Eimac

The San Francisco Bay area was one of the early centers of amateur radio activity and experimentation, containing about 10% of the total operators in the US.

[2] Charles Litton Sr. originated glass lathe techniques which made mass production of reliable high quality power tubes possible, and resulted in the award of wartime contracts to the company.

[4] A union organizing drive in 1939-40 by the strong Bay area labor movement was fought off by adoption of a strategy of welfare capitalism which included pensions and other generous benefits, profit sharing, and such extras as a medical clinic and a cafeteria.

An atmosphere of cooperation and collaboration was established,[5] As wartime orders ceased and a large supply of military surplus transmission tubes flooded the market the firm laid off 90% of its workers and closed its plant in Salt Lake City.

Reallocation of the FM band by the FCC in 1945, however, provided an opportunity for the firm to market a superior power tetrode tube which it had developed.

[4] In the beginning of May 1959, the company announced its newly-produced giant klystron tube powered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s radar which recently established contact with planet Venus.

In August 1995, Varian Associates sold the Electron Device Business to Leonard Green & Partners, a private equity fund, and members of management.