CGE TS301 CHASSIS T304 CRT TUBE TELEFUNKEN A61-120W.

Telefunken (WAS) is a German radio and television apparatus company, founded in 1903, in Berlin, as a joint venture of two large companies, Siemens & Halske (S & H) and the Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft (General Electricity Company).

The name "Telefunken" appears in:

* the product brand name "Telefunken";
* AEG subsidiary as Telefunken GmbH in 1955;
* AEG subsidiary as Telefunken AG in 1963;
* company merged as AEG-Telefunken (1967–1985);
* the company "Telefunken USA" (2001). Now Telefunken Elektroakustik (2009)
* the company "Telefunken semiconductor GmbH & Co KG" Heilbronn Germany (2009).
* the company "Telefunken Lighting technologies S,L" (2009)

The company Telefunken USA[1] was incorporated in early 2001 to provide restoration services and build reproductions of vintage Telefunken microphones.

Around the turn of the 20th century, two groups of German researchers worked on the development of techniques for wireless communication. The one group at AEG, led by Adolf Slaby and Georg Graf von Arco, developed systems for the German navy; the other one, under Karl Ferdinand Braun, at Siemens, for the German army.

When a dispute concerning patents arose between the two companies, Kaiser Wilhelm II decided that the two companies were to be joined, creating on 27 May 1903 the company Gesellschaft für drahtlose Telegraphie System Telefunken ("The Company for Wireless Telegraphy Ltd."), and the disputed patents and techniques were invested in it. This was then renamed on 17 April 1923 as Telefunken, The Company for Wireless Telegraphy. Telefunken was the company's telegraph address. The first technical director of Telefunken was George Graf von Arco.

Starting in 1923, Telefunken built broadcast transmitters and radio sets.

In 1928, Telefunken made history by designing the V-41 amplifier for the German Radio Network. This was the very first two stage, "Hi-Fi" amplifier which began a chapter in recording history. Over time, Telefunken perfected their designs and in 1950 the V-72 amplifier was born. The TAB (a manufacturing subcontractor to Telefunken) V-72 soon became popular with other radio stations and recording facilities and would eventually come to help define the sound of most European recordings. The V-72S was the only type of amplifier found in the legendary REDD-37 console used by the Beatles at Abbey Road Studios on every recording prior to Rubber Soul. Today the V-72 is still the most sought after example of Telefunken's design and over 50 years later continues to be the benchmark by which all other tube based microphone preamplifiers are measured. In 1932, record players were added to the product line.

In 1941 Siemens transferred its Telefunken shares to AEG as part of the agreements known as the "Telefunken settlement", and AEG thus became the sole owner and continued to lead Telefunken as a subsidiary (starting in 1955 as "Telefunken GmbH" and from 1963 as "Telefunken AG").

During the Second World War Telefunken was a supplier of vacuum tubes, transmitters and radio relay systems, and developed radar facilities and directional finders, aiding extensively to the German air defense against British-American Aerial Bombing. During the war, manufacturing plants were shifted to and developed in West Germany or relocated. Thus, Telefunken, under AEG, turned into the smaller subsidiary, with the three divisions realigning and data processing technology, elements as well as broadcast, television and phono. Telefunken had substantial successes in these markets during the time of self-sufficiency and also later in the AEG company. Telefunken was also the originator of the FM radio broadcast system. Telefunken, through the subsidiary company Teldec (a joint venture with Decca Records), was for many decades one of the largest German record companies, until Teldec was sold to WEA in 1988.

In 1959, Telefunken established a modern semiconductor works in Heilbronn, where in April 1960 production began. The works was expanded several times, and in 1970 a new 6-storey building was built at the northern edge of the area. At the beginning of the 1970s it housed approximately 2,500 employees.

In 1967, Telefunken was merged with AEG, which was then renamed to AEG-Telefunken. During this era, Walter Bruch developed the PAL color television for the company, in use by most countries outside the Americas today (i.e. United Kingdom - PAL-I), and by Brazil (PAL-M) and Argentina (PAL-N) in South America.

