The United States Television Manufacturing Corporation, also known informally as U.S. Television Manufacturing, and in some advertisements as UST, was an American television manufacturing and distribution company known for its early large-screen television sets, intended for use in bars and other public spaces. The company existed from 1945 to 1950.

History

The United States Television Manufacturing Corporation was founded in 1945 in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

, New York City, to produce large-screen television sets and, later, conventional models. In April the following year, it announced an

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...

of 99,000 shares of 50-cent

par value In finance and accounting, par value means stated value or face value of a financial instrument. Expressions derived from this term include at par (at the par value), over par (over par value) and under par (under par value). Bonds A bond selli ...

common stock Common stock is a form of corporate equity ownership, a type of security. The terms voting share and ordinary share are also used frequently outside of the United States. They are known as equity shares or ordinary shares in the UK and other C ...

at US$3 each. The Guaranty Trust Company of New York was appointed registrar. Headed by president Hamilton Hoge, with his brother John Otis Hoge as vice president, U.S. Television Manufacturing aimed its initial product at taverns, clubs, fraternal organizations and similar business consumers, reasoning that with parts and materials remaining in short supply following

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 needed to sell fewer but higher-priced units. On September 18, 1946, U.S. Television Manufacturing held a public demonstration of large-screen

rear-projection television Rear-projection television (RPTV) is a type of large-screen television display technology. Until approximately 2006, most of the relatively affordable consumer large screen TVs up to used rear-projection technology. A variation is a video proje ...

, with sets at

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store under one roof, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store mad ...

s including

Bloomingdale's Bloomingdale's Inc. is an American luxury department store chain founded in 1861 by Joseph Bloomingdale and Lyman Bloomingdale. It was acquired by Federated Department Stores in 1930, which purchased the Macy's department store chain in 1994, ...

and

Macy's Macy's is an American department store chain founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. The first store was located in Manhattan on Sixth Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets, south of the present-day flagship store at Herald Square on West 34 ...

in Manhattan,

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, and

Abraham & Straus Abraham & Straus, commonly shortened to A&S, was a major New York City department store, based in Brooklyn. Founded in 1865, it became part of Federated Department Stores in 1929. Shortly after Federated's 1994 acquisition of R.H. Macy & Compan ...

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...

, showing live coverage of the

Joe Louis Joseph Louis Barrow (May 13, 1914 – April 12, 1981) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1934 to 1951. Nicknamed "the Brown Bomber", Louis is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential boxers of all time. He r ...

Tami Mauriello Stefano "Tami" Mauriello (May 24, 1923 – December 3, 1999) was an American professional boxer and actor of Italian descent who was world ranked in two divisions during the 1940s. He thrice challenged for world titles, fighting Gus Lesnevich (t ...

heavyweight Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling. Boxing Professional Male boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 2 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation an ...

boxing championship at

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. The company said it had already begun delivering sets to customers. By July 1947, the company was producing 300 units a month of its initial model, it said, which were distributed by dealers in 13 states and the

District of Columbia Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

. It announced plans to produce a taller model with a 475-square-inch screen and AM-

FM radio FM broadcasting is a method of radio broadcasting that uses frequency modulation (FM) of the radio broadcast carrier wave. Invented in 1933 by American engineer Edwin Armstrong, wide-band FM is used worldwide to transmit high fidelity, high-f ...

reception, to sell for US$1,995 excluding installation charges, and two home-consumer models: one with a "10-inch direct-view

cathode-ray tube A cathode-ray tube (CRT) is a vacuum tube containing one or more electron guns, which emit electron beams that are manipulated to display images on a phosphorescent screen. The images may represent electrical waveforms on an oscilloscope, a ...

(CRT) screen, giving a 54-square-inch image", plus AM-FM radio and

phonograph A phonograph, later called a gramophone, and since the 1940s a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogue reproduction of sound. The sound vibration Waveform, waveforms are recorded as correspond ...

