[ARC5] RFL and ARC

[Gordon White]

Relationship of RFL to ARC

    I'd have to research this more to be absolutely certain whereof I 
speak, as memory is not good enough to answer definitively.  RFL was of 
course organized in July, 1922 by Edward Weston, Richard Seabury of the 
Boonton Rubber Co, etc. to exploit the uses of Bakelite phenolic plastic 
(invented in 1909) as an insulator in radio equipment.  RFL, along with 
Boonton Radio, Ballentine Laboratories, Seabury & Sons, etc. grew up 
together in the Boonton area.

    Lewis M. Hull directed the initial RFL research which also involved 
Stuart Ballentine.  The aim was to develop equipment which could be 
patented and manufactured by others.

    In 1924 RFL licensed Stromberg-Carlson, a telephone equipment 
manufacturer, to build radio receivers under RFL patents.  Other 
licensees in 1925 included American Bosch, Crosley, Electrical Research 
Laboratories, Kellogg Switchboard Co., Grigsby-Grunow, Sangamo Electric 
and DeForest.

    By 1927 RFL held 33 U.S. and six foreign patents.  It was involved 
in a cross-licensing arrangement with RCA, Hazeltine and AT&T.

    Aircraft Radio Corporation was initially RFL's "aircraft division" 
but it was set up as a subsidiary in 1928, with Hull as president of 
A.R.C. and vice-president of RFL.  A second subsidiary was the Boonton 
Research Corp.  Seabury & Sons became a distributor for RFL.

    As far as I can tell, A.R.C. and Boonton Research were pretty much 
paper subsidiaries, with separate development laboratories, though  in 
close physical proximity to each other and described in RFL literature 
as all part of the whole.  A.R.C. was tasked with designing equipment 
specifically tailored to aircraft, while RFL's direction was home radio 
receiving equipment.  The airfield, hanger and laboratory were already 
up and running by January 9, 1929, when RFL held an engineering 
conference there.  The list of attendees from RFL included people from 
A.R.C. and B.R.C. but they were all listed under "RFL."

    RFL always claimed it designed and built Jimmy Doolittle's blind 
flight receiver and the Model B, but that was done at the time A.R.C. 
was in the process of being changed from RFL's aircraft division to a 
separate (but not VERY separate) subsidiary.  It is probably pointless 
to try to decide whether RFL or A.R.C. gets the credit.  It was all in 
the same pot.

    A.R.C. went on with aircraft equipment, building a little in-house 
while having Stromberg- Carlson do the actual manufacture of 
considerable equipment that was sold as an A.R.C. product.  Stromberg at 
the same time was building and selling home radio stuff under RFL license.

    As A.R.C. explained, "During the ensuing years, airborne apparatus 
for military aircraft received increasing emphasis owing to the limited 
nature of the existing civilian markets." (read: Depression.)

    A.R.C. went on becoming more important, while RFL languished.

    While A.R.C. sold gear to civilian fliers in the 1930s, and to the 
air lines, others such as Western Electric, GE and Collins more and more 
took over the air transport market and the private flier market was 
pretty small.  Such as that market was it was handled by RFL.   By 1940 
A.R.C. was about 99% military.

    RFL existed at least until WW II and indeed in 1938 was selling a 
loop-type "beacon-compass" to private fliers.

    Unfortunately, many of my RFL and A.R.C. brochures are not dated. 
Regrettably, a couple are beginning to disintegrate because of the acid 
used in making the paper.  I am going to make photocopies of them right 
now so the data will not be lost.

- Gordon Eliot White