The mainframe computer TR 4 was developed at Telefunken in Backnang, and the TR 440 model was developed at Telefunken in Konstanz. They were in use at many German university computing centres from the 1970s to around 1985. The development and manufacture of large computers was separated in 1974 to the Konstanz Computer Company (CGK). The production of mini- and process computers was integrated into the automatic control engineering division of AEG. When AEG was bought by Daimler in 1985, "Telefunken" was dropped from the company name.

In 2005, Telefunken Sender Systeme Berlin changed its name to Transradio SenderSysteme Berlin AG. The name "Transradio" dates back to 1918, when Transradio was founded as a subsidiary of Telefunken. A year later, in 1919, Transradio made history by introducing duplex transmission. Transradio has specialized in research, development and design of modern AM, VHF/FM and DRM broadcasting systems.

In August 2006, it acquired the Turkish company Profilo Telra, one of the largest European manufacturers of TV-devices, with Telefunken GmbH granting a license for the Telefunken trademark rights and producing televisions under that name. In 2000, Toni Roger Fishman acquired The Diamond Shaped Logo & The Telefunken Brand Name for use in North America. The company "Telefunken USA" [2] was incorporated in early 2001 to provide restoration services and build reproductions of vintage Telefunken microphones. In 2003, Telefunken USA won a TEC Award for Studio Microphone Technology for their exact reproduction of the original Ela M 250 / 251 Microphone system. Telefunken USA has since received several TEC Awards nominations for the following microphone systems: the Telefunken USA M12 or C12 (originally developed by AKG), the R-F-T M16 MkII, and the AK47. The Historic Telefunken Ela M251 microphone system entered the MIX foundation's Hall of fame in 2006. In 2008, Telefunken USA won a second TEC Award for its new Ela M 260 microphone.

As a result of a conference held in Frankfurt in May 2009, Telefunken USA has been renamed Telefunken Elektroakustik ("Electrical Acoustics") Division of Telefunken and awarded the exclusive rights to manufacture a wide variety of professional audio products and vacuum tubes bearing the Telefunken Trade Mark, in over 27 countries worldwide. Telefunken Elektroakustik now uses the Telefunken trademark for Professional Audio Equipment & Component Based Electronics, such as Capacitors, Transformers, Vacuum Tubes in North America, South America, Europe, Asia and Australia.

TELEFUNKEN HISTORY:

It is ironic that in the years since the introduction of PAL, Telefunken – the company that invented PAL – disappeared from the market after they were bought in the 1980s by the French company Thomson – a former SECAM protagonist.

There is further irony in the fact that even as the majority of European and Asian TV viewers benefit on a daily basis from their PAL standard TV pictures, the worldwide transition from analog to digital TV spells the end of this color standard as well as many other TV transmission standards.

What we have known as PAL, SECAM, or NTSC is now increasingly known as simply digital RGB or Y, Cr, and Cb color component signals encoded in a DVB (Digital Video Broadcasting) signal or one of its many variants such as DVB-T, DVT-S, DVB-C, DVB-H, or similar ones like your ATSC.

In the future, all this may in turn disappear into an abstract IP (Internet Protocol) packet, which would make traditional distribution channels obsolete. For example, major areas in Germany, and all of Austria may terminate their analog transmissions, replacing them with DVB-T or DVB-S only.

We will find out whether the 55th anniversary of PAL in 2018 will generate much of a resonance, if all analog TV transmissions – whether terrestrial, satellite, or cable – have been brought to an end.

1903 – 1922
TWO ARCH RIVALS. ONE INNOVATIVE COMPANY

At the beginning of the last century, two rival research groups were working in the field of
wireless telegraphy. The Slaby-Arco group was represented by the radio-telegraphy department
of AEG, founded in 1899. The other as the Braun-Siemens group, represented by a company
called Gesellschaft für drahtlose Telegraphie, System Prof. Braun und Siemens & Halske
GmbH. Under the advice of Emporer Wilhelm II, the two groups merged to form the
Gesellschaft für drahtlose Telegraphie mbH company on May 27, 1903. And the rest is history.




