Gilfillan Brothers, later known as ITT-Gilfillan, was an American electronics company located in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, best known for their

radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...

systems. They changed names several times, and might be referred to as ITT Corporation Electronic Systems Radar Systems - Gilfillan or

ITT Industries ITT Inc., formerly ITT Corporation, is an American worldwide manufacturing company based in Stamford, Connecticut. The company produces specialty components for the aerospace, transportation, energy and industrial markets. ITT's three businesse ...

, Gilfillan Division, depending on the source. They were spun off by ITT in 2011 to form a division of the newly created Exelis Inc. Exelis was in turn purchased in 2015 by

Harris Corporation Harris Corporation was an American technology company, defense contractor, and information technology service (economics), services provider that produced wireless equipment, tactical radios, electronic systems, night vision device, night visi ...

and then merged in 2019 to become part of

L3Harris Technologies L3Harris Technologies, Inc. is an American technology company, defense contractor, and information technology service (economics), services provider that produces products for command and control systems, wireless equipment, tactical radios, avi ...

History

The company traces its history to 1912, when Sennet Gilfillan took over his uncle's smelting company, which processed precious metals such as platinum and iridium. He was joined by his brother Jay to form Gilfillan Brothers in 1914. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

they produced platinum

points A point is a small dot or the sharp tip of something. Point or points may refer to: Mathematics * Point (geometry), an entity that has a location in space or on a plane, but has no extent; more generally, an element of some abstract topologica ...

for automobile

ignition system Ignition systems are used by heat engines to initiate combustion by igniting the fuel-air mixture. In a spark ignition versions of the internal combustion engine (such as petrol engines), the ignition system creates a spark to ignite the fuel-ai ...

s and branched out to aircraft parts. In the 1920s they began making

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

receivers and were best known for their

Bakelite Bakelite ( ), formally , is a thermosetting polymer, thermosetting phenol formaldehyde resin, formed from a condensation reaction of phenol with formaldehyde. The first plastic made from synthetic components, it was developed by Belgian chemist ...

radios based on the

Neutrodyne The Neutrodyne radio receiver, invented in 1922 by Louis Hazeltine, was a particular type of tuned radio frequency (TRF) receiver, in which the instability-causing inter-electrode capacitance of the triode RF tubes is cancelled out or "neutraliz ...

system. The introduction of the

superheterodyne A superheterodyne receiver, often shortened to superhet, is a type of radio receiver that uses frequency mixing to convert a received signal to a fixed intermediate frequency (IF) which can be more conveniently processed than the original car ...

rendered the Neutrodyne obsolete, and in 1932 the company bought the Willard Radio Company who had a line of "superhet" radios. Beginning in 1942, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the company was selected to build the precision approach radar (PAR) systems that had been developed at the

MIT Radiation Laboratory The Radiation Laboratory, commonly called the Rad Lab, was a microwave and radar research laboratory located at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was first created in October 1940 and operated until 3 ...

. These were installed at

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

airfields beginning 1944 and became a must-have item for bombers returning from missions over Germany. By the end of the war they had also introduced the first dedicated

airport surveillance radar An airport surveillance radar (ASR) is a radar system used at airports to detect and display the presence and position of aircraft in the ''terminal area'', the airspace around airports. It is the main air traffic control system for the airspace ...

, which provided clear images of the large amounts of air traffic immediately around an airport. These successes launched the company into the radar market, where they focused their future development. In the post-war era they began expanding their product line, initially with new ATC systems. During this period they changed their name to Gilfillan Radar Development and Manufacturing Company. The company was purchased by ITT in 1964. By the 1970s they were a leading manufacturer of mid-range systems in the US. Among their better-known lines from this period is the ITT-Gilfillan S320 radar, used as the basis for many US military radars, the PAR-2000 and GCA-2000 air traffic radars, the MPN-26 mobile PAR, and a range of

References

* * * * {{cite magazine , title=Radar Love , first=Robert , last=Mark , date=May 2012 , magazine=Air and Space , url=https://www.airspacemag.com/military-aviation/radar-love-121076372/

External links

Gilfillan Air Traffic Control
product catalog Companies based in Los Angeles Defunct electronics companies of the United States