Marconiphone was an English manufacturer of domestic receiving equipment, notably radio receivers and

reel-to-reel Reel-to-reel audio tape recording, also called open-reel recording, is magnetic tape audio recording in which the recording tape is spooled between reels. To prepare for use, the ''supply reel'' (or ''feed reel'') containing the tape is plac ...

tape machines.

Early history

After

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 ...

, the

Marconi Company The Marconi Company was a British telecommunications and engineering company founded by Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi in 1897 which was a pioneer of wireless long distance communication and mass media broadcasting, eventually becoming on ...

began producing non-industrial receivers, principally for the amateur market, at the

Soho SoHo, short for "South of Houston Street, Houston Street", is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Since the 1970s, the neighborhood has been the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, art installations such as The Wall ...

premises of The Marconi Scientific Instrument Company. In 1922, the

formed the "Marconiphone" department, to design, manufacture and sell domestic receiving equipment. This equipment complied with Post Office specifications and tests, and was therefore awarded the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

authorisation stamp; initially sets were made at the

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Colchester and Southend-on-Sea. It is located north-east of London ...

Works. In December 1923, the 'Marconiphone' department was formed as a subsidiary of the

. Some Marconiphone Company sets were made at the Sterling Telephone Company (STC) Works at

Dagenham Dagenham () is a town in East London, England, within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Dagenham is centred east of Charing Cross. It was historically a rural parish in the Becontree Hundred of Essex, stretching from Hainault Fo ...

. However, design and research of these domestic receivers still continued at

Gramophone Company

In December 1929, the Marconiphone was sold to the

Gramophone Company The Gramophone Company Limited was a British phonograph manufacturer and record label, founded in April 1898 by Emil Berliner. It was one of the earliest record labels. The company purchased the His Master's Voice painting and trademark righ ...

, along with the right to use the trademark "Marconiphone" and the copyright signature "G. Marconi" on domestic receivers. The Marconi Company never re-entered the domestic radio market. In 1931 the Gramophone Company became Electric and Musical Industries ( EMI) and produced domestic and radio receivers using the Marconiphone trademark until 1956, when receivers were made by the British Radio Corporation, under licence. Domestic receivers bearing the Marconiphone trademark produced after 1929 had no connection with the

. In 1936, the Marconiphone company moved into the production of cathode ray tubes and television receivers and in 1953 they were still manufacturing television sets. In the 1950s, Marconiphone were taken over by Thorn and the products of the two companies became extremely similar.

Mobile telephones

The Marconiphone brand was revived in the late 1980s and used by a division of GEC-Marconi for mobile phones. Phones made by companies such as NEC were given and additional small rectangular metal plate with the Marconiphone logo. Marconi acted as a service provider for Cellnet and Vodafone in the UK before selling the customer base to Mercury in 1991.

References

{{reflist Guglielmo Marconi Defunct manufacturing companies of England Electronics companies of the United Kingdom Radio manufacturers

Early history

Gramophone Company

Mobile telephones

See also

References