NUCLEAR (PRANDONI) MOD. 531 CHASSIS A40-73 CRT TUBE FIVRE 15BM120.

CRT TUBE FIVRE 15BM120

The CRT TUBE FIVRE 15BM120. is fabricated by an extint Italian manufacturer. It's a 120° degree type so it's very compact and isa one of the first of this type and with heavy glass contour. FIVRE WAS Fabbrica Italiana Valvole Radio Elettriche which was fabricating Picture tubes and Radio Tubes.

FIVRE were established in 1932 as a manufacturer of thermoinic valves.

Cathode ray tubes for monochrome television sets were introduced in 1952.Since then, many millions of FIVRE CRTs have been incorporated in TV sets by most European brand leaders.

In 1976 FIVRE extendet the product rance to include monochrome data display tubes, gaining in a short time a large share of the European market.

FIVRE was established in 1932 by Bruno Antonio and Umberto Quintavalle in the form of a joint stock company. Although formally external to the Fabbrica Italiana Magneti Marelli system, and subsequently detached from it, FIVRE was initially one of the sectoral creations of the Marelli group, conceived with the aim of outsourcing production. Just as RadioMarelli had been conceived in 1929 to produce Italian radios, FIVRE was also conceived to produce national components, and became part of the Fabbrica Italiana Magneti Marelli. Managing director was Bruno Antonio Quintavalle, while general attorney was Umberto Quintavalle.

The production plant was located in Pavia, in Via Fabio Filzi, together with the technical publications department; the head office and the technical publications department were in Milan, in Via Guastalla 2, and the administrative office in Corso Venezia 13. In 1937 in Sesto San Giovanni were inaugurated two other plants for receiving and transmitting thermionic valves . In 1938, while a new plant for spark plugs for airplanes (Magneti Marelli IV) was inaugurated, a plant dedicated mainly to research was built in Florence (Plant II) in Via Panciatichi 30. Destroyed during the war, it was restored at the end of the forties.

Despite the autarkic idea to design, patent and build their own components to supply Italian companies with radio equipment, FIVRE was limited for a long time to the production of vacuum tubes under license from R.C.A. Radiotron, initially using American-made machinery. Only later was an autonomous research system developed.

In 1935 FIVRE produced over 700,000 valves per year, against a national requirement of 800,000. In 1936 the production came to touch 900 000 units.
Some valves FIVRE (models 57-58-57-47-80) with the bulb in transparent red glass, had the characteristic of bearing hot stamped on the base of the frame number of the radio, in order to make it easier to replace the model: the practice was possible given the small number of models in production.


In the military field, FIVRE developed some interesting products. A valve - designed in Italy by Castellani and whose final development FIVRE took care of in 1941 (the FIVRE 1628) - could allow radars to reach a peak power of 10 kW.

Together with other companies (SAFAR, Allocchio Bacchini, Radio Marelli itself, IMCA Radio, Philips Italiana, Officine Marconi, Telefunken Italiana) FIVRE also participated in the development of the radars "Gufo (E.C. 3 ter)", "Folaga", "Lince". The Regia Marina asked FIVRE for the construction of a particular oscillating tube of high frequency and power (a "magnetron") for the radars to be installed on its ships; finally, it participated in the construction of the Allocchio Bacchini RA350/I and AR-18 receivers for the radio station of the Savoia Marchetti SM79. On the receiver ARI 8 of the Air Force, was mounted the FIVRE EIR.
The post-war period

In the post-war period FIVRE diversified its production. The company degraded the quality of its products, failing at the same time to propose innovative components. On the contrary, when the required quantities were very low, FIVRE limited itself to mark with its logo the components produced by other factories.

Since 1952, in addition to thermionic valves, which were about to be surpassed by transistors in Europe, FIVRE devoted itself to the production of black and white TV cameras.
New productions and crisis

The production plant in Florence was already in crisis in the sixties. In January 1963 there was an occupation of the factory , then lasted 18 days. One hundred and forty-seven workers were denounced for the action and was presented to the Chamber of Deputies by Mazzoni and others in the session of February 10, 1965. Since 1976 - in the Florence plant - Fivre addressed a new niche production. At the place of military orders, with its monochromatic tubes for data display, was given response to the demands of the computer industry, expanding on the European market. They produced transmitting and industrial valves, X-ray tubes for diagnostics, full protection caps and other accessories.

FIVRE Firenze - changing its name to VALFIVRE - then merged into a new company with its head office in Calenzano, in Via Baldanzese 17, actually being absorbed into a company that had already existed since the 1920s for the production of high vacuum electronic tubes for radio transmitting and receiving equipment. The new company, established with FIVRE, moved from the production of valves to the production of television CRT kinescopes, poliodes for transmitting applications, progressive wave tubes, to the production of laser sources. The brand still existing today has been acquired by different companies, being today managed by Esse A.

The Pavia plant, renovated in 1955, abandoned the prospect of pursuing the consumer electronics and color television market. Already in crisis in the mid-sixties, with the suspension of 153 workers and various layoffs that gave rise to parliamentary questions by Senator Piovano], in the two-year period 1984-86 found itself having to deal with operating losses equal to 10% of its annual turnover. The reduction in the cost of waste allowed the company to recover, closing the 1986 financial year at break-even with 60 fewer employees, an increase in turnover of 5% and a percentage of foreign sales of 70%. At the beginning of the nineties, FIVRE had to resort again to the instruments of arrangement with creditors and social shock absorbers. FIVRE then concentrated on automotive electronics, a sector in which it had already entered in support of Magneti Marelli in 1978: "thick film" circuits, ignition, alternators, transistors, electronic circuits, up to control units. The Pavia plant was abandoned - and demolished in 2007 - and the entire production moved from Magneti Marelli to Corbetta in the 2000s. With this production delocalization, the FIVRE brand ceased to be used.

The FIVRE range of CRT are used in applications demanding a quality product, in both the civil and military areas, including: high-resolution graphics and desk-top-publishing, radar, large screen dispays and medical equipment; to name but a few.

The technical data in this brochure refers to only a part of the FIVRE product range. Please ask for your specific needs. FIVRE are capable of supplying custom designed CTRs with short lead-times, even with small production quantities. FIVRE”s service to the market s based upon our dynamic approach to R&D, coupled with our flexsible production capability.