|
M O Valve Co. Ltd. Following its formation in 1919, the company rapidly grew to become one of the foremost valve manufacturers in the UK, with production concentrated at the Hammersmith plant. Until late in 1925, the valves bore the MARCONI brand name, but after this time valves marketed by GEC used the brand name OSRAM, whilst those marketed by Marconiphone continued with the MARCONI brand name. Apart from receiving valves, the company also manufactured a wide range of transmitting valves, and these bore the Marconibs W T Co label.
In 1922, the Marconi Company set up a Marconiphone Department at their Chelmsford plant for the design, manufacture and sale of broadcast receivers. This led in December 1923 to the formation of a subsidiary company, Marconiphone, with production facilities at Dagenham. Because of financial problems, the Marconi Company sold Marconiphone, together with the half-share in the M O Valve Co., to the Gramophone Co. Ltd. at the end of 1929. In the UK, the Gramophone Company owned the well known 'His Masterbs Voiceb label and at the time about fifty percent of its shares were held by RCA. This link with RCA led to an exchange of technical information between M-OV and RCA, to the benefit of both companies.
A further consolidation took place in 1931 when a new holding company, Electric and Musical Industries Ltd. (EMI), was created which combined the activities of the Gramophone Co. Ltd. and the Columbia Graphophone Co. Ltd. In July 1956, GEC purchased the EMI shareholding in the M O Valve Co. and became the sole owner of the company.
M-OV was always an innovative company. It was the first British company to produce a dull emitter valve (the type DER in 1922), a screened grid tetrode (the type S625 in late 1926) and an indirectly heated triode (the type KL1, early in 1927). It must be said, however that much of this innovation in valve design came from the GEC research laboratories, located at Wembley in Middlesex.
Reference: 1004.
|
