Tungsram was a

manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to ...

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a legal entity representing an association of people, whether natural, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common purpose and unite to achieve specific, declared ...

located in

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Cr ...

and known for their light bulbs and electronics. Established in

Újpest Újpest (; german: Neu-Pest, en, New Pest) is the 4th District in Budapest, Hungary. It is located on the left bank of the Danube River. The name Újpest means "New Pest" because the city was formed on the border of the city of Pest, Hungary i ...

(today part of

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population o ...

) in 1896, it initially produced telephones, wires and switchboards. The name "Tungsram" is a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordstungsten Tungsten, or wolfram, is a chemical element with the symbol W and atomic number 74. Tungsten is a rare metal found naturally on Earth almost exclusively as compounds with other elements. It was identified as a new element in 1781 and first isol ...

" and "wolfram" (the two common names of the metal used for making light bulb filaments). Before becoming nationalized by the Communist government in 1945, the company was the world's third largest manufacturer of light bulbs and radiotubes, after the American General Electric and RCA companies.

History

On 13 December 1904, Hungarian Sándor Just and Croatian Franjo Hanaman were granted Hungarian patent no. 34541 for the world's first tungsten filament bulb that lasted longer and produced brighter light than a carbon filament. The co-inventors licensed their patent to the company, which came to be named Tungsram after the eponymous tungsten incandescent bulbs, which are still called Tungsram bulbs in many European countries. In 1934, Tungsram incorporated a patent by

Imre Bródy Imre Bródy (1891, Gyula, HungaryAntal Papp: Magyarország (Hungary), Panoráma, Budapest, 1982, , p. 860, pp. 453-456–1944, Mühldorf) was a Hungarian physicist who invented in 1930 the krypton-filled fluorescent lamps (also known as the k ...

for bulbs filled with

krypton Krypton (from grc, κρυπτός, translit=kryptos 'the hidden one') is a chemical element with the symbol Kr and atomic number 36. It is a colorless, odorless, tasteless noble gas that occurs in trace amounts in the atmosphere and is of ...

gas, providing for longer bulb lifetime. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

mass production of radio tubes began and became the most profitable division of the company. Hungarian physicist Zoltán Bay together with György Szigeti pre-empted led lighting in Hungary in 1939 by patented a lighting device based on SiC, with an option on boron carbide, that emitted white, yellowish white, or greenish white depending on impurities present. British Tungsram Radio Works was a subsidiary of Hungarian Tungsram in pre-war days. In 1990,

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable ene ...

acquired a majority stake in Tungsram and over six years invested $600 million in the venture, thoroughly restructuring every aspect of its operations. To date, this has been the largest manufacturing investment by a U.S. firm in Central and Eastern Europe. Thereafter Tungsram operated as a subsidiary of General Electric and the name merely was retained as a

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...

. As of February 2018, the CEO of GE Hungary, Jörg Bauer agreed to buy GEʼs lighting business in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Turkey, as well as its global automotive lighting business. The business continues to operate again under the name ''Tungsram Group''. Since February 2020, the business partners of the company have been able to use the recently opened Tungsram Lounge at the Ferenc Liszt International Airport with conference rooms.

Famous engineers and inventors

Gallery

File:Tungsram advertisement.jpg, Hungarian advertising of the Tungsram-bulb from 1906. This was the first light bulb that used a filament made from

tungsten Tungsten, or wolfram, is a chemical element with the symbol W and atomic number 74. Tungsten is a rare metal found naturally on Earth almost exclusively as compounds with other elements. It was identified as a new element in 1781 and first isol ...

instead of carbon. The inscription reads: ''wire lamp with a drawn wire – indestructible'' File:Izzólámpák.jpg, Incandescent light bulbs with carbon filaments (left) and the modern tungsten bulb (right) File:Tungsram MR-X radio transmitter tube for audio communication (1917).png, Tungsram MR-X radio transmitter tube for audio communication (1917) File:Tungsram H2 radio transmitter tube 1916.jpg, Tungsram H2 radio transmitter tube prototype 1916 File:Tungsram searchlight.jpg, Tungsram searchlight for air defense (1914) File:Tungsram Television prototype in 1937.png, Tungsram television prototype in 1937 File:Tungsram vacuum tubes.jpg, Tungsram commercial vacuum tubes from the 1970s File:TAL4.JPG, Tungsram vacuum tubes File:Magic eye tube EM1.jpeg, Tungsram vacuum tubes File:Az Egyesült Izzó látképe.jpg, The factory in Budapest in 1920 File:Budapest XIII., Egyesült Izzólámpa és Villamossági Rt.-Váci út 77.jpg, Former Headquarter of the ''United Lightbulb and Electronic Ltd'' File:Radio vacuum tubes.jpg, Tungsram vacuum tubes File:ECL80.jpg, Tungsram vacuum tubes File:EZ80 var.jpg, Tungsram vacuum tubes File:ECC83 var.jpg, Tungsram vacuum tubes

External links

* Free English language book about the detailed history of Tungsram

Patent US1018502, Incandescent bodies for electric lamps

References

{{General Electric Hungarian brands Lighting brands General Electric acquisitions Guitar amplification tubes Manufacturing companies of Austria-Hungary Manufacturing companies based in Budapest 1896 establishments in Austria-Hungary 1990 mergers and acquisitions Former General Electric subsidiaries

History

Famous engineers and inventors

Gallery

See also

External links

References