THE HISTORY OF TUNGSRAM 1896-1945 - MEK

51 TUNGSRAMThe extremely rapid development of radio technologystarted a fierce competition in the international marketall over the world, which resulted in newer an newertube designs. In the mid-1920s the barium tubesappeared on the European markets and, since theolder Tungsram tube designs could not competeagainst these valves, the Audion Department wasfacing the prospects of the closure.Then TUNGSRAM'S two experts. Dr. Karoly Czukorand Erno Winter developed Tungsram's own bariumtube in about four months of intensive work and, in1927, these tubes appeared on the market. The bariumtube was further developed and, following Pal Tury'sresearch, the expensive and fragile platinum used inthe cathode was replaced with the cathode core ofmetallic tungsten. This research produced tubes, suchas the G409, which already reached the world standard.There were several other changes in the constructionof the tubes; for example, tubes were producedwith two or more grids, which allowed the use ofsmaller batteries as power supplies in radios . . . (Duringthe 1920s electrification in Hungary — especially inthe rural areas — was far from complete, therefore,each radio set required its own power supply.) As aresult of the triumph of broadcasting, the structuraldevelopment of the tubes went through its mostdynamic phase. The competition between the factoriesmade the development even faster. There wasstill no cartel agreement between the factories whichproduced radio valves, so TUNGSRAM faced fiercecompetition trying to find export market for its goodsproduced in excess of the domestic consuption. By theend of the 1920s TUNGSRAM was making progress inthis respect and the Tungsram tubes were sold all overthe world in evergrowing numbers.The surviving documentation of the production andexport of radio valves is relatively scarce, and thevarious figures often contradict each other. The volumeof production between the years of 1925 and 1930went (approximately) as follows:Year192519261927192819291930Number oftubes252,000291,000• 262,000291,000642,0001,123,000According to other sources, 379,000 radio tubes wereproduced in the fiscal year of 1926-1927. This figurefell to 170,000 in the fiscal year of 1927-1928.The number of tubes sold fell short of the number oftubes produced. The sales figures in the same twofiscal years went as follows:1926-19271927-1928288,000150,000The next table shows the geographical breakdown ofthe sales figures:HungaryEuropeAmericaElsewhere1926-1927 1927-1928fiscal year / pieces56,000 53,000190,000 74,00039,000 22,0003,000 1,000As the tables indicate, only 20-25 percent of the totalnumber of tubes were sold on the domestic market;more than half was built into the radios of otherEuropean countries and the rest was realized on othermarkets. Austria provided the greatest market, whilethe Argentine sales more or less accounted for theAmerican market. Tungsram tubes were sold in almostevery European countries, but India and South Africawas also among its clients. The sales were conductedmostly through the various foreign sales offices ofTungsram which had been set up all over the world.