A TELEFUNKEN FIRST
The very first Telefunken customers were the German Army and the Imperial Navy.
Telefunken was proud to deliver the first two transmitters for the new coastal radio station, Norddeich
Radio, in November 1905. In October 1906, the expansion of a much larger Nauen station was
completed with a range of 300 km and HF output of 10 kW. Welcome to the power of
Telefunken.


MEET DR. TELEFUNKEN

Dr. Georg Graf Von Arco was the first Technical Director and Managing Director of the
Gesellschaft für drahtlose Telegraphie mbH in 1903. He was also the holder of more than one
hundred patents. Among other inventions, he initiated the high-frequency mechanical
transmitter and the wavemeter. Necessity is the mother of invention. Or in this case, German
inventions.


1923 – 1936
TELEFUNKEN GOES COMMERCIAL

On April 17, 1904, the company changed its name to "Telefunken, Gesellschaft für drahtlose
Telegraphie", and on July 26, 1932 Telefunkenplatte GmbH officially began its commercial
activity with registered capital of 100,000 Reichsmarks.
The station in the Telefunken building, Tempelhofer Ufer 9 in Berlin, began broadcasting
concerts regularly two and a half months before the official start of the "Deutsche
Rundfunkverkehr". The world tour of the Graf Zeppelin airship in 1929 got off the ground by
using Telefunken transmitters, receivers and directional equipment exclusively.
Also, on October 31, 1928, during the 5th Grand German Radio Exhibition in Berlin, Telefunken
presented a television set with the Karolus-Telefunken system, a scanning process of film
images through a Mechau projector with a Nipkow disk, in public for the first time.


MEET TELEFUNKEN’S MAD SCIENTISTS

Dr. Hans Bredow is considered to be the "Father of Broadcasting". He was employed at
Telefunken from 1904 to 1919 as a Project Manager, and later as Managing Director.
Prof. Dr. Walter Bruch developed the very first electronic television camera, with which he
participated in the live broadcast of the Olympic Summer Games in Berlin in 1936. He also
earned international fame by inventing the PAL color television system. He joined Telefunken's
Television and Physical Research Department in 1935.
These two innovators thought out of the “TV box” and helped shape and make Telefunken what
it is today.


WELCOME TO RADIO TELEFUNKEN

The German radio station in Zeesen near Königswusterhausen (8 kW shortwave transmitter) was built by Telefunken and was officially placed in service on August 28, 1929. The Mühlacker radio station (60 kW output) was handed over on December 20, 1930. Telefunken is now in, and on, the air.


TELEFUNKEN GOES FOR THE GOLD, SILVER AND BRONZE

In 1935, Telefunken equipped the Olympic Stadium, the Maifeld and the Dietrich-Eckhardt
Stage with electrical-acoustic equipment for the Olympics. On August 1, 1936 at the XI Olympic
Summer Games in Berlin, an electronic television camera, known as the Ikonoskop, was used
for the first time for a direct transmission. Again, another Telefunken first. And second. And third
1936- 1954


NOW PLAYING ON CHANNEL TELEFUNKEN

The first fully electronic television studio equipped by Telefunken for the Deutsche Reichspost
was opened with a live broadcast in August 1938. The 500 kW long wave transmitter in
Herzberg, also known as the most powerful German broadcast transmitter, was supplied by
Telefunken and began to operate on May 19, 1939.


IT’S NOT A MERGER. IT’S A POWERHOUSE

On September 24, 1941, AEG took over the 50% of Telefunken shares owned by Siemens &
Halske AG valued at 20 million Reichsmarks. Thus, Telefunken became a 100% subsidiary of
AEG. In exchange, Siemens & Halske AG received the shares of Eisenbahn-Signalwerken,
Klangfilmgesellschaft mbH and Deutsche Betriebsgesellschaft für drahtlose Telegraphie
(DEBEG) owned by AEG. Strength in numbers, indeed.








