Mullard
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'''Mullard Limited''' was a [[United Kingdom|British]] manufacturer of [[electronics|electronic]] components. The Mullard Radio Valve Co. Ltd. of [[Southfields]], [[London]], was founded in [[1920]] by Captain [[Stanley R. Mullard]], who had previously designed valves for the Admiralty before becoming managing director of the Z Electric Lamp Co. The company soon moved to [[Hammersmith]], London and then in [[1923]] to [[Balham]], London. At the same time, in order to meet the technical demands of the newly formed [[BBC]], Mullard formed a partnership with the Dutch manufacturer [[Philips]]. The [[vacuum tube|valves]] (US vacuum tube) produced in this period were named with the prefix PM, for Philips-Mullard, beginning with the PM3 and PM4 in [[1926]]. Mullard finally sold all its shares to Philips in [[1927]]. In [[1928]] the company introduced the first [[pentode]] valve to the British market.
The head office in later years was Mullard House in [[Torrington Place]], [[Bloomsbury]], which is now part of [[University College London]] and home to UCL's Department of Electronics & Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering.
Mullard opened a new manufacturing plant at [[Mitcham]], Surrey in 1929. A second building was added in 1936. Both buildings had a very distinctive flat roof construction and were very similar to those at Philips' headquarters in [[Eindhoven]], [[Netherlands]]. Co-sited with the Mullard buildings was the manufacturing complex for Philips Radios. Mitcham was also home to the Mullard Application Laboratory.
In the late 1930s Mullard opened a new plant in [[Blackburn]], Lancashire. By [[1949]] Mullard had produced a number of [[television]] sets, such as the MTS-521 and MTS-684. In 1951 Mullard was producing the LSD series of photographic flash tubes.
Mullard had factories in [[Southport]] and [[Simonstone, Lancashire|Simonstone]], [[Burnley]] both in [[Lancashire]]. The latter was closed in [[2004]]. There was also a sister factory in [[Durham]]. Other factories included those at [[Fleetwood]] (closed in 1979) and [[Lytham St. Annes]] (closed in 1972). A feeder factory at [[Haydock]] closed in 1981.
In the early [[1980]]s, Mullard manufactured some of the earliest [[teletext]] decoding modules made in the UK.
Mullard owned [[semiconductor]] factories in [[Southampton]] and [[Stockport]]. Both sites are now owned by [[NXP Semiconductors]] (formerly [[Philips Semiconductors]]). The one in [[Hazel Grove]], Stockport specializes in [[power semiconductor device]]s.
The first [[transistor]]s produced by Mullard were the OC50 and OC51 point-contact types, which were not widely used. In [[1953]] Mullard moved to junction transistors, beginning with the plastic-cased OC10 series. These were followed by the glass-encapsulated OC70 and OC80 series (the output devices were metal encapsulated to facilitate heatsinking), which were produced in large numbers and copied by other companies, such as [[Valvo]] (another Philips subsidiary), [[Intermetall]] and [[Siemens AG|Siemens]] in Germany, and [[Amperex]] in the USA. In [[1964]] the company produced a prototype electronic desktop [[calculator]] as a technology demonstrator for its transistors and [[cold cathode]] indicator tubes.
In [[1957]] Philips-Mullard helped to set up the [[Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory]] (MRAO) at the [[University of Cambridge]]. In [[1966]] the [[Mullard Space Science Laboratory]] (MSSL) was opened near [[Dorking]], [[Surrey]] as part of [[University College London]]. The [[Royal Society]] Mullard Award<ref>[http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/funding.asp?id=4870 Mullard Award<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> for young scientists and engineers was set up in [[1967]].
Philips continued to use the brand name "Mullard" in the UK until [[1988]]. Mullard Research Laboratories in [[Redhill, Surrey|Redhill]], [[Surrey]] then became Philips Research Laboratories. As of [[2007]], the Mullard brand has been revived by [[Sovtek]], producing a variant of the [[EL34]].
The Z Electric Lamp Co. continued business into the 1970s operating from premises in [[Thornton Heath]] near [[Croydon]], Surrey, England manufacturing lamps of specialised design. However, they went out of business due to the recession brought about by the high inflation of the mid 1970s.{{Facts|date=August 2007}} <!-- You are unlikely to find a citation for a company that hasn't existed for over 30 years. I used to drive past the company every day. -->
== See also ==
* [[British Valve Association]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
== External links ==
*[http://andycowley.com/valves/old/history/Mullard-history.html A History of Mullard Valves 1920-40] by Andy Cowley
*[http://www.r-type.org/static/makemull.htm Mullard History at National Valve Museum]
*[http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~wylie/Mullard/Mullard.htm Mullard Seminconductors by Andrew Wylie]
[[Category:Defunct technological companies of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Vacuum tubes]]
[[Category:Electronics industry in London]]
[[Category:Companies based in Blackburn]]