Jackson Brothers, commonly known as Jackson Bros, was a
firm
A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of legal people, whether Natural person, natural, Juridical person, juridical or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members ...
known for its dominance of the
variable capacitor
A variable capacitor is a capacitor whose capacitance may be intentionally and repeatedly changed mechanically or electronically. Variable capacitors are often used in LC circuit, L/C circuits to set the resonance frequency, e.g. to tune a ra ...
(or 'tuning condenser') market in the early days of
radio broadcasting
Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio signal, audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a lan ...
. Founded in 1923 to provide tuning capacitors for the growing home construction market, by the Fillmore family in Lewisham, England, (there never was a pair of people involved who were Jackson brothers!) the firm went on to manufacture a huge variety of the, mostly air-spaced, two or three gang, variable capacitors, that were at the heart of all radio receivers until the invention of the
varicap
A varicap diode, varactor diode, variable capacitance diode, variable reactance diode or tuning diode is a type of diode designed to exploit the voltage-dependent capacitance of a reverse-biased p–n junction.
Applications
Varactors are use ...
diode
A diode is a two-Terminal (electronics), terminal electronic component that conducts electric current primarily in One-way traffic, one direction (asymmetric electrical conductance, conductance). It has low (ideally zero) Electrical resistance ...
, which replaced them, especially in
VHF designs, and the frequency-synthesizer front ends that are now found in most
radio receiver
In radio communications, a radio receiver, also known as a receiver, a wireless, or simply a radio, is an electronic device that receives radio waves and converts the information carried by them to a usable form. It is used with an antenna. ...
s.
History
Early beginnings
The money for the enterprise came largely from Grandfather Fillmore, who wanted to call the company ‘John Bull and Company’, but other relatives opposed this, and it was settled that Jackson Brothers sounded suitably British.
Production of Capacitor kits began in a shop in Soho for home assembly. After a short while it was realised that it would be better to sell assembled components but through 1923/24 business was erratic. In 1932 the firm was converted to a Private Limited Company and moved to a site near London Bridge Station, from where
Bush,
EKCO,
Murphy
Murphy is an Irish surname meaning "Sea Warrior".
Origins and variants
The surname is a variant of two Irish surnames: "Ó Murchadha"/"Ó Murchadh" (descendant of "Murchadh"), and "Mac Murchaidh"/" Mac Murchadh" (son of "Murchadh") derived ...
and
Sobell were supplied. The range then included direct drive and slow motion capacitors that incorporated epicyclic ball-bearing reduction units. The ‘Dilecon’ solid dielectric variable tuning capacitors were widely used for by constructors of
TRF and Crystal set receivers, while air-spaced tuning capacitors which offered greater stability and accuracy were usually used in
superhet
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 ...
receivers.
World War 2
At the outbreak of War in 1939, Jackson Bros, and
Wingrove & Rogers
Wingrove & Rogers Ltd of Kirkby, Liverpool, England, was formed in 1919 by Major Charles William Wingrove M.C. (1889-1976) and William Rogers (b1891) to manufacture control gear for electric vehicles. In the 1920s they diversified into variable ...
were major suppliers of capacitors and tuning components for the Services but in 1941 the Jackson Bros factory was destroyed in a fire-bombing raid. The firm then moved to
Waddon
Waddon ( ) is a neighbourhood in the London Borough of Croydon, at the western end of the town of Croydon. The area borders the London Borough of Sutton.
History
It is not known when the manor of Croydon was granted to the Archbisop of Cante ...
,
Croydon
Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...
, at the site of the old Beddington Airfield and part of the site remained in use for
Research and Development
Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in some countries as OKB, experiment and design, is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products. R&D constitutes the first stage ...
until 1992.
After the War sales of new radio parts fell as huge amounts of
War Surplus radio equipment became cheaply available, and the relationship with Wingrove & Rogers reverted to normal competition.
Purchase Tax made home sales less attractive and business was difficult for a few years, until a move to sell overseas resulted in sales agents being appointed in the
Netherlands
, Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
,
Denmark
Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...
,
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
and
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
, where variable capacitors became known as JBs.
See also
*
History of radio
The early history of radio is the history of technology that produces and uses radio instruments that use radio waves. Within the timeline of radio, many people contributed theory and inventions in what became radio. Radio development bega ...
*
Crystal radio
*
Variable capacitor
A variable capacitor is a capacitor whose capacitance may be intentionally and repeatedly changed mechanically or electronically. Variable capacitors are often used in LC circuit, L/C circuits to set the resonance frequency, e.g. to tune a ra ...
External links
History of Jackson Brothers– by Royal Signals Wireless-Set-No19 Group.
Jackson Brothers– by Radio Amateur Old Timers' Association.
Jackson Brothers variable capacitors, drives, stand-off insulators and terminalsMainline Electronics eBay shop
– your source for original Jackson Brothers stock.
History of radio in the United Kingdom
Electronics companies of the United Kingdom
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