Ling Electronics Group Inc. – Literary Art and Illustration

Some advertisements focus on products.

Many advertisements focus upon – and intend to enhance – publicity.

But, a certain kind of advertisement takes pride in and specifically focuses upon people – employees – as the fundamental basis for an organization’s success, growth, and prominence. Such an example appears below: A 1944 (or ’45?) advertisement in The New York Times by the United Electronics Company, of Newark, New Jersey, announcing receipt of the Army and Navy “E” (for excellence) award in manufacture of war materials.

Cleverly and appropriately, the ad juxtaposes the faces of four employees – two women; two men – who are obviously in not military service, upon one of its products (an electron tube). Behind and above is the military’s “E” pennant.

The United Electronics Company was founded in 1934 and – though no longer in existence – was in business at least through 1958, as evidenced through the company’s 1959 product catalog, at Bunkerofdoom.com. In 1958, the company became part of the Ling Electronics, Group, Inc., at the time, “…being one of the first six or seven companies longest engaged in the design and manufacture of transmitting power tubes for the general market.”

The company’s headquarters and manufacturing facility which once stood at 42 Spring Street, in Newark, New Jersey, no longer exists.

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The electron tube displayed in the advertisement is a “Type 851 Modulator, A-F and R-F Power Amplifier, Oscillator”. The tube’s price in 1947 was $160, which – given the rate of inflation – would seventy-five later in 2022 be approximately $2,130. Now that’s a wonderful cumulative inflation rate of 1,230%.

Reliable sources indicate that the successor to the Type 851 Modulator was the Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator. Though this component is mysteriously absent from United Electronics’ 1947 catalog, its capabilities are fully revealed in the following training film:

“Where’s the kaboom?! …
There was supposed to be an Earth-shattering kaboom!!”

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So Much … For So Many

by so Few*

Today the United Electronics Company receives the coveted Army and Navy “E” Award for excellence in production of war materials.

We accept the citation with pride – and grateful recognition of the skill and loyalty of each man and women of our company who has toiled tirelessly to make possible the achievement and the honor.

Yet, as the distinguished banner now flies over our plant, we shall be mindful that this is no symbol of a goal completely won. To us it will serve as a fresh daily inspiration in our aim for ever-faster and ever-better production of the communications equipment parts still urgently needed by our armed forces.

Under this new inspiration we pledge renewed and unceasing efforts. In the way we can serve the best, we shall keep faith with our friends and loved ones on the fighting fronts – with the constant hope that the instruments we make play a useful part in bringing our men home safe – and sooner.

UNITED
ELECTRONICS COMPANY
NEWARK NEW JERSEY

*United employees number hundreds, not thousands. Yet in terms of production per employee and relative overall company output, we believe these men and women have achieved a record unsurpassed in the nation.

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Here’s the “header” page of United Electronics’ 1947 Power Tube Catalog. Technical specifications for the Type 851 Modulator follow.

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Here’s an Oogle Earth view of 42 Spring Street in Newark, just north of Interstate 280 (Essex Freeway) and west of the Passaic River. There seems to be no evidence that United Electronics once existed there.