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Many small electrical appliances rely on batteries for their power source. They can be for hand-held games such as the Nintendo Game Boy, portable radios, and systems like the Sony Walkman or for remote controls for videos, televisions, and hi-fi equipment.
The development of batteries began with the experiments of Alessandro Volta (1745–1827) and John Frederic Daniell (1790–1845). Volta discovered that when two different metals are in contact with moisture an electrical current is produced. His first “wet cell” battery used alternating zinc and silver discs separated by cloth moistened with a salt solution. Daniell improved on this by using zinc and copper electrodes, resulting in a more practical battery. The “dry cell” battery was developed in the 1860s. This led to the ubiquitous zinc-carbon battery that was to be in use for most of the twentieth century. The so-called dry cell has a moist paste electrode inside a zinc container. The positive electrode is a carbon rod in the center of the cell.
These batteries developed into two basic types, the small cylindrical battery for flashlights (torches), and so on, and the larger, rectangular power pack. The main manufacturers in the United States and the United Kingdom were both called Ever-Ready.
Batteries were important because they made electricity portable. The small inexpensive battery-operated flashlight soon became a household staple. Other appliances (such as radios) had to wait until the associated technological and social conditions allowed them to become smaller. The radios that followed the “cat’s whisker” sets required heavy “wet-cell” batteries. The development of valves allowed the use of lighter “dry-cell” batteries and the portable radio. These models, such as the Pye Type 25 of 1928 (which featured the first of its famous “sunrise” speaker grilles) were heavy due to a combination of batteries and wooden cases. Although a little lighter, even late 1940s and early 1950s models were cumbersome. The British Ever-Ready battery company also produced its own portables.
The development of transistors and radios such as the Sony TR-55 (1955) and the UK Pam (1956) and increasing personal mobility led manufacturers to produce smaller products. The rise of the portable transistor radio was also aided by the growth of rock and roll and a youth culture fuelled by a generation of teenagers with more money and time.
The development of transistors and the culturally driven desire for music and communications on the move has led to a migration of the products from the domestic and office environment into the public realm, as exemplified by the Sony Walkman and the mobile telephone. To keep this revolution going, manufacturers have relied on increasingly efficient lightweight long life batteries.
This trend was exploited by the Duracell Company, which pioneered the marketing of longer-lasting alkaline batteries in the late 1970s and 1980s. It caught the manufacturers of zinc-carbon batteries by surprise, as they were unprepared for the competition. The UK Ever-Ready Company folded in 1981, only to be bought up by an American company, Ralston Purina. In less than ten years alkaline batteries accounted for over 50 percent of U.S. battery sales. Duracell is a division of the Gillette Company and trades in over fifteen countries, employing 4,500 people in the United States, Belgium, China, and India. Although 80 percent of the world market is still zinc carbon, the alkaline battery dominates the Western consumer goods market. Recent trends have been the introduction of power indicators on the sides of the batteries and longer-lasting rechargeable batteries.
Showing posts with label B. Show all posts
Showing posts with label B. Show all posts
Baby Monitors
Baby monitors became popular in the 1980s thanks to the availability of simple localized radio communication. Either battery and/or plug-in (mains-operated) standard models consist of a “baby’s” monitor, which is placed in the child’s room, and a “parent’s” unit for the room where the parent or caregiver is. Some baby’s units have incorporated nightlights and room temperature displays. The baby’s unit has a microphone and a transmitter that will alert the parent or caregiver if the baby cries or requires attention. More sophisticated models vibrate like a telephone pager. They have a range of between 50 and 100 meters.
One of the largest manufacturers is the Japanese Tomy Corporation, which was founded in Tokyo in 1927. Although its main business is toys for young children it also produces a range of baby monitors.
Such appliances reflect changing social attitudes about caring for small children. Many parents no longer think their children should cry themselves to sleep. Also, recent publicity given to “crib death” (SIDS) and asthma has made such devices almost essential for concerned parents. These appliances take advantage of the developments in communications technology; the Tomy Baby Watch can transmit live images of the sleeping infant onto the family television screen.
One of the largest manufacturers is the Japanese Tomy Corporation, which was founded in Tokyo in 1927. Although its main business is toys for young children it also produces a range of baby monitors.
Such appliances reflect changing social attitudes about caring for small children. Many parents no longer think their children should cry themselves to sleep. Also, recent publicity given to “crib death” (SIDS) and asthma has made such devices almost essential for concerned parents. These appliances take advantage of the developments in communications technology; the Tomy Baby Watch can transmit live images of the sleeping infant onto the family television screen.
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Baird Television Company
John Logie Baird, the first person to transmit television pictures, was born in Helensburgh, Dumbartonshire, Scotland, in 1888. He studied electrical engineering at the Royal Technical College, Glasgow, and began a degree at Glasgow University that was suspended by the outbreak of World War I. Ill health, which was a recurrent feature of his life, ruled him out of military service. Instead, he became superintendent engineer of the Clyde Valley Electrical Power Company. After the war, Baird did not resume his degree. He set up a successful business, marketing a range of goods including soap and patent socks.
In 1922, Baird suffered a serious physical and nervous breakdown, which made him unable to continue working. He began to experiment with television after moving to Hastings on the English south coast. Baird developed a mechanical scanning system, based on a design patented by the German engineer Paul Nipkow in 1884. At this stage, Baird’s experiments were a hobby with no immediate business prospects, so he was forced to improvise by using cheap or waste materials, such as biscuit (cookie) tins and bicycle lamp lenses. In early 1924, he succeeded in transmitting a still image of a Maltese cross to a receiver in the same room. Convinced of the potential of his invention, he moved to London and was hired to give television demonstrations in Selfridge’s department store. With family financial backing, he set up Television Ltd. and refined his basic technology to improve the quality of the picture. By October 1925, he was able to transmit the live image of a person. He repeated this demonstration for members of the Royal Society in January 1926. Baird then applied for a license to transmit television signals and began trials over a distance of 10 miles. In 1927, he made the first long-distance telecast from London to Glasgow. The next milestone for Baird came in 1928 with the first transatlantic television broadcast from London to a radio station in Hartsdale, New York.
With new financial backing, Baird formed the Baird Television Development Company in 1927 and set up a studio near the Crystal Palace headquarters of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in 1928. He negotiated a contract with the BBC to provide trial television broadcasts, initially twice weekly for half an hour, using its Crystal Palace transmitter. Baird’s receivers, known as “televisors,” cost the equivalent of three month’s average wages. Not surprisingly, fewer than a thousand homes in London invested in this novelty. In 1932, the BBC decided to take control of Baird’s broadcasts.
More ominous for the long-term prospects of the Baird system was the launch of a powerful television consortium. EMI and Marconi, aware of American experiments with electronic television that promised picture delivery superior to Baird’s 32-line picture at 12.5 frames per second, had been conducting their own research and development. In 1934, they formed the Marconi-EMI Television Company. A parliamentary committee, the Selsdon Committee, was set up in 1934 to investigate the existing systems and recommend standards of service. Baird decided to improve the performance of his system by making a licensing agreement with the American inventor, Philo Taylor Farnsworth, for use of his Image Dissector. In 1935, the BBC was given responsibility for television broadcasting and invited the Baird Television Company and Marconi-EMI to carry out trial broadcasts at “high definition” picture quality, defined as at least 240 lines. After four months of trials, in February 1937, the BBC decided in favor of the Marconi-EMI 405-line system.
