Kolster-Brandes Ltd was a British manufacturer of radio and television sets based in
Foots Cray,
Sidcup
Sidcup is an area of south-east London, England, primarily in the London Borough of Bexley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, bordering the London Boroughs of London Borough of Bromley, Bromley and Royal Borough of Greenwich, Greenwich. It was ...
,
Kent
Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...
that was American owned.
History
The company was a descendant of ''Brandes'', a Canadian company founded in
Toronto
Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
in 1908. Brandes became part of
AT&T
AT&T Inc., an abbreviation for its predecessor's former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the w ...
in 1922 and a British subsidiary ''Brandes Ltd'' was established in
Slough, in 1924, to manufacture headphones.
[The Setmakers by Keith Geddes and Gordon Bussey ()]
The company rapidly expanded producing a range of loud speakers and in 1928 moved to a former silk mill at
Foots Cray. The company was renamed ''Kolster-Brandes Ltd'' after the American parent company merged with the
Kolster Radio Corporation. In 1930 the company supplied 40,000 of its ''Masterpiece'' two-valve, bakelite cabinet radios to the Godfrey Phillips tobacco company, who gave them away to customers in exchange for cigarette coupons.
[ K-B also began a long association with Cunard after they won a contract to provide communications equipment for the ocean liner.
In 1938 Kolster-Brandes became part of ITT's British subsidiary Standard Telephones and Cables (STC).][ The Foots Cray site was also shared by ''Brimar'', another STC company founded in 1933 to manufacture American pattern valves for the British market.]
Products
Kolster-Brandes later went on to make mid-range electronics such as radios, radiograms, televisions, tape recorders, amplifiers and gramophones.
KB made a large number of radios and radiograms, a few models of which were the 285, 422 Cavalcade, 666 and the CG20.
The company also made a popular selection of record players which include the Playtime, Gaytime, Dancetime, Tunetime and Rhythm, the last two of which are valve operated.
References
{{Authority control
Electronics companies of the United Kingdom
Defunct manufacturing companies of the United Kingdom
Radio manufacturers