Raytheon Mfg. Co.
Cambridge, Mass.

Raytheon Production Corp.
Newton, Mass. (Tyne, "Saga of the vacuum tube" page 361)

The company produced radios and tubes, licensed by RCA. They also made the standard range of radio panel/dial lamps.

Just about three months after Regency TR-1, Raytheon distributed around June 1955 the second (or first really usable) transistor radio, 8TP, actually 8TP-1, 8TP-2, 8TP-3 and 8TP-4.

The American Appliance Company was formed in 1922. Founders were Laurence K Marshall, Charles G Smith and Vannevar Bush. These three men had a common interest in refrigeration technology but were not successful in their venture. They changed their focus to radio engineering and developed a gas rectifier tube for converting alternating current to direct current. They subsequently formed the Raytheon Manufacturing Company in October 1925 and in the next three years made a range of tubes for battery eliminators and power supplies. These were the B, BA, BH, BR and R. Next was a range of 17 known and common receiving tubes with the type number prefixes Ray-X, Ray-V and Ray. These tubes adopted the patented "four pillar" "X" shaped glass element mounting, which was claimed to have extra strength for the metal components of the assembly. This mounting was continued until at least 1934.

In 1928 Raytheon sued the QRS Music Company for patent infringement and as a result was able to take over the smaller company. On June 1st 1929 the National Carbon Company (Eveready batteries) entered into an agreement with Raytheon to be the sole distributor of Raytheon tubes and the brand name was changed to Eveready Raytheon. Factories were enlarged to cope with the additional tube manufacture and production was enormously increased. The prefix of the tube type numbers was changed to ER and over the next few years additional tubes were made, bringing the total of types to about 50. No exact date has been found but the agreement appears to have become inactive between May and August 1933. From then on the brand reverted to Raytheon and ER was dropped from the type number. (Thus the ER2A5 became the 2A5 etc.) There were over 90 receiving tubes made up to the mid 1930's, almost all with the "four pillar" mounting. The 1934 Radio Laboratories catalogue (Kansas City, Missouri) lists about 70 of these. The four pillar mounting appears to have been discontinued between 1935 and 1936. A small number of older Raytheon tubes have been found with the regular "pinch" element mounting. The National Carbon Co allowed the agreement to lapse in 1938.

Raytheon made a wide range of industrial and military tubes as well as those for amateur radio stations. Tube prefixes for these were CK or RK and the numbers were only used by Raytheon. The Raytheon Production Corporation, with facilities at Newton, Massachusetts made some of these. The parent company purchased the Acme Delta Company, makers of transformers, auto electrics and power units, in 1933. Following the development in the UK of the magnetron tube, the US Government approached some of the larger tube manufacturers to produce magnetrons in large quantities for marine, ground and aviation radar systems. With the help of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Raytheon was able to supply over four fifths of the military requirements. Raytheon was also instrumental in developing submarine detector systems using radar. Following the War, Raytheon turned their magnetron research expertise to food cooking. In 1967 the company began selling counter top microwave ovens with the brand name Amana.

From as early as 1945 the company had been experimenting with guidance systems for missiles and by the time f the Korean War had developed the "Lark" missile. Others were to follow and the Patriot missile was used in the Gulf War. In 1980 the company acquired the Beech Aircraft Corp and in 1993 Corporate Jets (Hawker) from British Aerospace. The company sold off Amana Refrigeration and other non military concerns over a period and has become more orientated to military defence activities.