Semiconductor History

Western Electric opened a small office in London in 1883. In 1925 the International Western Electric Company was bought by the International Telephone and Telegraph Company (ITT) and later became Standard Telephones and Cables Ltd (STC). STC used the brand name “STANDARD” for their valves/tubes, and from 1934 “BRIMAR”. The Brimar valve and cathode ray tube division was sold to Thorn Electrical Industries Ltd in 1960, and in 1961 there was a JV created between Thorn and Associated Electrical Industries (AEI) for the development and sale of valves, CRTs and semiconductors. According to the CV list, Thorn-AEI manufactured at Footscray, Kent, which became a large IC development and manufacturing site for STC up until its closure in 1993. However for Thorn-AEI (Brimar) it mentions manufacture at Rochester, Kent. So manufacturing could have taken place there as well.  Germanium pnp, very high Gain=212, Vf=149mV

The early history of British Semiconductor manufacturing is pretty convoluted. There are many different brands which ended up being manufactured by the same company, and some major brands which remained from long gone acquisitions. Mazda was a brand in Britain from 1911, initially for light bulbs, eventually transferring to the Thorn company. Thorn also acquired the Brimar brand when STC's Valve (Tube) and CRT business was acquired in 1960. Thorn Electrical Industries then created a JV in 1961 with AEI, itself a combination of British Electrical manufacturers. The plan was to pool its combined activities in Valves, CRTs and Semiconductors. Manufacturing was in Brimsdown (adjacent to Ponders End - the site of the Edison Swan Company). EDISWAN transistors were also part of the group, and its transistors were manufactured in Ponders End. The original Cosmos Lampworks factory built in Brimsdown was adjacent to the equivalent Edison Swan factory. Through acquisition and grow...