The Baird system was rendered redundant, but Baird himself received some consolation when his pioneering work was rewarded with the gift of the Gold Medal of the International Faculty of Science, which had never previously been awarded to a Briton. Baird’s company continued to manufacture televisions that met the Marconi-EMI standard, while Baird himself pursued a new challenge—color televison. In 1928, he had demonstrated color television using mechanical scanning, and he now returned to the development of color television. He experimented with a mixture of electronic and mechanical techniques that yielded 600-line color television pictures by late 1940. Earlier in 1940, the Rank Organisation had taken control of the Baird Television Company, which became Rank Cintel Ltd., leaving Baird free to pursue his color television interests. By 1944, he had developed the Telechrome tube, a two-color system that used two electron guns whose beams converged on a translucent screen that was coated on one side with blue-green phosphors and on the other side with red-orange phosphors. He found another financial backer in British music hall star and actor Jack Buchanan and set up John Logie Baird Ltd. Unfortunately, this new venture proved to be short-lived as Baird died in 1946.
In 1922, Baird suffered a serious physical and nervous breakdown, which made him unable to continue working. He began to experiment with television after moving to Hastings on the English south coast. Baird developed a mechanical scanning system, based on a design patented by the German engineer Paul Nipkow in 1884. At this stage, Baird’s experiments were a hobby with no immediate business prospects, so he was forced to improvise by using cheap or waste materials, such as biscuit (cookie) tins and bicycle lamp lenses. In early 1924, he succeeded in transmitting a still image of a Maltese cross to a receiver in the same room. Convinced of the potential of his invention, he moved to London and was hired to give television demonstrations in Selfridge’s department store. With family financial backing, he set up Television Ltd. and refined his basic technology to improve the quality of the picture. By October 1925, he was able to transmit the live image of a person. He repeated this demonstration for members of the Royal Society in January 1926. Baird then applied for a license to transmit television signals and began trials over a distance of 10 miles. In 1927, he made the first long-distance telecast from London to Glasgow. The next milestone for Baird came in 1928 with the first transatlantic television broadcast from London to a radio station in Hartsdale, New York.
With new financial backing, Baird formed the Baird Television Development Company in 1927 and set up a studio near the Crystal Palace headquarters of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in 1928. He negotiated a contract with the BBC to provide trial television broadcasts, initially twice weekly for half an hour, using its Crystal Palace transmitter. Baird’s receivers, known as “televisors,” cost the equivalent of three month’s average wages. Not surprisingly, fewer than a thousand homes in London invested in this novelty. In 1932, the BBC decided to take control of Baird’s broadcasts.
More ominous for the long-term prospects of the Baird system was the launch of a powerful television consortium. EMI and Marconi, aware of American experiments with electronic television that promised picture delivery superior to Baird’s 32-line picture at 12.5 frames per second, had been conducting their own research and development. In 1934, they formed the Marconi-EMI Television Company. A parliamentary committee, the Selsdon Committee, was set up in 1934 to investigate the existing systems and recommend standards of service. Baird decided to improve the performance of his system by making a licensing agreement with the American inventor, Philo Taylor Farnsworth, for use of his Image Dissector. In 1935, the BBC was given responsibility for television broadcasting and invited the Baird Television Company and Marconi-EMI to carry out trial broadcasts at “high definition” picture quality, defined as at least 240 lines. After four months of trials, in February 1937, the BBC decided in favor of the Marconi-EMI 405-line system.
The Baird system was rendered redundant, but Baird himself received some consolation when his pioneering work was rewarded with the gift of the Gold Medal of the International Faculty of Science, which had never previously been awarded to a Briton. Baird’s company continued to manufacture televisions that met the Marconi-EMI standard, while Baird himself pursued a new challenge—color televison. In 1928, he had demonstrated color television using mechanical scanning, and he now returned to the development of color television. He experimented with a mixture of electronic and mechanical techniques that yielded 600-line color television pictures by late 1940. Earlier in 1940, the Rank Organisation had taken control of the Baird Television Company, which became Rank Cintel Ltd., leaving Baird free to pursue his color television interests. By 1944, he had developed the Telechrome tube, a two-color system that used two electron guns whose beams converged on a translucent screen that was coated on one side with blue-green phosphors and on the other side with red-orange phosphors. He found another financial backer in British music hall star and actor Jack Buchanan and set up John Logie Baird Ltd. Unfortunately, this new venture proved to be short-lived as Baird died in 1946.
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Bang & Olufsen
The Danish company Bang & Olufsen is a leading manufacturer of top quality audio equipment and televisions. Bang & Olufsen products are renowned for their blend of high-tech performance and elegant, minimalist styling, summed up in the slogan it registered in 1931, “B&O—the Danish Quality Brand.”
Two young Danish engineers, Peter Bang and Sven Olufsen, who had met while studying at the School of Engineering in Århus, founded the company in 1925. They were fortunate to have families wealthy enough to back them financially, and their first workshop was in the attic of the Olufsen family’s country manor near Struer. Their first product was a mains radio receiver, that is, one that was powered by a wired electricity supply—unusual at a time when most radios were battery-powered. However, the company’s first commercial success was not the mains radio itself, but its eliminator, the device that rectified the incoming alternating current to produce direct current. B&O began to manufacture the eliminator as a separate device that enabled any battery-powered radio to be run off mains electricity. Expanding production led Bang & Olufsen to open its first factory in 1927 in the town of Gimsing. In 1929, the company returned to producing mains radios with the launch of a five-valve radio that delivered high output.
In the 1930s, Bang & Olufsen diversified into the production of a range of audio equipment, including gramophones, amplifiers, and loudspeakers. The company’s products and advertising graphics were heavily influenced by the design aesthetics of the Bauhaus school. The key design characteristics were simple, geometric lines and detailing that emphasized the function of the product and an absence of ornament for purely decorative effect. B&O was a pioneer of the radiogram, a radio receiver and record player combined in one cabinet. The first B&O radiogram, the Hyperbo, was launched in 1934. The tubular steel frame of the Hyperbo was influenced by the chair designs of the German Bauhaus designer Marcel Breuer. Bang & Olufsen’s first radio with a Bakelite cabinet, the Beolit, was introduced in 1939. From the mid-1960s, the prefix “Beo” was incorporated in all B&O model names. In the same year, B&O’s Master de Luxe radiogram incorporated a feature that became very popular—push-button radio-station selection. The radio was pretuned to 16 radio stations.
Bang & Olufsen went through a quiescent period during World War II because it refused to cooperate with the occupying German forces. Worse still, after liberation from German occupation in 1945, the factory was bombed by Danish Nazi sympathizers. After the rebuilding of the factory, Bang & Olufsen entered the field of television manufacture. In the 1950s, B&O commissioned a number of Danish architects, including Poul Henningsen and Ib Fabiansen, to design the cabinets for its audio and television equipment. It was keen to produce cabinets that were lighter and easier to move around. In 1962, B&O introduced the Horizon TV, its first television to be mounted on a four-wheeled metal stand.
The transistorization of audio equipment and televisions paved the way for compact, modern product designs. The Beomaster 900K, designed by the Danish architect Henning Moldenhawer, was the world’s first low-line radio cabinet, a forerunner of the stereo receivers that formed part of the popular modular hi-fi systems of the late 1960s and 1970s. The designer who did most to establish a distinctive B&O style of audio equipment was Jakob Jensen. His designs, beginning with the Beolab 5000 music system of 1965, were expressive of the technical sophistication of B&O’s products. This system introduced user-friendly sliding controls. The Beolab system was accompanied by cube stereo loudspeakers, with the angular speaker cone mounted on thin stems with a circular base. However, Jensen’s most famous design for B&O was the Beogram 4000 stereo turntable of 1972, because this introduced the world’s first tangential pickup arm. The straight double tone arm was electronically controlled by a spot of light, and its tangential path eliminated the wandering in the groove that curved arms were prone to.
