960s, the company’s name was changed to “Crown International”, as suggested by Moore’s wife and co-founder, Ruby, as she felt the name “International Radio and Electronics Corporation” was too long, and because the emblem on many of their tape recorders was a crown. In 1975, the company’s name was changed to Crown International, Inc., as voted by the stockholders.

ECHOLETTE

Echolette was one of the best-known European manufacturers of vocal and instrumentation amplifiers and effects units in the 1950s and 1960s. Arthur Klemt (München, Germany) founded a radio business in 1930, which specialized in orchestral electronics from 1959 under the Echolette brand, directed by Hans Bauer. 
In 1969 Echolette was bought by the company Dynacord.

ELECTRO VOICE

On September 1, 1927, Lou Burroughs and Albert R. Kahn began a small business called Radio Engineers, servicing radio receivers in the basement of the Century Tire and Rubber Company in South Bend, Indiana. Because of the Great Depression, according to Kahn, “We found ourselves insolvent to the extent of $5,000” ($77,460 today).

They decided to focus their business on audio products. The company designed a PA system for Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne. Rockne, who had difficulty being heard at football practices due to health problems that affected his voice, called the new PA system his “electric voice”. Rockne’s remark inspired the company’s name. On June 1, 1930, Burroughs and Kahn incorporated under the name “Electro-Voice”.

FOSTEX

Fostex was founded by Foster Electric who have been developing high quality speaker components since 1949. Fostex continue to develop quality products for Professionals and Hifi enthusiasts.

G.E.C.

The General Electric Company, or GEC, was a major British industrial conglomerate involved in consumer and defence electronics, communications, and engineering. The company was founded in 1886, was Britain’s largest private employer with over 250,000 employees in the 1980s, and at its peak in the 1990s, made profits of over £1 billion a year.

In June 1998, GEC sold its share of the joint venture GEC-Alsthom on the Paris stock exchange. In December 1999, GEC’s defence arm, Marconi Electronic Systems, was sold to British Aerospace, forming BAE Systems.

The rest of GEC, mainly telecommunications equipment manufacturing, continued as Marconi Communications. After buying several US telecoms manufacturers at the top of the market, losses following the bursting of the dot-com bubble in 2001 led to the restructuring in 2003 of Marconi plc into Marconi Corporation plc. In 2005, Ericsson acquired the bulk of that company. What was left of the business was renamed Telent.

GELOSO

Geloso, founded in 1931 by John Geloso, was an Italian manufacturer of radios, televisions, amplifiers, amateur receivers, audio equipment and electronic components, that had headquarters in Milan, Viale Brenta 29.

In 1931 they began to produce not only Radio sets but also, by choice of John Geloso same, most of the electronic components with which they were built, and over time developing and patenting also many others.

After the Second World War, Geloso expanded and expanded his production, becoming from 1950 onwards a real point of reference for domestic electronics enthusiasts and hobbyists.

The many products under the brand name Geloso were known throughout Italy and much appreciated abroad. It was innovative products, high quality, well-made and the low price. The big production was formed of radios, amplifiers, tape recorders, televisions, boxes of assembly, professional laboratory instruments etc. but also components such as capacitors, resistors, potentiometers, switches, connectors, transformers, microphones, etc.

GRAMPIAN

Founded in the U.K.  More info will follow soon. Who can help ?

GRUNDIG AG

Founded in 1945 as a German company by Max Grungig, an enterpreneur, selling Fuerth, Grundig & Wurzer (RVF) radio transmitters, since 1930, it specializes in manufacturing home audio equipment. Nowadays, it is a property of Turkish consortium – Koc Holding and is active mainly in the TV manufacturing field.

HIS MASTERS VOICE

More info will follow soon. Who can help ?

LAFAYETTE

Lafayette Radio Electronics Corporation was an American radio and electronics manufacturer and retailer from approximately 1931 to 1981, headquartered in Syosset, New York, a Long Island suburb of New York City. The company sold radio sets, Amateur radio (Ham) equipment, citizens band (CB) radios and related communications equipment, electronic components, microphones, public address systems, and tools through their company owned and branded chain of retail outlets and by mail-order

Due to bankruptcy the corporation ends in 1981.

