DocumentCode
1367164
Title
The secret six-month project: Why Texas Instruments decided to put the first transistor radio on the market by Christmas 1954 and how it was accomplished
Author
Wolff, M.F.
Author_Institution
IEEE Spectrum New York, NY, USA
Volume
22
Issue
12
fYear
1985
Firstpage
64
Lastpage
69
Abstract
An account is given of the project undertaken in 1954 by Texas Instruments to produce the first commercial transistor radio. The project involved (1) obtaining a transistor patent license from the Bell System; (2) establishing a project engineering group that could grow into a fully-fledged operating division to create and market semiconductor devices; and (3) establishing a solid-state research laboratory. The author relates how a manufacturer was chosen and discusses the design decisions made to meet the targeted retail price of the radio.
Keywords
history; radio receivers; transistors; commercial transistor radio; project engineering group; semiconductor devices; solid-state research laboratory; transistor patent license; Batteries; Companies; Manufacturing; Marketing and sales; Production; Silicon; Transistors;
fLanguage
English
Journal_Title
Spectrum, IEEE
Publisher
ieee
ISSN
0018-9235
Type
jour
DOI
10.1109/MSPEC.1985.6370730
Filename
6370730
Link To Document