Recognizing that its products were never going to achieve the mass-market penetration of rival Japanese electronics products because high quality meant high prices, B&O concentrated on lifestyle marketing and design. It targeted a wealthy international clientele for whom style and quality were the tantamount product characteristics. B&O’s continuing commitment to functionality and ease of use was exemplified in the controls of the 1976 Beomaster 1900 receiver. The most frequently used controls were mounted visibly at the front for easy access, while the secondary controls were behind, concealed beneath a hinged lid. Similarly concealed controls became standard on televisions in the 1980s. The other innovative feature of the Beomaster 1900 controls was that the buttons were touch-sensitive electronic buttons, not mechanical push buttons. The Beosystem 5000 modular hi-fi system of 1983 eliminated controls from the hi-fi units in favor of a unified remote-control panel. This concept was taken a step further in 1984 with the introduction of the Beolink 1000 remote-control unit that incorporated television as well as audio controls.
In the 1990s, B&O broke away from stacking, modular hi-fi design in order to distinguish its products from those intended for the mainstream mass market. The Beosystem 2500 of 1991 was an integrated unit with the decks mounted vertically and therefore more visibly. The Beosystem 2500 and its successor, the BeoSound Century, also echoed the slim verticality of B&O’s televisions. Introduced in 1984, the BeoVision MX 2000 television was the first of B&O’s slim televisions. Its shallow cabinet and the minimal frame around the screen emphasized the picture, the core function. Audio and television were brought together in the BeoCenter AV5 of 1997, a complete home-entertainment system. As the twentieth century ended, Bang & Olufsen’s final contribution to user convenience was the development of the BeoVision 1 television, which incorporates an intelligent automatic program selection function, whereby the user selects the preferred types of program and the television matches the selection to the programs available.
Two young Danish engineers, Peter Bang and Sven Olufsen, who had met while studying at the School of Engineering in Århus, founded the company in 1925. They were fortunate to have families wealthy enough to back them financially, and their first workshop was in the attic of the Olufsen family’s country manor near Struer. Their first product was a mains radio receiver, that is, one that was powered by a wired electricity supply—unusual at a time when most radios were battery-powered. However, the company’s first commercial success was not the mains radio itself, but its eliminator, the device that rectified the incoming alternating current to produce direct current. B&O began to manufacture the eliminator as a separate device that enabled any battery-powered radio to be run off mains electricity. Expanding production led Bang & Olufsen to open its first factory in 1927 in the town of Gimsing. In 1929, the company returned to producing mains radios with the launch of a five-valve radio that delivered high output.
In the 1930s, Bang & Olufsen diversified into the production of a range of audio equipment, including gramophones, amplifiers, and loudspeakers. The company’s products and advertising graphics were heavily influenced by the design aesthetics of the Bauhaus school. The key design characteristics were simple, geometric lines and detailing that emphasized the function of the product and an absence of ornament for purely decorative effect. B&O was a pioneer of the radiogram, a radio receiver and record player combined in one cabinet. The first B&O radiogram, the Hyperbo, was launched in 1934. The tubular steel frame of the Hyperbo was influenced by the chair designs of the German Bauhaus designer Marcel Breuer. Bang & Olufsen’s first radio with a Bakelite cabinet, the Beolit, was introduced in 1939. From the mid-1960s, the prefix “Beo” was incorporated in all B&O model names. In the same year, B&O’s Master de Luxe radiogram incorporated a feature that became very popular—push-button radio-station selection. The radio was pretuned to 16 radio stations.
Bang & Olufsen went through a quiescent period during World War II because it refused to cooperate with the occupying German forces. Worse still, after liberation from German occupation in 1945, the factory was bombed by Danish Nazi sympathizers. After the rebuilding of the factory, Bang & Olufsen entered the field of television manufacture. In the 1950s, B&O commissioned a number of Danish architects, including Poul Henningsen and Ib Fabiansen, to design the cabinets for its audio and television equipment. It was keen to produce cabinets that were lighter and easier to move around. In 1962, B&O introduced the Horizon TV, its first television to be mounted on a four-wheeled metal stand.
The transistorization of audio equipment and televisions paved the way for compact, modern product designs. The Beomaster 900K, designed by the Danish architect Henning Moldenhawer, was the world’s first low-line radio cabinet, a forerunner of the stereo receivers that formed part of the popular modular hi-fi systems of the late 1960s and 1970s. The designer who did most to establish a distinctive B&O style of audio equipment was Jakob Jensen. His designs, beginning with the Beolab 5000 music system of 1965, were expressive of the technical sophistication of B&O’s products. This system introduced user-friendly sliding controls. The Beolab system was accompanied by cube stereo loudspeakers, with the angular speaker cone mounted on thin stems with a circular base. However, Jensen’s most famous design for B&O was the Beogram 4000 stereo turntable of 1972, because this introduced the world’s first tangential pickup arm. The straight double tone arm was electronically controlled by a spot of light, and its tangential path eliminated the wandering in the groove that curved arms were prone to.
Recognizing that its products were never going to achieve the mass-market penetration of rival Japanese electronics products because high quality meant high prices, B&O concentrated on lifestyle marketing and design. It targeted a wealthy international clientele for whom style and quality were the tantamount product characteristics. B&O’s continuing commitment to functionality and ease of use was exemplified in the controls of the 1976 Beomaster 1900 receiver. The most frequently used controls were mounted visibly at the front for easy access, while the secondary controls were behind, concealed beneath a hinged lid. Similarly concealed controls became standard on televisions in the 1980s. The other innovative feature of the Beomaster 1900 controls was that the buttons were touch-sensitive electronic buttons, not mechanical push buttons. The Beosystem 5000 modular hi-fi system of 1983 eliminated controls from the hi-fi units in favor of a unified remote-control panel. This concept was taken a step further in 1984 with the introduction of the Beolink 1000 remote-control unit that incorporated television as well as audio controls.
In the 1990s, B&O broke away from stacking, modular hi-fi design in order to distinguish its products from those intended for the mainstream mass market. The Beosystem 2500 of 1991 was an integrated unit with the decks mounted vertically and therefore more visibly. The Beosystem 2500 and its successor, the BeoSound Century, also echoed the slim verticality of B&O’s televisions. Introduced in 1984, the BeoVision MX 2000 television was the first of B&O’s slim televisions. Its shallow cabinet and the minimal frame around the screen emphasized the picture, the core function. Audio and television were brought together in the BeoCenter AV5 of 1997, a complete home-entertainment system. As the twentieth century ended, Bang & Olufsen’s final contribution to user convenience was the development of the BeoVision 1 television, which incorporates an intelligent automatic program selection function, whereby the user selects the preferred types of program and the television matches the selection to the programs available.
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Broilers
Broiling, the cooking of meat on a fire or on a grid over it, is one of the most ancient forms of cooking. The first electric broilers appeared in 1916. The first table model was the Broil King, manufactured by the International Appliance Company in 1937. Table broilers were usually cylinders with hinged or removable lids. The meat sat on a perforated metal tray while the cooking element was housed in the lid. Farberware introduced the Open Hearth broiler in 1962. This featured a heating element placed below the food.