MARCONI

The Marconi Company was a British telecommunications and engineering company that did business under that name from 1963 to 1987. Its roots were in the Wireless Telegraph & Signal Company founded by Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi in 1897, which underwent several changes in name after mergers and acquisitions. The company was a pioneer of wireless long distance communication and mass media broadcasting, eventually becoming one of the UK’s most successful manufacturing companies. In 1999, its defence equipment manufacturing division, Marconi Electronic Systems, merged with British Aerospace (BAe) to form BAE Systems. In 2006, financial difficulties led to the collapse of the remaining company, with the bulk of the business acquired by the Swedish telecommunications company, Ericsson.

MELODIUM

Founded in 1926 by Charles Boutelleau and Émile Furn in Paris in the early 1940s.

In the meantime they are offering a recreated Melodium 42Bn as the original 42B was a true legend  :  https://www.melodium.fr/about/

NEAL

This company was located in Den Haag in The Netherlands around 1947.

The name is coming from “Nederlandsch Electro Acoustisch Laboratorium”.

NEUMANN

Founded in 1928 by George Neumann, the company produces professional audio gear. It started by producing vinyl cutting lathes, but not soon after it expanded its offer with mixer tables and best known Neumann products – condenser microphones. Today, Neumann is a part of Sennheiser group.

OKTAVA

Oktava is a Russian microphone manufacturer, which is part of Ruselectronics holding. It produces a variety of microphones for professional audio and general use. Oktava sells most of its products to the United States and Europe.

OLSEN

More info will follow soon. Who can help ?

OPERADIO

Founded in Chicago, Illinois in 1924 and moved to Saint Charles, Illinois around 1930.

PEIKER

In 1946, Heinrich Peiker and his father-in-law Paul Beerwald founded the company Beerwald & Co. for the manufacture and sale of piezoelectric and acoustic devices. The company was initially headquartered in the city of Bad Homburg vor der Höhe. The company made its major breakthrough with the development of a piezoelectric microphone whose electric adaptation was precisely tailored to the vacuum tube amplifiers commonly used at the time; the company revised and improved it several times over the years. 

During the years that followed, Peiker Acustic achieved one historic milestone after another: In 1957, American balloonist Major David G. Simons was the first person to travel to more than 30,000 meters in altitude, wearing a special microphone from Peiker built into his helmet as he did so. Four years later, the Peiker hand microphone TM70 for UHER Report brand audiotape devices was the first microphone used on a climb in the Himalayas.

The company relocated its head office, in 1962, to the town of Ober-Eschbach, and in 1967 the company name was also changed, to Peiker Acustic, Fabrik Elektroakustischer Geräte, Heinrich Peiker GmbH & Co. KG. Ten years later, Heinrich Peiker was awarded the Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany by the then Minister of Economics of the German state of Hesse, Heinz-Herbert Karry, in honor of his entrepreneurial and social achievements. The company continued to bring out new microphones and speakers. To ensure that the firm stayed in the family, Andreas Peiker (who had been managing director since 1981) took over as the head of the company in 1983, following the death of his father.

PHILCO

Philco, a pioneering electronics company founded in 1892, invented the rectifier tube and became involved in all manner of radio, television, and battery production.

PHILIPS

Dutch electronic company, founded in 1891 in Eindhoven by two brothers – Gerard and Anton Philips. The company started its business activity by producing lightbulbs, but soon expanded and, at the beginning of 20th century, became a high roller on a household appliances and electronics market. Nowadays, Philips is one of the largest companies in the market; it hires hundreds of thousands people and generates tens of billions Euro income.

PHILMORE

Philmore Manufacturing was founded in 1921 in Rockford, Illinois. Known in the 1950s for its line of televisions (made from 1948-1965), the company has been manufacturing electronic components for nearly 100 years. Philmore also made morse code kits for early telegraph communication and was influential in crystal radio manufacturing.