POST WWII

The reconstruction after the World War II posed a particularly difficult challenge to Telefunken.
All production facilities and equipment were destroyed, disassembled or confiscated and many
valuable experts were scattered around the world. Rebuilding began in West Germany and
Berlin in 1945, and the production of tubes and transmitters was resumed the same year. But
growth was on the way.



THE TELEFUNKEN COME BACK

In 1953 Telefunken already comprised six plants and five sales offices in Berlin, Ulm,
Frankfurt/Main and Hanover again.The range of products consisted of long-range
communications systems, radio and television transmitters, marine radios, commercial
receivers, directional and navigation systems, radar devices, deci and UHF directional radio
connections, mobile radio systems, portable radio systems, HF heat generators, measuring
equipment, electro-acoustical systems, music centers, record players, transmitter tubes, radio
tubes, special tubes and quartz crystals. As you can see, Telefunken was relentless and has
come a long way.


PROF. DR. DR. WILHELM T. RUNGE THE FIRST

Prof. Dr. Dr. Wilhelm T. Runge (1895-1987) performed trailblazing work in radio and radar
technology and played a significant role in the development of microwave in Germany. He was
especially renowned internationally in the field of high-frequency technology. As well as for
having a few, very important titles before his name.


1955 – 1962
AS TELEFUNKEN GROWS, SO DOES ITS NET WORTH

The name of the company was changed to Telefunken GmbH on January 4, 1955. Due to the
expanded business activities of Telefunken, AEG increased the capital of the company to DM
100 million in 1958.


THE FIRST GERMAN STEREO STUDIO. BROUGHT TO YOU BY TELEFUNKEN

The Sender Freies Berlin (SFB) station ordered the first German stereo studio in 1961. The
harbor radar system, supplied by Telefunken, was officially placed for service in Hamburg
Harbor in August 1962, while the first German transistor receiver (six transistors) was produced
in a test series in 1956. Prof. Dr. Walter Bruch filed the fundamental PAL "time decoder" patent
on December 31, 1962. It was the first German stereo studio of its kind, and Telefunken sought
to it that there was nothing else quite like it.


1963-1978
WHAT’S IN A NAME?

Telefunken GmbH became Telefunken AG on July 5, 1963. On June 23, 1966, the General
Shareholder Meeting of AEG passed a resolution to integrate Telefunken AG into Allgemeine
Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft. Based on an operating lease agreement, the business activities of
Telefunken were transferred to AEG effective January 1, 1967, and were continued under the
combined name AEG-Telefunken. In March 1968, AEG-Telefunken developed a new mediumrange
radar system (Type SER-LL), which was able to detect targets at an altitude of 24,000
meters at a distance of 280 kilometers. Telefunken expands on land, as well as in the air.


TAPE RECORDERS WORTH MILLIONS

AEG-Telefunken delivered the two-millionth tape recorder, a Magnetophon 204 TS, on August
5, 1969. The ten-millionth black-and-white television picture tube was produced in Ulm on
January 27, 1970. The numbers are astounding. As is Telefunken.AEG-Telefunken delivered the
two-millionth tape recorder, a Magnetophon 204 TS, on August 5, 1969. The ten-millionth
black-and-white television picture tube was produced in Ulm on January 27, 1970. The
numbers are astounding. As is Telefunken.


ECONOMIC SLOWDOWN

There was a worldwide economic slowdown in the wake of the oil crisis in 1974. The
competition in consumer electronics sector also became more difficult due to Japanese
suppliers. The only profitable divisions of the company at this time were telecommunications
and traffic technology. But Telefunken, as usual, was known for their resilience.