A variant was the Rotissimat of 1946, produced by the Rotissimat Corporation, which, as its name implied, featured a rotisserie for poultry. The product was promoted in supermarkets by using them to roast chickens, and it has been suggested that this stimulated the introduction of shop-roasted chicken. Rotissimat went into liquidation in 1954, but the name remains as a generic term.
Manufacturers in the United States also produced open gas broilers or indoor barbecues in the 1940s and 1950s that were companions to gas or electric stoves. Broilers were not so popular within the United Kingdom and Europe, where the home rotisserie became combined with a grill. Moulinex produced such table models in the 1970s. The 1960s saw “top-of-the-range” electric ovens having rotisserie attachments within their “eye-level” grills. Table broilers are no longer such popular items due to the increasing speed and sophistication of ovens, grills, and microwave ovens.
Paradoxically, the classic method of broiling food on a gridiron has become more popular with the outdoor barbecue. Here traditional charcoal, whether ignited by fire-lighters or gas jets continues to be the popular fuel.
A variant was the Rotissimat of 1946, produced by the Rotissimat Corporation, which, as its name implied, featured a rotisserie for poultry. The product was promoted in supermarkets by using them to roast chickens, and it has been suggested that this stimulated the introduction of shop-roasted chicken. Rotissimat went into liquidation in 1954, but the name remains as a generic term.
Manufacturers in the United States also produced open gas broilers or indoor barbecues in the 1940s and 1950s that were companions to gas or electric stoves. Broilers were not so popular within the United Kingdom and Europe, where the home rotisserie became combined with a grill. Moulinex produced such table models in the 1970s. The 1960s saw “top-of-the-range” electric ovens having rotisserie attachments within their “eye-level” grills. Table broilers are no longer such popular items due to the increasing speed and sophistication of ovens, grills, and microwave ovens.
Paradoxically, the classic method of broiling food on a gridiron has become more popular with the outdoor barbecue. Here traditional charcoal, whether ignited by fire-lighters or gas jets continues to be the popular fuel.
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British Telecom
British Telecommunications plc, more familiarly known as British Telecom or BT, was formed by the privatization of Britain’s national telephone system in 1984. As a private-sector company, it not only retained its core business of supplying local, long-distance, and international telecommunications services and equipment in Britain, albeit in a new competitive environment, but also gained new international business opportunities. British Telecom now operates joint ventures in thirty other countries worldwide, including Spain, India, and South Africa.
The industry had been run as a state monopoly since 1912. Telephone services were introduced in Britain in the late 1870s and 1880s by privately owned companies, including the United Telephone Company, which was jointly owned by America’s National Bell and Edison. In 1880, the government awarded licensing control over telephone services to the state-owned Post Office, which already had a monopoly of telegraph services. In 1889, when a number of competing private companies merged to form the National Telephone Company, the Post Office took over the operation of long-distance lines. The Post Office assumed full control of telephone services following the nationalization of the industry in 1912, although a few local telephone services continued to be owned and operated by local authorities.
In the late 1960s, a combination of factors prompted recognition of the need for institutional change within the British telephone industry. The introduction of automatic distance dialing, known as subscriber trunk dialing (STD), in 1959 and international subscriber dialing in 1963 put pressure on telephone exchanges, many of which needed upgrading. As a government department, the Post Office was subject to Treasury constraints on investment. In 1969, the Post Office gained a greater degree of financial autonomy when it became a national industry rather than a government department operating on a budget allocated by the Treasury. Consequently, it was able to commission a consortium of three British companies, GEC, Plessey, and STC, to develop a computer-controlled digital telephone exchange system, named System X. After prototype testing in 1978, it was introduced in London in 1980 and gradually extended.
Privatization came as a result of the 1979 election of a Conservative government on a free-enterprise platform. Under the ensuing British Telecommunications Act of 1980, the Post Office lost its monopoly of telephone services. In preparation for privatization, it was restructured in 1981 into two independent divisions, mail and telecommunications. A second telephone service supplier, Mercury Communications, was granted a license in 1982. In 1984, the newly privatized British Telecom opened its first digital international exchange, installed by Thorn-Ericsson Telecommunications Ltd.
Privatization and deregulation coincided with the introduction of cellular phone services. In 1982, the British government decided to grant two nationwide licenses for cellular phone services. One license was awarded to the Cellnet consortium, led by British Telecom in partnership with the security company Securicor, and the other went to the Vodafone consortium led by Racal Electronics. Both cellular phone services became operational in 1985. A second phase of telecommunications deregulation followed the release of the government’s 1990 discussion paper “Competition and Choice: Telecommunications Policy for the 1990s.” The duopolies in both the fixed telephone and cellular phone systems were discontinued, opening the market to new operators.
British Telecom’s response to increased competition was to strengthen its commitment to customer care by launching a new BT mission in 1991 that promised to put customers first. While British Telecom has retained its overall leadership in British telephone services according to market share, in terms of financial success, it has been overtaken by the mobile phone company, Vodafone.
The industry had been run as a state monopoly since 1912. Telephone services were introduced in Britain in the late 1870s and 1880s by privately owned companies, including the United Telephone Company, which was jointly owned by America’s National Bell and Edison. In 1880, the government awarded licensing control over telephone services to the state-owned Post Office, which already had a monopoly of telegraph services. In 1889, when a number of competing private companies merged to form the National Telephone Company, the Post Office took over the operation of long-distance lines. The Post Office assumed full control of telephone services following the nationalization of the industry in 1912, although a few local telephone services continued to be owned and operated by local authorities.
In the late 1960s, a combination of factors prompted recognition of the need for institutional change within the British telephone industry. The introduction of automatic distance dialing, known as subscriber trunk dialing (STD), in 1959 and international subscriber dialing in 1963 put pressure on telephone exchanges, many of which needed upgrading. As a government department, the Post Office was subject to Treasury constraints on investment. In 1969, the Post Office gained a greater degree of financial autonomy when it became a national industry rather than a government department operating on a budget allocated by the Treasury. Consequently, it was able to commission a consortium of three British companies, GEC, Plessey, and STC, to develop a computer-controlled digital telephone exchange system, named System X. After prototype testing in 1978, it was introduced in London in 1980 and gradually extended.
Privatization came as a result of the 1979 election of a Conservative government on a free-enterprise platform. Under the ensuing British Telecommunications Act of 1980, the Post Office lost its monopoly of telephone services. In preparation for privatization, it was restructured in 1981 into two independent divisions, mail and telecommunications. A second telephone service supplier, Mercury Communications, was granted a license in 1982. In 1984, the newly privatized British Telecom opened its first digital international exchange, installed by Thorn-Ericsson Telecommunications Ltd.
Privatization and deregulation coincided with the introduction of cellular phone services. In 1982, the British government decided to grant two nationwide licenses for cellular phone services. One license was awarded to the Cellnet consortium, led by British Telecom in partnership with the security company Securicor, and the other went to the Vodafone consortium led by Racal Electronics. Both cellular phone services became operational in 1985. A second phase of telecommunications deregulation followed the release of the government’s 1990 discussion paper “Competition and Choice: Telecommunications Policy for the 1990s.” The duopolies in both the fixed telephone and cellular phone systems were discontinued, opening the market to new operators.
British Telecom’s response to increased competition was to strengthen its commitment to customer care by launching a new BT mission in 1991 that promised to put customers first. While British Telecom has retained its overall leadership in British telephone services according to market share, in terms of financial success, it has been overtaken by the mobile phone company, Vodafone.