, for US$895; and a rear-projection TV with the same features but a 390-square-inch image, for US$2,275. The direct-view model's price was reduced to US$745 in November 1947. In March the following year, the large-screen projection-TV set increased in priced to US$2,495, with the company announcing shipment to distributors in 15 cities within two to three weeks and plans to produce 50 to 75 sets monthly. The company also announced plans to market a television set for theaters and auditoriums, with a variable screen size of 9 x 12 feet to 12 x 16 feet, for US$3,495. By October 1948, the company was marketing what it called two "improved" models with 475- and 675-square-inch screens. Additionally, by January 1948, the company was producing a tabletop model with a 10-inch screen giving a picture size of nearly 9 by 7 inches. By November, U.S. Television Manufacturing Corp. subsidiary Zetka Television Tubes, Inc., of

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, was manufacturing 12- and 15-inch CRTs, with glass blanks supplied by

Corning Glass Works Corning Incorporated is an American multinational technology company specializing in glass, ceramics, and related materials and technologies including advanced optics, primarily for industrial and scientific applications. The company was name ...

. In December 1948, the company dropped prices, citing increased supplies of 15-inch glass CRTs. The home console with radio and phonograph was now US$1,095, and table models $695 and $325. Among its advertising and promotional efforts, the company said in August 1947 that it would launch a direct-mail campaign to 41,000 tavern-owners nationwide, via the advertising agency Huber-Hoge & Sons. In January the following year, it announced that the same agency would launch a $250,000 print-ad campaign for its tabletop sets, emphasizing quality over price. Following the public company's 1950 report on earnings, registering a loss, no further reports were issued.

Products

Each line of television includes built-in radio and phonograph."New UST 5 in 1 Console Joins World's Fast Growing Television Family" (advertisement), via ;Projection TV set *Tavern Tele-Symphonic (includes at least models T508, T521, T525, T530), US$1,995 *Tele-Symphonic, US$2,275 *Tele-Symphonic Modern, US$2,275 ;Direct-view TV sets *Telesonic (available in modern and period cabinetry), US$895 ;Radio-phonographs *Dumbarton, US$239

Model numbers

*T502, T507, T508, T521, T525, T530, T621, T10823Schematics, via

Key personnel

*Hamilton Hoge, president *John Otis Hoge, vice president (died November 18, 1953, age 44) *Ira T. Kitzmiller, controller; formerly with

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

for 14 years *A.D. Heller, chief engineer, followed by *Antony Wright, chief engineer; former manager of TV-engineering section of RCA *Irving Mageff, project engineer *K. Blair Benson, senior engineer *William H. Higgins, sales manager *Philip Goldberg, distributor,

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

*Kenneth Golden, distributor,

Other

* Rumsey Electric Company, distributor,

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, Pennsylvania. * Domestic Heating and Equipment Corp., distributor,

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

, Ohio

Headquarters

A December 1945 advertisement seeking a senior engineer for the company listed an address of 106 Seventh Avenue in Manhattan, New York City. By July 1947, the company's office was located at 1 West 61st Street in Manhattan. An advertisement from this time gives a company address of 3 West 61st Street.

Earnings and revenue

The company reported a net loss of US$98,000 for the first six months of 1946. For the same period of 1947, it posted an estimated net profit of US$188,355 after taxes and after utilizing one-half of the company's 1946 tax loss of US$176,707. The half-year net profit represented 59 cents each on 319,000 common shares. For full-year 1947, the company reported net sales of US$1,907,874, resulting in a net loss of US$132,686. In 1948, U.S Television Manufacturing Corp. turned a net profit of US$27,035, representing 4¢ each on 341,475 common shares. The following year, the company reported a loss of US$195,094.

References

External links

* {{subscription required (Includes Hamilton Hoge background) Consumer electronics brands Defunct electronics companies of the United States Companies based in Manhattan American companies established in 1945 Electronics companies established in 1945 Manufacturing companies established in 1945 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1950 1945 establishments in New York City 1950 disestablishments in New York (state) Defunct manufacturing companies based in New York City Radio manufacturers