In December 1988, Wayne and Judy Timpe started LKG Industries and that same year acquired Philmore and a number of other companies over the years. LKG Industries, Inc.dba Philmore/Datak/Carter Craft/Pfanstiehl imports, manufactures and markets thousands of electronic accessory items for use with consumer items, in categories such as Audio, Video, Television, Telephone and Personal Computers, as well as connectors and switches for use in manufacturing.

Philmore’s microphone connectors are now used in a wide variety of industrial applications. Their reliable, economical multi-pin connections are popular for rugged mobile use, as they stand up to extremes of shock and vibration. These multi-pin mobile connectors are in high demand.

Other Philmore Manufacturing products include dimmers and switches, cable and power assemblies, circuit breakers and fuse accessories, as well as, transformers, batteries and resistors.

PRIMO

Primo Company was founded in 1952 in Tokyo, Japan as Musashino Acoustic Laboratory, first producing stylus cartridges and crystal microphones and, after a number of years and worldwide presence under the new name of Primo Company, Ltd., also began making dynamic and electret condenser microphones for high-end application where the need for precision performance and high fidelity were required

https://primomic.com/about/

RCA

The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919.

Today, RCA exists as a brand name only; the various RCA trademarks are currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment and Technicolor, which in turn license the RCA brand name and trademarks to several other companies, including Voxx International, Curtis International, AVC Multimedia, TCL Corporation and Express LUCK International, Ltd. for their various products.

RCF

Started since 1949.

The first products sold were microphones and loudspeakers. In the late ’60s, concert sound was going electric, and many loudspeaker pioneers were searching for high-powered devices to use in their designs. RCF was one of the first European OEM suppliers for international brands, thanks to the company’s experience gained building high power transducers. In-depth know-how in transducers and electronics provided the perfect technological culture to allow RCF to develop complete pro audio systems, bringing the company to a leading position in multiple audio markets over the years. From Hi-Fi to public address, portable loudspeakers and big concert systems.

RESLO

Reslosound Ltd were a British company based in Romford, Essex, manufacturing microphones and electrical equipment throughout the 50’s and 60’s. In recent years the Reslo RB has become known as ‘The Beatles Mic’ because of its association with The Beatles early days at The Cavern Club. Ribbon microphones in general are making a big comeback over the last few years and many producers and musicians are using the Reslosound microphones again after finding their sound provides a warm classic tone.

RFT

RFT stands for Rundfunk- und Fernmelde- Technik, it is a German company association, which produces electronic and radio communication equipment. It was founded in 1946. Its history and structure are pretty much confusing. It consisted of measuring and experimental laboratories, professional and consumer appliances manufacturers and distribution network. The RFT logo can be seen on TVs, cassette players,  stationary and mobile radio receivers, calculators, speakers and, naturally, on microphones.

RONETTE

Ronette, a Dutch manufacturer of microphones in the 1940s until 1960s.

(Piezo Electrische Industrie Amsterdam)

SANKEN

The Sanken Microphone Co was founded (as The Takeuchi Factory) in 1925 by Rihei Takeuchi in Tokyo, Japan. The company changed names to Sanken in 1959, but remains family-run and based in Tokyo. Since its inception, Sanken has developed an impressive line of microphones across most practical applications.

SCHOEPS

The company “Schalltechnik Dr.-Ing. SCHOEPS” was founded in June, 1948. To this day, the company headquarters remains in its original place of foundation: Durlach, a picturesque town, which was founded as a city in 1196 and today is part of the city of Karlsruhe.

Company founder was Dr.-Ing. Karl Schoeps, the father of today’s owner Ulrich Schoeps. Schoeps’ first co-worker was Dr.-Ing. Wilhelm Küsters; Both had com­pleted their studies in Infor­mation Tech­nology at the Tech­nical College of Karlsruhe.

SENNHEISER

Founded in 1945 by Fritz Sennheiser and located in Germany. Their specialty are headphones, phone accessories, microphones and professional aviation gear. Sennheiser is one of the most solid audio brands in the world. It has its own laboratories, hires over 2.000 employees and has manufactories in four countries. In 1991 Sennheiser was taken over by another legendary brand – Neumann.