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Brillo Pads
Brillo pads are steel wool pads impregnated with a special soap containing jeweler’s rouge. They were introduced by the Brillo Company of Brooklyn, NewYork, in 1930.
The company was the result of what would now be called a “market-led” approach. A Mr. Brady, a New York door- to-door salesman, was selling aluminum pots and pans and noted that his customers complained about how difficult they could be to keep clean. Brady consulted his brother-in-law, Mr. Ludwig, a costume jeweler. It was Ludwig who struck upon the idea of combining soap with jeweler’s rouge to produce the required shine. Brady then found that his soap was beginning to out-sell the pans. Brady and Ludwig approached a lawyer, Milton B. Loeb, for advice on establishing a company to begin commercial production. Loeb must have seen the potential as he joined them, as well as providing the brand name, Brillo, after the Latin beryllus (shine). Loeb went on to become treasurer and president of the company. The Brillo soap was patented and registered as a trademark in 1913.
Brillo’s main product was the soap that was sold with pads of steel wool. Initially sold by door-to-door salesmen, they were soon taken up by grocery and hardware stores and chains such as Woolworth’s. The steel-wool pads, impregnated with the soap, were introduced in 1930. Brillo remains one of the world’s best selling pan cleaners, along with its main rival SOS. They have survived the arrival of motorized scouring pads in the 1960s. The Kent Kordless of 1962 was one such product, but was deemed not worth its cost by Consumer Reports.
Thanks to AndyWarhol’s oversize replicas, the Brillo pad’s bright and simple packaging, along with the Campbell’s Soup can, became an icon of 1960s pop art. The company is now a part of Church & Dwight Co. Inc
The company was the result of what would now be called a “market-led” approach. A Mr. Brady, a New York door- to-door salesman, was selling aluminum pots and pans and noted that his customers complained about how difficult they could be to keep clean. Brady consulted his brother-in-law, Mr. Ludwig, a costume jeweler. It was Ludwig who struck upon the idea of combining soap with jeweler’s rouge to produce the required shine. Brady then found that his soap was beginning to out-sell the pans. Brady and Ludwig approached a lawyer, Milton B. Loeb, for advice on establishing a company to begin commercial production. Loeb must have seen the potential as he joined them, as well as providing the brand name, Brillo, after the Latin beryllus (shine). Loeb went on to become treasurer and president of the company. The Brillo soap was patented and registered as a trademark in 1913.
Brillo’s main product was the soap that was sold with pads of steel wool. Initially sold by door-to-door salesmen, they were soon taken up by grocery and hardware stores and chains such as Woolworth’s. The steel-wool pads, impregnated with the soap, were introduced in 1930. Brillo remains one of the world’s best selling pan cleaners, along with its main rival SOS. They have survived the arrival of motorized scouring pads in the 1960s. The Kent Kordless of 1962 was one such product, but was deemed not worth its cost by Consumer Reports.
Thanks to AndyWarhol’s oversize replicas, the Brillo pad’s bright and simple packaging, along with the Campbell’s Soup can, became an icon of 1960s pop art. The company is now a part of Church & Dwight Co. Inc
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Barbecues
Barbecues, or open-air meals, date back to large social events such as ox or hog roastings. Such events were communal affairs; today the barbecue is seen as a more private affair conducted in a suburban garden (yard). They still maintain their social functions, as they often double as parties. Barbecues became popular in the United States in the 1960s and spread to Northern Europe in the 1970s. The large barbecues offered as part of Mediterranean package holidays were another stimulus.
The garden barbecue grills or spit roasts food with the heat supplied by hot charcoal or compressed hardwood briquettes. There are many different shapes and sizes, but they are all used in much the same way.
The simplest type is based on the Japanese hibachi, or fire bowl, a simple rectangular container with a grilling rack. Larger models stand on legs and can also be circular. They usually have a windshield with slots to accommodate different grilling positions and spits. Rounded kettle barbecues are more sophisticated, with domed hoods and vents.When closed the hood allows it to act more like an oven, capable of broiling joints or fowl.
The most difficult part of barbecue cooking is to get the charcoal to light. This has been assisted by the use of solid and liquid firelighters. An easier way is to light the fuel by liquid petroleum gas. More sophisticated models also have small gas rings. Funnel barbecues use lightly folded newspaper that is set alight to deliver rapid intense heat to the fuel.
The appeal of barbecue cooking is that it can make simple sausages and burgers taste better. One interesting sociological factor is that, although women still do most of the cooking, the control of the barbecue is often a male preserve.
The garden barbecue grills or spit roasts food with the heat supplied by hot charcoal or compressed hardwood briquettes. There are many different shapes and sizes, but they are all used in much the same way.
The simplest type is based on the Japanese hibachi, or fire bowl, a simple rectangular container with a grilling rack. Larger models stand on legs and can also be circular. They usually have a windshield with slots to accommodate different grilling positions and spits. Rounded kettle barbecues are more sophisticated, with domed hoods and vents.When closed the hood allows it to act more like an oven, capable of broiling joints or fowl.
The most difficult part of barbecue cooking is to get the charcoal to light. This has been assisted by the use of solid and liquid firelighters. An easier way is to light the fuel by liquid petroleum gas. More sophisticated models also have small gas rings. Funnel barbecues use lightly folded newspaper that is set alight to deliver rapid intense heat to the fuel.
The appeal of barbecue cooking is that it can make simple sausages and burgers taste better. One interesting sociological factor is that, although women still do most of the cooking, the control of the barbecue is often a male preserve.
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Breadmakers
The baking of bread at home declined during the twentieth century due to the rise of industrialized baking and retailing. By 1950 most people bought their bread from small local bakeries, which in turn were overtaken by the large supermarket chains.
In the United Kingdom, the late 1970s saw a reaction, led by food writers, to the rather bland industrially produced bread and a demand for greater choice. This feeling was amplified when more people took holidays in France, where the tradition of the small local bakery has remained intact, even in large cities. Supermarkets responded with “instore” bakeries and a much wider variety of breads inspired by French and Italian recipes.
Bread could be baked in the home in a gas or electric oven, but during the early 1990s manufacturers developed countertop breadmakers designed to give good results every time. West Bend produced the first American model in 1993. The company moved very quickly to enter this niche market, completing the project in only thirty-five weeks, from concept to shipping. A breadmaker is essentially a mixer, proofing oven, and mini-oven in one. They have plastic “cool wall” cases, usually with viewing windows. They automatically knead, proof, and bake, and they can take up to three sizes of loaf tin. The ingredients are placed in a nonstick baking tin, a cycle is selected, and the machine does the rest. A paddle in the bottom of the bread pan kneads the dough, stopping two or three times to let it rise. Settings are usually for overnight baking, but some models offer high-speed programs that deliver a loaf in less than two hours. Most models have midcycle indicators to allow extra ingredients such as fruits and nuts to be added. They come in a variety of sizes, which usually relate to the size of the loaf, from one to two and a half pounds.
Popular manufacturers include Black & Decker, Breville, Oster, Panasonic, Prima, Sunbeam, Toastmaster, and West Bend.
In the United Kingdom, the late 1970s saw a reaction, led by food writers, to the rather bland industrially produced bread and a demand for greater choice. This feeling was amplified when more people took holidays in France, where the tradition of the small local bakery has remained intact, even in large cities. Supermarkets responded with “instore” bakeries and a much wider variety of breads inspired by French and Italian recipes.
