Crystal Fire #7

When Bell Labs hosted a symposium in 1951 about the transistors invented at Bell, absent was mention about the technologies involved in fabricating the gadgets. Bell’s subsidiary Western Electric began licensing rights to transistors for a fee. The art of fabricating them could not remain secret much longer. It was a challenge because the conflicting demands by the military for secrecy yet multiple suppliers and commercial openness were difficult to meet simultaneously. Anyway, Bell Labs invited licensees to visit its Western Electric plant in 1952, then published a comprehensive description of the state of the art of manufacturing transistors. One of the technologies then revealed was a powerful new method of purifying germanium, which Bell Labs had kept under wraps for almost two years at the military’s request.

Military applications provided an immediate market for transistors where cost was not a concern. Transistors were much more expensive than vacuum tubes. From 1953-55 almost half the revenue for transistors came from the military.

Other demand came from hearing aid manufacturers. Keeping with Alexander Graham bell’s devotion to the deaf and hard of hearing, AT&T extended royalty-free licenses to hearing aid manufacturers. Transistors were especially helpful for hearing aids. Ones that relied on vacuum tubes were bulky with a battery-powered amplifying unit worn around the waist. Also, the batteries were expensive.

Other demand came for use in pocket-size transistor radios. Texas Instruments was a leader in those, licensing the technology to other manufacturers in exchange for royalties. A Japanese company formed a subsidiary called Sony that became very successful making such radios.

Later in the 1950’s new kinds of transistors were invented, including using silicon instead of germanium.