Cossor Radar: The First 50 Years

In 1935, the firm of A C Cossor Limited had been in existence for 39 years and had established itself as one of the nation"s main manufacturers of radio valves, radio receivers and associated products. At that time the company owned three factories in the Greater London Area of which one, Cossor House com- pleted in 1934, was the largest- self-contained radio plant in the British Empire. The company was then marketing a range of receivers for domestic use, from a simple 2-valve battery set to a large radiogramophone priced at 16 guineas (£16.80, the equivalent of about £420 at 1985 prices). Cossor was also turning out large numbers of "Melody Maker" radios in kit form and by this time total sales were ap- proaching three-quarters of a million. Significantly for this account, in 1935 Cossor produced most of the cathode ray tubes being made in Great Britain. In those days before the mass pro- duction of television, however, the commercial use of these tubes was confined to a few s...