Bread could be baked in the home in a gas or electric oven, but during the early 1990s manufacturers developed countertop breadmakers designed to give good results every time. West Bend produced the first American model in 1993. The company moved very quickly to enter this niche market, completing the project in only thirty-five weeks, from concept to shipping. A breadmaker is essentially a mixer, proofing oven, and mini-oven in one. They have plastic “cool wall” cases, usually with viewing windows. They automatically knead, proof, and bake, and they can take up to three sizes of loaf tin. The ingredients are placed in a nonstick baking tin, a cycle is selected, and the machine does the rest. A paddle in the bottom of the bread pan kneads the dough, stopping two or three times to let it rise. Settings are usually for overnight baking, but some models offer high-speed programs that deliver a loaf in less than two hours. Most models have midcycle indicators to allow extra ingredients such as fruits and nuts to be added. They come in a variety of sizes, which usually relate to the size of the loaf, from one to two and a half pounds.
Popular manufacturers include Black & Decker, Breville, Oster, Panasonic, Prima, Sunbeam, Toastmaster, and West Bend.
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Braun
The Braun company was founded in Frankfurt in 1921 by Max Braun (1890–1951), an engineer from East Prussia. It originally produced connectors for machine belts and later moved into components for radios and gramophones in 1923. By 1925 the company was producing many of its own plastic components, and by 1929 it had begun to make complete sets. Braun became one of Germany’s largest radio manufacturers. It began to innovate during the 1930s, introducing a combined radio and phonograph in 1932 and a battery powered portable radio in 1936. By 1938 its modern Frankfurt factory employed 1,000 people.
During the postwar reconstruction it added domestic appliances and electric razors to its range of products. The Braun S50 shaver and the Multimix appeared in 1950. In 1954 Braun struck a deal with the Ronson Company, who were licensed to manufacture Braun shavers in the United States.
Max Braun was succeeded in the early 1950s by his sons Artur and Erwin, who were interested in design and brought in a range of talented designers to work on their products. Dieter Rams joined the company in 1955, along with Hans Gugelot, Otl Aicher, and Gerd Alfred Müller. The following year it set up its own design department, which Rams headed from 1960.
The result of this corporate approach was a unified range of products that possessed a sculptural simplicity. The electronics of razors, food mixers, and heaters were enveloped in white metal or plastic covers with minimal, easy-to-use controls. The KM 321 Kitchen Machine of 1957, a food mixer, exemplified this approach. This “neofunctionalist” approach could also be seen in the audio products such as the Phonosuper of 1956, nicknamed “Snow White’s Coffin” because of its rectangular shape, white body, and clear Perspex lid. Braun set a standard that influenced other companies to take design more seriously. Its products were selected by the New York’s Museum of Modern Art and praised at the 1958 Brussels World Fair as “outstanding examples of German manufacturing.”
The aesthetic merit of Rams’s designs was reflected in the work of U.K. “Pop” artist Richard Hamilton in his Toaster screen print and collage of 1967. He stated, “My admiration for the work of Dieter Rams is intense and I have for years been uniquely attracted towards his design sensibility; so much so that his consumer products have come to occupy a place in my heart and consciousness that the Mont Sainte-Victoire did in Cézanne’s.”
The controlling interest in Braun was bought by the U.S. Gillette Company in 1967. Since then its style has become a little diluted but the ET22 calculator and the Micron shaver have ensured that Braun products remain distinctive. Braun has, more than probably any other company, managed to successfully marry modernist principles to industrial production. The results have largely been just what Erwin Braun wished them to be: “honest, unobtrusive, and practical devices.”
During the postwar reconstruction it added domestic appliances and electric razors to its range of products. The Braun S50 shaver and the Multimix appeared in 1950. In 1954 Braun struck a deal with the Ronson Company, who were licensed to manufacture Braun shavers in the United States.
Max Braun was succeeded in the early 1950s by his sons Artur and Erwin, who were interested in design and brought in a range of talented designers to work on their products. Dieter Rams joined the company in 1955, along with Hans Gugelot, Otl Aicher, and Gerd Alfred Müller. The following year it set up its own design department, which Rams headed from 1960.
The result of this corporate approach was a unified range of products that possessed a sculptural simplicity. The electronics of razors, food mixers, and heaters were enveloped in white metal or plastic covers with minimal, easy-to-use controls. The KM 321 Kitchen Machine of 1957, a food mixer, exemplified this approach. This “neofunctionalist” approach could also be seen in the audio products such as the Phonosuper of 1956, nicknamed “Snow White’s Coffin” because of its rectangular shape, white body, and clear Perspex lid. Braun set a standard that influenced other companies to take design more seriously. Its products were selected by the New York’s Museum of Modern Art and praised at the 1958 Brussels World Fair as “outstanding examples of German manufacturing.”
The aesthetic merit of Rams’s designs was reflected in the work of U.K. “Pop” artist Richard Hamilton in his Toaster screen print and collage of 1967. He stated, “My admiration for the work of Dieter Rams is intense and I have for years been uniquely attracted towards his design sensibility; so much so that his consumer products have come to occupy a place in my heart and consciousness that the Mont Sainte-Victoire did in Cézanne’s.”
The controlling interest in Braun was bought by the U.S. Gillette Company in 1967. Since then its style has become a little diluted but the ET22 calculator and the Micron shaver have ensured that Braun products remain distinctive. Braun has, more than probably any other company, managed to successfully marry modernist principles to industrial production. The results have largely been just what Erwin Braun wished them to be: “honest, unobtrusive, and practical devices.”
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Bed Warmers
Climbing into a cold bed has never been a pleasant experience. The traditional method of dealing with this problem was the warming pan or the hot water bottle. Nineteenth-and early twentieth-century hot water bottles were made of either copper, stoneware, or (later) rubber.
The rise of electricity use in the 1920s prompted manufacturers to experiment with the humble hot water bottle. The Supreme Miracle was a 12-inch tubular element that screwed into an ordinary rubber hot water bottle and heated the water inside. This idea was developed by F. S. Spooner Wates, who also patented an electric bed heater encased in an asbestos tube. His patent was taken up by the British company Rothermel who produced an electric bed warmer with a brown Bakelite case in the shape of a rubber hot water bottle. The flex entered where the stopper would have been and the on/off switch was placed at the neck. Such products were probably best used to heat the bed before getting into it, as they were not grounded.
The first electric blanket appeared in the United Kingdom in 1927. This was the small Thermega heating pad, which had flexible electric heating elements within woolen fabric. Sunbeam was a major manufacturer in the United States. These were relatively expensive items, and electric blankets only became popular during the 1950s and 1960s, thanks to more reliable insulation, thermostatic controls, and developments in flame-proof materials. The British Burco Company, which began by making gas water heaters, started manufacturing electric blankets in the 1950s. It continues to produce them under the Cozee Cumfort brand. Most of these electric blankets were designed to go under the sheets and warm the bed before anyone slept in it, nevertheless the story of the electric blanket setting both bed and sleeper alight did enter popular folklore. The 1960s saw the introduction of electric over blankets designed to stay on all night. They could be washed in an electric washing machine, and the double models featured separate controls for each side of the bed, allowing sleeping partners to choose their own temperature. Although electric blankets are still in production, their popularity has declined due to the rise of central heating and warm duvets.