SHURE

Shure Incorporated is an American audio products corporation. It was founded by Sidney N. Shure in Chicago, Illinois, in 1925 as a supplier of radio parts kits. The company became a consumer and professional audio-electronics manufacturer of microphones, wireless microphone systems, phonograph cartridges, discussion systems, mixers, and digital signal processing. The company also manufactures listening products, including headphones, high-end earphones, and personal monitor systems.

SOCAPEX

More info will follow soon. Who can help ?

SONOTONE

Sonotone began making consumer microphones in the early 1960’s. These are the ceramic type using the same kind of barium titinate elements that were used in their phonograph cartridges. This includeds a number of variations made for special applications like tape recorders, language labs and citizen band radios. The basic cartridge design remained the same. By 1967, a line of dynamic microphones was introduced.

SONY

Founded in 1946 by Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita and initially run out of a small electronics shop, TTK made history with the Type-G, Japan’s first locally-manufactured tape recorder. Later, the firm branched out into the making of high-quality transistor radios that were easily the equal of American and European models. Those products carried the familiar brand name of Sony, which became the corporation’s official name in 1958.

STEEG & REUTER

It all started when in 1855 Wilhelm Steeg founded the “Optisches Institut Wilhelm Steeg” close to Frankfurt, Germany, which already focused on polarization optics.  

Eleven years later, Peter Reuter started as an apprentice in the company, but became a co-owner already in 1877. From then on, the company was named Dr. Steeg & Reuter. 

For some time after WW1, even Ernst Leitz, owner of the Leica camera works, was a co-owner of Dr. Steeg  & Reuter GmbH. After WW2, the company was confiscated by the US forces, but operations quickly resumed. Apart from optical components, the company produced metrology devices based on polarization effects and microphones.

In the 1990’s, the profitability of the company deteriorated. In 1996, the company was acquired by a German optics company, who resold it to another German optics company in the early 2000’s. A few years later, the business was discontinued and the company was liquidated.

STROMBERG CARLSON

Stromberg-Carlson was a telecommunications equipment and electronics manufacturing company in the United States. It was formed in 1894 as a partnership by Swedish immigrants Alfred Stromberg (1861 Varnhem, Sweden – 1913 Chicago) and Androv Carlson(1854 Tommared, Sweden – 1925 Chicago). It was one of five companies that controlled the national supply of telephone equipment until after World War II

Defunct : 1982 

SYNTON

Synton is a name that you may know. Due to the rarity and exclusivity of its products, the company has acquired almost legendary status, yet few players have ever played — let alone owned — any Synton instruments.

Founded in the early 1970s by Felix Visser, Synton was a Dutch company that started building vocoders and competing with the likes of EMS and Sennheiser. Unfortunately, the market for expensive vocoders is extremely small, so the company decided to branch out into importing and distribution, taking on Fairlight, Emu and Linn products and supplying them in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg.

TELEFUNKEN

Founded in 1903 with the common project of two German companies linked with radio communication – AEG and Siemens. The company soon became a leading telegraphic and radio equipment provider for military and civilian use. The enterprise also produced vacuum lamps, computers and household appliances. In 1967 the company was ultimately dissolved, Telefunken brand rights sold.

TESLA

A Czechoslovakian enterprise, founded in 1921 in Prague, under the name „Elektra”. It manufactured radio receivers, lightbulbs, vacuum lamps and transmitting systems for the military and non-military market. During the years 1932-1945, the company was bought by Philips and its name was changed to TESLA. (Technika Slaboproudová). The consortium was the main monopolist in the electronics branch until 1989, soon after it was divided into separate, independent companies.

TONSIL

The history of Tonsil starts in 1945 in The Speaker Factory in Września, founded by the Posnian division of the Polish Radio. In 1946, the company changed name into The National Speaker Factory and in 1950 into The Speaker Manufactories. Since 1961, Tonsil belonged to United Electronics Industries UNITRA. In 2004, the company declared bankruptcy. Since then, there were some attempts to reactivate the brand.

