Stromberg-Carlson

:"This article is about Stromberg-Carlson, the American telephone equipment manufacturing company. For the phone phreak with a similar name, see Strom Carlson."

Stromberg-Carlson was a telecommunications equipment manufacturing company formed in 1894 as a partnership of Alfred Stromberg and Androv Carlson. Along with Western Electric (who supplied the Bell system) and the Kellogg Switchboard & Supply Company, it controlled the nation's supply of telephone equipment until after World War II.Cohen, "The Racketeer's Progress: Chicago and the Struggle for the Modern American Economy, 1900-1940," 2004.]

History

In 1894, US patent|174465|Alexander Graham Bell's patent for the telephone expired. Stromberg and Carlson, Chicago employees of the American Bell Telephone Company, each invested $500 to establish a firm to manufacture equipment (primarily subscriber sets) for sale to independent telephone companies.

Stromberg-Carlson was originally located in Chicago, with Carlson managing manufacture and Stromberg responsible for marketing. Stromberg-Carlson quickly established a reputation for reliable equipment and stable prices.

In 1901, the temporary chief executive of the Kellogg Switchboard & Supply Company, Wallace De Wolf, assisted executives of rival telephone equipment manufacturer Western Electric in an attempt to take over Stromberg-Carlson. A bitter stockholder fight ensued, and the takeover attempt failed. Stromberg-Carlson reincorporated as a New York state corporation in 1902, where state law better protected the company from takeover efforts. [Adams, and Butler, "Manufacturing the Future: A History of Western Electric," 1999; "Kellogg Switchboard & Supply Co.," "Dictionary of Leading Chicago Businesses (1820-2000)," 2005.]

In 1904, Stromberg-Carlson was purchased by Home Telephone Company, a relatively large service provider based in Rochester, New York. The new owners quickly relocated all Stromberg-Carlson operations to New York. In 1955, Stromberg-Carlson was purchased by General Dynamics. in 1970 Stromberg delivered the first CrossReed PBX to the newly constructed Disney World in Orlando Florida. Over the next 10 years more than 7,000 CrossReeds were delivered globally. During the 1970's, Stromberg developed, what is arguabally the first fully digital PBX, the "DBX". The first DBX was delivered to Export Pa. in 1977 and consisted of 960 ports. While this first field trial had limited success, Stromberg went on to develope the DBX-240, DBX-1200 and the DBX-5000. Also during this same period, Stromberg developed a number of leading edge technologies and products, including the first digital AUTOVON switching system and the first digital Command and COntrol communications system. By 1980 General Dynamics was undergoing a significant change and in 1982, General Dynamics sold the Stromberg Carlson operations in several parts. The Stromberg key-systems was sold to ComDial, the PBX/DBX division was sold to United Technologies and the Central Office division was sold to Plessey of the UK. Plessey eventually sold "Stromberg Carlson" (which was the DCO business unit to Siemens AG in 1991. The new company, Siemens Stromberg-Carlson, became the third largest vendor of central office switches in the United States—with a combined installed base of 5 million access lines. They continued to manufacture the Siemens DCO as well as the Siemens EWSD out of the Lake Mary facility, moving production of the EWSD from New York to Florida.

Products

Stromberg-Carlson produced several unique switching systems, including:
*XY, a "flat motion" switch logically similar to Strowger switching.
*CrossReed 400/800/1600, an electronically controlled, wired-logic PBX with expansion up to 2,400 ports; notable for its quick dial tone speed & first video telephone in the world.
*ESC, an early electronic, reed-switch similar to 1ESS switch; notable for its quick dialtone speed.
*DBX-288/1344/5136 & Exclaaibur, the first fully digital PBX. Used a LSI/PDP-11 microprocessor in the early models and grew up to over 32,000 ports & 128,000 directories in the Excalibur.
*DCO (Digital Central Office), a time-division switch similar to 5ESS switch or DMS-100.

The Stromberg-Carlson DCO was the first Class-5 digital local office switching system installed in the U.S. Stromberg-Carlson put their switch into service in July 1977 in Richmond Hill, Georgia.

Besides telephone equipment, Stromberg-Carlson produced consumer radios in the 1920s and 1930s. They also manufactured radio equipment during World War II, including the ubiquitous BC-348 radio set. Many schools and other institutions were equipped with Stromberg-Carlson intercom and public address systems. Stromberg also made Ground-Air-Ground tactical communications, AUTOVON and Secure systems used by various government agencies worldwide.

Television receivers and loud-speakers were also manufactured.

Non U.S. Branding

In Argentina, the brand was acquired by Gularo S.A.. The brand is one of the leader in Mp3's and sells as well other electronics such as DVD's, phones, MP4's, televisions, and speakers.

Notes

References

*Adams, Stephen B. and Butler, Orville R. "Manufacturing the Future: A History of Western Electric." New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999. ISBN 0521651182
*Cohen, Andrew Wender. "The Racketeer's Progress: Chicago and the Struggle for the Modern American Economy, 1900-1940." New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004. ISBN 052183466X
*"Kellogg Switchboard & Supply Co." "Dictionary of Leading Chicago Businesses (1820-2000)." Chicago: Chicago Historical Society, 2005.

External links

* [http://museum.shohola.org An 1894 Stromberg Carlson telephone, one of the oldest operating telephones in the U.S., is available for public use at the Shohola Museum of Communications and Technology.]