The rise of electricity use in the 1920s prompted manufacturers to experiment with the humble hot water bottle. The Supreme Miracle was a 12-inch tubular element that screwed into an ordinary rubber hot water bottle and heated the water inside. This idea was developed by F. S. Spooner Wates, who also patented an electric bed heater encased in an asbestos tube. His patent was taken up by the British company Rothermel who produced an electric bed warmer with a brown Bakelite case in the shape of a rubber hot water bottle. The flex entered where the stopper would have been and the on/off switch was placed at the neck. Such products were probably best used to heat the bed before getting into it, as they were not grounded.
The first electric blanket appeared in the United Kingdom in 1927. This was the small Thermega heating pad, which had flexible electric heating elements within woolen fabric. Sunbeam was a major manufacturer in the United States. These were relatively expensive items, and electric blankets only became popular during the 1950s and 1960s, thanks to more reliable insulation, thermostatic controls, and developments in flame-proof materials. The British Burco Company, which began by making gas water heaters, started manufacturing electric blankets in the 1950s. It continues to produce them under the Cozee Cumfort brand. Most of these electric blankets were designed to go under the sheets and warm the bed before anyone slept in it, nevertheless the story of the electric blanket setting both bed and sleeper alight did enter popular folklore. The 1960s saw the introduction of electric over blankets designed to stay on all night. They could be washed in an electric washing machine, and the double models featured separate controls for each side of the bed, allowing sleeping partners to choose their own temperature. Although electric blankets are still in production, their popularity has declined due to the rise of central heating and warm duvets.
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Bidets
A bidet is a low, narrow basin intended for washing the anal and genital areas after using the water closet (toilet), although it may also be used as a footbath. The name is derived from the French word for a little pony, referring to the action of stepping astride it. Portable bidet pans were in use in France from the early eighteenth century. The Marquise de Pompadour, the mistress of the Louis XV, had two bidets, one with a rosewood surround and the other in walnut. Fixed pedestal bidets became available in the late nineteenth century when indoor plumbing and water closets became more widespread. For example, W. R. Maguire patented a combined water closet and bidet in 1888. After World War II, bidets began to lose their luxury status, but they are still uncommon outside France and other parts of continental Europe. Today, in addition to the basic type of bidet filled by hot and cold taps above the rim, there are bidets that feature an internal rising spray.
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Belling Company
Charles R. Belling founded the Belling Company in 1912. Belling had previously worked at the British electrical companies of Crompton and Co. and Ediswan, where he had gained experience making electric heaters. He wanted to develop heaters further and set up in a small shed in Enfield, London, with £150. Two partners, C. L. Arnold and H. E. How, contributed £150 each.
Belling invented the “firebar,” a resistance wire wound around a fireclay former. Like gas radiants, the firebar could be raised almost to incandescence. The result was the Standard, an electric heater that went into production in the same year. It featured six horizontal radiants set in an enameled cast-iron body. It had a hook at the top from which a kettle could be suspended, a fold-down rack for keeping a pot warm and an attachment for toasting bread. Belling acted as a traveling salesman for the the Standard, which was an immediate success, and the company dropped the idea of producing other lines, such as an immersion heater and a kettle, in order to concentrate on its money earner. By 1914 £11,000 worth of heaters had been sold, delivering a profit of £3,500.
The company went into wartime production during 1914–1918 and emerged in a strong position to develop in the 1920s. Belling expanded their range with hotplates, immersion heaters, water urns, irons, steamers, grills, and the No. 7 boiler, a water boiler. They also introduced their first cooker (stove), the Modernette, one of the first lightweight models featuring a sheet steel body, in 1919. The firebar was improved with the Multi-Parabola firebar of 1921. This was a block of fireclay into which grooves comprising parabolic wells had been made. The heating element was formed in a continuous coil and laid in the grooves. This type of element was to be used in millions of electric heaters worldwide. Belling also introduced an imitation coal-fire model in 1921 in response to the market’s continuing love of an “open fire.” Although much derided as a piece of phony design, they proved popular for many years.
Other innovations followed with the introduction of a lightweight horizontal cooker with a waist level oven in 1926 and the compact Baby Belling in 1929. The Baby Belling was similar to the oven unit of the 1926 cooker but with a hotplate on the top. This model remained in production throughout the century. It was ideal for small flats and offices. During the 1930s the company continued to expand its range of heaters, including the Solray reflector heater of 1934, and to produce innovative cookers with glass oven doors.
During World War II, Belling moved to wartime work, producing its only nonelectrical item, an incendiary bomb snuffer. As if by fate, when peace came in 1945 it was Belling who manufactured the Vee cooker for the prefabricated houses designed to help alleviate the severe housing shortage caused by bomb damage. Following the war it produced the 47AB cooker, which was one of the most successful British models of the 1950s. The company expanded during the 1950s and 1960s as postwar consumption grew.
Belling was acquired by the Glen Dimplex group in 1992 and now concentrates on the manufacture of free-standing cookers.
Belling invented the “firebar,” a resistance wire wound around a fireclay former. Like gas radiants, the firebar could be raised almost to incandescence. The result was the Standard, an electric heater that went into production in the same year. It featured six horizontal radiants set in an enameled cast-iron body. It had a hook at the top from which a kettle could be suspended, a fold-down rack for keeping a pot warm and an attachment for toasting bread. Belling acted as a traveling salesman for the the Standard, which was an immediate success, and the company dropped the idea of producing other lines, such as an immersion heater and a kettle, in order to concentrate on its money earner. By 1914 £11,000 worth of heaters had been sold, delivering a profit of £3,500.
The company went into wartime production during 1914–1918 and emerged in a strong position to develop in the 1920s. Belling expanded their range with hotplates, immersion heaters, water urns, irons, steamers, grills, and the No. 7 boiler, a water boiler. They also introduced their first cooker (stove), the Modernette, one of the first lightweight models featuring a sheet steel body, in 1919. The firebar was improved with the Multi-Parabola firebar of 1921. This was a block of fireclay into which grooves comprising parabolic wells had been made. The heating element was formed in a continuous coil and laid in the grooves. This type of element was to be used in millions of electric heaters worldwide. Belling also introduced an imitation coal-fire model in 1921 in response to the market’s continuing love of an “open fire.” Although much derided as a piece of phony design, they proved popular for many years.
Other innovations followed with the introduction of a lightweight horizontal cooker with a waist level oven in 1926 and the compact Baby Belling in 1929. The Baby Belling was similar to the oven unit of the 1926 cooker but with a hotplate on the top. This model remained in production throughout the century. It was ideal for small flats and offices. During the 1930s the company continued to expand its range of heaters, including the Solray reflector heater of 1934, and to produce innovative cookers with glass oven doors.
During World War II, Belling moved to wartime work, producing its only nonelectrical item, an incendiary bomb snuffer. As if by fate, when peace came in 1945 it was Belling who manufactured the Vee cooker for the prefabricated houses designed to help alleviate the severe housing shortage caused by bomb damage. Following the war it produced the 47AB cooker, which was one of the most successful British models of the 1950s. The company expanded during the 1950s and 1960s as postwar consumption grew.
Belling was acquired by the Glen Dimplex group in 1992 and now concentrates on the manufacture of free-standing cookers.
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Brother Industries
The Japanese company Brother Industries manufactures a range of consumer products, including sewing and knitting machines, business machines, and home electrical appliances. Brother has thirty-three foreign subsidiaries, and 90 percent of its sales are outside Japan.
