O. & T. Electric Corporation (O-T)
1819 Broadway, New York, New York (1924)

Tube brand: Silvertone

O-T advertised and labeled their tubes as being made exclusively for them by the DeForest Radio Tel. & Tel. Co. This statement was false, and DeForest sued O-T for damages on account of it.

O-T was operated/owned by Owen (unknown first name) who supplied the finances, and Willard Tromby.

Mentioned in Tyne's "Saga of the Vacuum Tube", p.360.

O & T Electric Corporation was registered October 23 1923, with a factory located at 1819 Broadway, New York City. Bill Condon, notable US tube collector, states in his website www.bill01A that they were "not heard of again after early 1924". The company registration was canceled January 26, 1931.

Willard Trombley obtained finance from  Mr Owen for the manufacture of tubes at the factory. Seven tubes have been identified but data on some has not been found. The advertisement (below) from Radio News, March 1924 shows the name "Silvertone" and a few tubes have been found with this name stamped on the base. This use of Silvertone has no connection with Silvertone branded tubes made for and sold by Sears Roebuck. All O&T tubes so far located have a brass UV base and all but one is tipped.

A new financier was found in the Gotham Bank and Trust Company. Losses soon mounted and at well into six figures, things were looking very bad. The general manager of the New York office of the Stewart Warner Speedometer Corp bought the business as a going concern  for US$ 106,000 and promptly moved the plant to Chicago, where it became part of this bigger company.

Trombley went as well, under contract for four years (possibly six) but because of a host of creditors chasing him, which apparently became common knowledge to those at Stewart Warner, was offered US$ 90,000 to cancel the contract. It has not been able to be confirmed but Trombley was caught up in slave labor operations and was pursued by the US Government for breaches of the Mann White Slave Act. Also he was involved in a scandal which gave him several years in gaol.

Nothing has been found of the fate of O & T but Stewart Warner began selling tubes under their own name during 1925 (SW501A etc).The "master list" of 201A brands lists one made by O & T, most likely the OT Power Tube as it is similar electrically.