MARCHI

Philips's story begins in Eindhoven in 1891, when Frederik Philips and his son Gerard establish an incandescent lamp factory. The company grows quickly: Anton Philips takes charge of sales in the following years, and in 1912 the business becomes N.V. Philips' Gloeilampenfabrieken. Glassworking, filament manufacture and vacuum control, all essential to lamps, also provide the industrial foundation from which Philips moves into electronic tubes. In 1914 it opens the NatLab research laboratory, led by Gilles Holst. Research and production advance together: lamps are joined by the first radio valves and, in 1918, a Philips X-ray tube.

One of the earliest episodes involves Hanso Idzerda, a Dutch broadcasting pioneer. Philips builds tubes for him even before entering the market for its own receivers. From 1918 his Nederlandsche Radio-Industrie sells Philips-Ideezet valves: the glass may bear the Ideezet name used by Idzerda alongside Philips. This is a specific commercial and technical partnership, rather than a different factory concealed behind the brand. Nor does Ideezet identify a single model: the name appears on several receiving and transmitting tubes marketed by his company.

Miniwatt arrives in 1923. Compared with earlier radio valves, Philips presents it as a way to deliver more power while using less energy. For listeners the result is tangible: a loudspeaker can replace headphones, and radio becomes an experience shared by the family. Miniwatt packaging carries the shield with waves and stars that will become one of the company's most recognisable symbols: the waves evoke transmission, the stars evening listening. Miniwatt is thus both a technical milestone and a commercial name found on Philips valves, catalogues and packaging.

Another decisive step is the 1926 pentode, associated with the work of Holst and Bernard Tellegen. Its five electrodes mark an advance in radio-valve technology. In 1927 Philips introduces its first receiver, model 2501, built entirely from its own components. The company had entered the valve business before making complete sets: Philips radio grows out of this decision to develop both components and finished products in house. By August 1932 receiver production reaches one million sets; the company's history also records one hundred million radio valves sold by 1934.

The path to a wider audience includes experiments. In 1930 Philips prepares an inexpensive receiver and in 1931 tests it on the Prague market both assembled and as a kit. The kit contains three valves, interchangeable coils, a 96-page manual and even the tools needed for assembly. The commercial trial does not achieve the hoped-for result. It is a revealing detail: behind the image of a major maker of finished sets lies a documented attempt to let buyers build their own radios.

Philips model codes also trace changes in its catalogue. Until the early 1930s, various radio-product categories use four-digit numbers, with separate ranges for rectifiers, loudspeakers, receivers, amplifiers and other components; this scheme should not be confused with the designations of receiving valves. From 1931–32 until the mid-1940s, many receivers instead carry three digits normally followed by a letter. The Super-Inductance series includes, for example, 730A, 720A and 770A; the final letter may indicate the power supply, with A for AC mains, B for batteries, C for DC mains and U for universal sets. The rule is not absolute: some models have no letter, and some variants depend on the country of manufacture.

After the Second World War the receiver identification system changes again. A first letter distinguishes the type of set, such as a table radio, portable radio, car radio or television; a second letter indicates the country where it was developed. That country is not necessarily where a particular set was built. Other digits refer to price range, year and model variant. The system is expanded again in 1966. For collectors, reading a Philips code is therefore useful, but it cannot by itself establish the factory, date and origin of every component: its meaning must be checked against the correct period and series.

International expansion makes this distinction even more important. In the countries where Philips operates, sales, assembly and valve manufacture do not always begin at the same time or fall to the same company. In Britain Philips Lamps enters the rectifier business in the late 1920s; the Mitcham plant makes valves bearing the Philips and Condor names, while other tubes arrive from abroad and are also sold as Miniwatt or Dario. From 1949 the factory also makes cathode-ray tubes for televisions. In Austria Philips Radioröhren GmbH is established in Vienna in 1926; both valves and radio sets are made in the country, and valve manufacture resumes after the war.

In Australia Philips first opens a sales organisation and also imports valves from the Netherlands. It starts local production in the 1930s: radios made in Sydney precede valves, whose manufacture begins in 1936. In Argentina the business begins by selling imported products and later extends to receivers and tubes. FAPESA adds a distinct industrial identity: the names Philips Miniwatt, Fapesa, Fapesa Miniwatt and Miniwatt appear alongside series intended for the Argentine market. Production includes receiving valves, transmitting tubes and picture tubes. Even within an Argentine series, however, an example may say “Made in Holland”: a local model code alone does not prove local manufacture.

In continental Europe the subsidiaries have equally different histories. Philips has been present in Italy since 1918; the Alpignano plant makes lamps, while the Monza plant opened in 1958 is devoted to cathode-ray tubes and later televisions. In Spain Philips Ibérica is founded in 1926 as an import and sales business; COPRESA, SELEZ and Miniwatt S.A. later operate within the group's orbit, the last of these also being connected with the manufacture of valves and television picture tubes. These are all chapters in Philips's history, but each company and plant has its own chronology.

In the United States the group also adopts the name Norelco. The North American Philips Company is formed in 1942 and introduces that brand for the American market in 1943, where the Philips name encounters difficulties because of its similarity to Philco. Norelco appears on a variety of sets and components, including electronic tubes. Some products sold in the United States come from the Netherlands; others belong to North American production. Here too, the trade name, distributing company and manufacturing plant must be kept distinct.

Alongside the Philips name, other identities with histories of their own remain in use. Mullard in Britain, Valvo in Germany, and La Radiotechnique together with the names Dario, RT and RTC in France enter industrial or corporate relationships with the group at different times. Their valves, technical documents and catalogues do not thereby become indiscriminately “Philips”: the visible brand, the company using it and the actual manufacturer are separate pieces of information. The same applies to Miniwatt, used as a trade name in several markets, and to local names born of the group's expansion.

Philips's work with tubes extends beyond classic radio: rectifiers and receiver valves are joined by transmitting, X-ray and television tubes. In 1961 the company introduces the Plumbicon, a television camera tube sensitive to light even in difficult conditions. The history of Philips valves is therefore not the story of a single plant or one family of models. It is the history of technical expertise born from lamps, developed through research and spread through a network of factories, subsidiaries and brands. To understand a Philips example, the most useful question remains the most precise: what tube is it, what name does it carry and where was it actually made?