1979- 1983
THE NAME GAME CONTINUES

The name of the overall company was changed to AEG-Telefunken Aktiengesellschaft on June
21, 1979. The "Aktiengesellschaft" [stock corporation] suffix was necessary due to a new law in
the European Community. In 1979, AEG-Telefunken supplied the complete telecommunications
and high-voltage equipment for the International Congress Center (ICC) Berlin, valued at DM 50
million. In January 1983 the company received an order for simulation systems for electronic
battle simulation for training Tornado crews of the German Luftwaffe and Navy. The total value
was at DM 37 million. The net worth: priceless.


TOUGH TIMES FOR TELEFUNKEN

Court composition proceedings were opened against the assets of AEG-Telefunken AG by the
District Court in Frankfurt / Main on October 31, 1982.
The District Court Frankfurt / Main confirmed the composition of AEG-Telefunken AG in
accordance with the petition filed and closed the proceedings on September 19, 1984.
Even during this difficult financial situation, AEG-Telefunken continued its business and founded
AEG-Telefunken Nachrichtentechnik GmbH (ATN), in Backnang, Germany, together with
Bosch, Mannesmann and Allianz Versicherungs-AG in 1981, as well as Telefunken electronic
GmbH (TEG) in the field of electronic components (semiconductors) together with United
Technologies Corporation (UTC), USA in 1982.
On July 1, 1992, AEG-Telefunken and Deutsche Aerospace (Dasa) founded Telefunken
Microelektronic GmbH (TEMIC), into which Telefunken Elektronic GmbH was integrated among
others. But Telefunken was determined to prevail.


A FINAL, BUT NOT LAST, TURN

Effective March 31, 1983, the French group Thomson-Brandt S.A. took over 75 percent of the
AEG-Telefunken shares in Telefunken Fernseh und Rundfunk GmbH, Hanover, Germany,
including its German and foreign subsidiaries. The remaining 25 percent were supposed to
follow on January 31, 1984. Daimler-Benz AG entered the company in autumn of 1985 and
decided in Autumn 1995 to dissolve the legal entity and transferred the remaining assets to
EHG Electroholding GmbH. Thus, the history of the company was over. But not that of its
brands.
A historical overview is offered by the company archive of AEG-Telefunken in the "Deutsches
Technikmusem Berlin", Trebbiner Str. 9, 10963 Berlin.


1984 – 2004
INNOVATION YESTERDAY. TODAY. AND TOMORROW

Currently, the Telefunken brand and name rights lie with Telefunken Licenses GmbH,
Frankfurt/Main, Germany. This company is one hundred percent subsidiary of EHG
Elektroholding GmbH, Frankfurt/Main.
EHG, on the other hand, is the legal successor of AEG Aktiengesellschaft. The licensor is
Licentia Patent-Verwaltungs GmbH, Frankfurt/Main, Germany. A differentiation is made
between brand licensing agreements, name use agreements and combined agreements. And
third-party use always requires the written approval of the licensor.
In 2003, Telefunken can look back at one-hundred years of brand history. In the past,
Telefunken was associated with significant technical developments and enjoyed the reputation
of a successful German company.
The Telefunken brand is registered in the official trademark registries of 118 countries. It
continues to be used under a variety of licensing agreements.
These are the topics that can be found in the commemorative volume "Telefunken After 100
Years - The Legacy of a Global German Brand."
Whether discovered on this website or in book, these topics should not only focus attention on
the past, but also simultaneously highlight the beginning of a strong Telefunken brand. Simply
put, it’s not just about where we’ve been. But also where we’re going.


2004 – 2009
TELEFUNKEN TODAY

Since December 2007, the trademark-right TELEFUNKEN rests with TELEFUNKEN Holding
AG, Frankfurt. Currently, TELEFUNKEN is the owner of more than 20,000 patents and active in over 130 countries around the globe.
Today, TELEFUNKEN stands for innovation and progress in the ever-changing world of
information and communications technology and is strictly focused on consumer quality – from
design concept to execution. And because of its strong heritage and long-standing tradition,
Telefunken has a high brand-awareness and a clear positioning in the field of premium
products.