TOSHIBA

Toshiba was founded in 1939 by the merger of Shibaura Seisakusho (Shibaura Engineering Works) and Tokyo Denki (Tokyo Electric). Shibaura Seisakusho had been founded as Tanaka Seisakusho by Tanaka Hisashige in July 1875 as Japan’s first manufacturer of telegraph equipment. In 1904, it was renamed Shibaura Seisakusho. Through the first decades of the 20th century, Shibaura Seisakusho had become a major manufacturer of heavy electrical machinery as Japan modernized during the Meiji Era and became a world industrial power. Tokyo Denki was founded as Hakunetsusha in 1890 and had been Japan’s first producer of incandescent electric lamps. It later diversified into the manufacture of other consumer products and in 1899 had been renamed Tokyo Denki. The merger of Shibaura and Tokyo Denki created a new company called Tokyo Shibaura Denki (Tokyo Shibaura Electric). It was soon nicknamed Toshiba, but it was not until 1978 that the company was officially renamed Toshiba Corporation.

TURNER

Founded at 1931 in Cedar Rapids Iowa, USA.
Known as the biggest microphone company in the US. In the 1950s they manufactured also TV Boosters. The brand: Colortone.

After WWII Turner was OEM for many of the microphones sold by a fellow Cedar Rapids firm, The Collins Radio Company. In the early 1970s Turner had been acquired by Conrac Corporation of Stamford, Connecticut.

Defunct : 1979

UHER

The company started in 1934 under the name Uher & Co., it was founded by a Hungarian enterpreneur and inventor, Edmond Uher. In 1996 the company has been divided. It was finally sold in 2013.

UNIVERSAL MICROPHONE CO LTD

Universal Microphone Co. Ltd., Centinela at Warren Lane, Inglewood, California. Manufacturer of disc recording units and microphones in the 1930s.

VOICE OF MUSIC

More info will follow soon. Who can help ?

WEBSTER CHICAGO

Founded in 1914 and specialized in electronic audio equipment from the very beginning.

The Webster-Chicago Corp., located in Chicago, Illinois had become a licensee of the Armour Research Foundation during the war, and began manufacturing some of the earliest wire recorders in 1945. It’s hard to say if it was a stroke of luck or wisdom, but when the war ended, longtime Webster president Rudolph F. Blash saw an opportunity to adapt the technology for the consumer market. Most of the bigger companies in the audio industry, by comparison, were much slower on the uptake, so Webster Corp. had itself a near monopoly when it first hit the market.

WESTERN ELECTRIC

The Western Electric Company was an American electrical engineering and manufacturing company officially founded in 1869. A wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T for most of its lifespan, it served as the primary equipment manufacturer, supplier, and purchasing agent for the Bell System from 1881 to 1984 when it was dismantled. The company was responsible for many technological innovations as well as developments in industrial management.

Defunct : 1996

WOLLENSAK

Wollensak Optical was an American manufacturer of audio-visual products located in Rochester, New York. At the height of their popularity in the 1950s and 1960s, many brands of movie cameras came with a Wollensak Velostigmat lens. Wollensak reel-to-reel tape recorders were prized for their robust construction and value. In the 1960s, Wollensak was the choice tape recorder for amateur home, school, and office uses. They were produced in both stereo and mono designs.

The firm was founded in 1899 by Andrew Wollensak to produce camera shutters. At its peak in the 1950s, it employed over 1000 people. The company had several owners, including Revere Camera Company and 3M Company. Wollensak ceased operation in 1972.

ZEPHYR

Zephyr Productsinitially manufactured microphones from 1952 and by 1961 started to import from Europe and the USA. In 1957 the company manufactured the “Matrix Board”wiring system which was for prototype development and very popular with the electronic hobbyist. By 1966 they contract manufactured products for the Government and other manufacturers. They announced in November 1977 that they were sole distributors for Plessey Australia Ltd., in Victoria. In 1983 they advertised there new address at 421 Warrigal Road and listed many of the products the company distributed.