Brother Industries began as the Yasui Sewing Machine Company, which was set up in Japan in 1908 to repair sewing machines and produce parts. In 1928, the company produced its own sewing machine, an industrial model, and adopted Brother as a brand name. It began producing domestic sewing machines in 1932. Two years later, it was incorporated as the Nippon Sewing Machine Manufacturing Company. In the 1950s, the company began to expand both its product line and its markets. In 1954, it produced its first knitting machine and entered the domestic electric appliance field. To stimulate overseas sales, the Brother International Corporation was set up in the United States in 1954; a European sales subsidiary followed in 1958.
In 1961, the company diversified into the machine tool and business machine fields by producing a small lathe, intended for the school market, and its first portable typewriter. The company changed its name to Brother Industries Ltd. in 1962. In 1968, Brother acquired the leading British sewing machine company, Jones, which had been set up near Manchester in 1859. Jones and Brother had developed a mutually beneficial partnership shortly after the end of World War II. Brother reached the production landmark of 10 million sewing machines in 1971. This was also the year that the company introduced its first high-speed printer. Brother began to manufacture sewing machines in Taiwan in 1979. Fourteen years later, it set up a domestic sewing machine factory in China.
In the 1980s and 1990s, while Brother continued to be a highly successful manufacturer of sewing and knitting machines, business machines became the company’s major growth area. In 1980, Brother produced its 10-millionth typewriter and launched its first electronic typewriter. It began manufacturing electronic typewriters in Britain at a new factory inWrexham in 1985. In the following year, Brother Industries (USA), Inc., was set up in Bartlett, Tennessee, to manufacture electronic typewriters. Production at the Wrexham factory was diversified in 1987 with the start of microwave oven and printer manufacture.
Brother launched its first fax machine in 1987. Another new product line in the business machine sector, electronic labeling machines, followed in 1988. Growing demand for Brother’s products led, in 1989, to the construction of new factories to manufacture parts in Ireland and Malaysia. In the 1990s, the fax machine became the company’s fastest-selling product ever. In order to meet demand, Brother began to manufacture fax machines in Malaysia in 1994. It took six years for the production of fax machines to reach the 1 million mark in 1993; accelerating sales meant that total fax machine production reached 2 million in 1994, 5 million in 1996, and 10 million in 1999. Today, two-thirds of company revenue comes from business machines, such as fax machines and computer printers, while about a fifth of revenue comes from sewing machines, knitting machines, and home electric appliances.
Brother Industries began as the Yasui Sewing Machine Company, which was set up in Japan in 1908 to repair sewing machines and produce parts. In 1928, the company produced its own sewing machine, an industrial model, and adopted Brother as a brand name. It began producing domestic sewing machines in 1932. Two years later, it was incorporated as the Nippon Sewing Machine Manufacturing Company. In the 1950s, the company began to expand both its product line and its markets. In 1954, it produced its first knitting machine and entered the domestic electric appliance field. To stimulate overseas sales, the Brother International Corporation was set up in the United States in 1954; a European sales subsidiary followed in 1958.
In 1961, the company diversified into the machine tool and business machine fields by producing a small lathe, intended for the school market, and its first portable typewriter. The company changed its name to Brother Industries Ltd. in 1962. In 1968, Brother acquired the leading British sewing machine company, Jones, which had been set up near Manchester in 1859. Jones and Brother had developed a mutually beneficial partnership shortly after the end of World War II. Brother reached the production landmark of 10 million sewing machines in 1971. This was also the year that the company introduced its first high-speed printer. Brother began to manufacture sewing machines in Taiwan in 1979. Fourteen years later, it set up a domestic sewing machine factory in China.
In the 1980s and 1990s, while Brother continued to be a highly successful manufacturer of sewing and knitting machines, business machines became the company’s major growth area. In 1980, Brother produced its 10-millionth typewriter and launched its first electronic typewriter. It began manufacturing electronic typewriters in Britain at a new factory inWrexham in 1985. In the following year, Brother Industries (USA), Inc., was set up in Bartlett, Tennessee, to manufacture electronic typewriters. Production at the Wrexham factory was diversified in 1987 with the start of microwave oven and printer manufacture.
Brother launched its first fax machine in 1987. Another new product line in the business machine sector, electronic labeling machines, followed in 1988. Growing demand for Brother’s products led, in 1989, to the construction of new factories to manufacture parts in Ireland and Malaysia. In the 1990s, the fax machine became the company’s fastest-selling product ever. In order to meet demand, Brother began to manufacture fax machines in Malaysia in 1994. It took six years for the production of fax machines to reach the 1 million mark in 1993; accelerating sales meant that total fax machine production reached 2 million in 1994, 5 million in 1996, and 10 million in 1999. Today, two-thirds of company revenue comes from business machines, such as fax machines and computer printers, while about a fifth of revenue comes from sewing machines, knitting machines, and home electric appliances.
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British Electrical Development Association (BEDA)
The BEDA was set up in 1919 and funded by a coalition of four associations of engineers from the electrical supply and manufacturing industries. Its mission was to promote the use of electricity and its primary target was the householder. The domestic market offered the greatest potential and, critically, the anticipated daily pattern of domestic demand would complement the different industrial demand pattern, reducing unit generating costs and supply prices. However, electricity had to overcome its competitive disadvantage to gas in terms of the higher costs of installation, supply, and appliances. While electric utilities pursued a loss-leader strategy, by renting out appliances at below-cost rates, the BEDA’s role was as a propaganda machine.
In the 1920s and 1930s, the BEDA ran advertising campaigns extolling the labor-saving and life-changing potential of electricity. It constructed a vision of a Utopian future in which the all-electric home offered comfort (“healthy radiant heat”), efficiency (“freedom from domestic worry”), and hygiene (“protect your family from food danger”). Electricity was described as “a universal servant with an eternal willingness to work.” This astute strategy simultaneously played on women’s fears about their proficiency in the home and appealed to their aspirations to spend less time on housework. The BEDA was at least partly successful: there was an increase in households with electricity in the United Kingdom from 6 percent in 1919 to 65 percent in 1939. However, many houses only used electricity for lighting, and ownership of electrical appliances was very restricted.
The BEDA’s role began to change during World War II when it had to reverse its message and encourage people to save electricity. It resumed its championship of the domestic appliance in the 1950s with campaigns such as the “Four Foundations of Modern Living” (cookers, water heaters, refrigerators, and washing machines). Success was more achievable against a background of rent– purchase schemes and growth in disposable income. In 1957, the Electricity Council was set up as the central coordinating body for the supply industry; in 1968, it absorbed the BEDA as its marketing department.
In the 1920s and 1930s, the BEDA ran advertising campaigns extolling the labor-saving and life-changing potential of electricity. It constructed a vision of a Utopian future in which the all-electric home offered comfort (“healthy radiant heat”), efficiency (“freedom from domestic worry”), and hygiene (“protect your family from food danger”). Electricity was described as “a universal servant with an eternal willingness to work.” This astute strategy simultaneously played on women’s fears about their proficiency in the home and appealed to their aspirations to spend less time on housework. The BEDA was at least partly successful: there was an increase in households with electricity in the United Kingdom from 6 percent in 1919 to 65 percent in 1939. However, many houses only used electricity for lighting, and ownership of electrical appliances was very restricted.
The BEDA’s role began to change during World War II when it had to reverse its message and encourage people to save electricity. It resumed its championship of the domestic appliance in the 1950s with campaigns such as the “Four Foundations of Modern Living” (cookers, water heaters, refrigerators, and washing machines). Success was more achievable against a background of rent– purchase schemes and growth in disposable income. In 1957, the Electricity Council was set up as the central coordinating body for the supply industry; in 1968, it absorbed the BEDA as its marketing department.
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