[Collins] Art Collins and Collins Radio

[Dr. Gerald N. Johnson]

On 7/5/2014 1:38 PM, Glen Zook wrote:
> During my tenure at Collins, April 1967 to April 1969, every division
> had an "Art" project to keep him away from units that were scheduled to
> ship. Art had a very bad habit of making minor design changes and
> insisting that those changes be made to every unit that had not already
> been shipped to the customer. Then, before all the changes were made, he
> would make some more. The result was that nothing was being shipped to
> the customer and, as such, no money was coming in.

I didn't detect that "Art" project in high power and broadcast 
transmitters but he had a bigger effect than a few circuit changes.

In 1966 I (with the help of shipping and three lab techs) shipped all 9 
of the 821A-1 to VOA. Sales had been out with 16x20 prints of pictures 
of the 821A-1 and the potential customers always were said to have 
stayed with the one of my diagnostic panel the longest. But with new 
sales, Art decreed that no more 821A-1 were to be made, that the Pi-Line 
output network must be replaced and many other changes made. I designed 
a coil for the 821A-2 that had to hack 60 KV peak RF end to end, and 60 
kV peak RF to ground at each end (90 degree phase shift end to end) and 
be variable. Best I could detect when I took a leave of absence at the 
end of the summer of '66 was that the 821A-1 and 821A-2 had in common 
the Collins name, the PA tubes, the modulator tubes, maybe the RF driver 
tube and the RF driver tube socket. That 821A-2 was computer controlled, 
computer logged, computer diagnosed, it had moving contacts in the 250 
KW carrier output network (the Pi Line had no moving contacts, just lots 
of vacuum variables), it had no manual control panels, all was by a tty 
hooked to the PDP computer. Its a wonder he didn't require the computer 
be a Collins computer that was still more a gleam than a real product. I 
think there are 821A-2 still in service, but I know there are no 821A-1 
in service. There is one on display at the VOA museum at Bethany OH and 
the old station manager who gave me the tour last fall said it gave good 
service after a few modifications and some repairs like replacements of 
the 28 position rotary switch wafers in the D/A converter that preset 
all 9 servos for each frequency change.
>
> Of course, the "Art project" was never intended to ship. But, by keeping
> him occupied with those projects, he didn't make design changes to those
> items that were destined to be sold to customers.
>
> During the late 1960s, the Wall Street Journal had an article on Collins
> Radio Company. In that article it was stated that the company survived
> "in spite of" and NOT "because of" Art Collins. Needless to say, the
> Wall Street Journal was not popular around the Collins Radio Company for
> some time.

Art was good and bad for the company. He drove technology forward 
wanting new products and he crippled technology by not wanting new stuff 
from new manufacturers. He hurt profits by micromanaging projects he 
wasn't competent in, but as majority share holder he had command. Nobody 
dared tell him anything he didn't want to hear. He made all design 
decisions. We sold the 821A-1 for about $120K per unit, we spent at 
least $2.2M in engineering. He underbid the project to get into higher 
power than Collins had ever before. I figure $120K was about purchase 
parts price, so we gave away engineering and fabrication expenses. In 
the time I worked there (first in Cedar Rapids, then in Richardson, Arts 
choice, not mine) there were several times when he went to banks for a 
couple hundred million loan and the banks would only make the loan if he 
reduced the white collar work force by 10%. On one of those we lost an 
engineer while working 60 hour weeks. That is not good management 
especially when the contract has a daily penalty for late delivery.

Hilmer Swanson was in the group that moved south the year I did and he 
left Collins to go to Gates and produced PWM AM transmitters with much 
higher power line to RF efficiency and was practically knighted by the 
broadcast industry because he cut their power bills in half. I know he 
was thinking about series switching in place of crowbar shorting the 
power supply for high voltage arc protection at Collins because he had 
me searching for suitable dedicated series switch tubes. Its been said 
that he proposed the combination of arc protection switch and modulation 
at Collins but was rejected (Art could have said, "It didn't work in 
1938, it won't work now" a statement he made about another AM proposal) 
so he moved back north to Gates at Quincy. He was very happy and 
innovative at Gates. I don't know that Hilmer's idea was rejected at 
Collins but it could have been. He left before I did.
>
> Yes, as far as I know, none of the 30L-1 transmitters were shipped to
> customers. However, if you look closely at the early advertisements for
> the KWS-1, you will see that the nomenclature on the transmitter
> pictured in the advertisement is 30L-1 and not KWS-1.

Including the Collins pages in the ARRL Handbook. A place with much 
longer longevity than magazines.
>
> Also, when the name KWS-1 was adopted, the 32W-1 SSB exciter was
> dropped. Like the 30L-1 transmitter, only a handful of 32W-1 exciters
> were ever built.

Art wanted Collins ham gear only in the elitist ham shacks, nothing at 
competitive pricing. The 75A-4 and KWS-1 weren't called the "Gold Dust 
Twins" for being affordable. He wasn't a great fan of the S-line though 
he used several in place of A-4 and KWS-1 because it was popular and 
almost affordable. Word was that he wanted the next ham gear to be 
affordable only by a few. I suspect the 32W-1 exciter would have sold 
well, way better than the KWS-1 because it was more affordable. Not 
Art's vision though. As it was, the 32S was more versatile and more 
powerful than the 32W-1 and probably more affordable and found many 
military sales as well as ham sales. Likely paid for the engineering 
time with big long term profits.
>
> I still have some of the 4-page, full color, advertisement reproductions
> for the 30L-1 transmitter, 32W-1 exciter, and the 75A-4 receiver that I
> had done for the Collins Users' Conference held here, in Dallas, Texas,
> in 2001.
> Glen, K9STH
>
Rockwell bought Collins for about $232 million, about annual gross sales 
and not much over what Art was borrowing from the banks each year. I 
figured all the "managers" would have to be replaced because Art had not 
allowed them to make decisions, but survivors tell me they did well 
justifying each department on profits and making profitable design 
decisions. Art's quest for innovation survives without his penchant for 
micromanaging. His management consultation company didn't find many 
customers if any. But it gave him something to do. He could have been an 
asset to Rockwell if he had been given a dozen lab techs, a big lab and 
some budget to do his projects. He didn't like that idea though it 
wasn't as prestigious as being head of a company with 20,000 employees, 
though he still tried to manage it the same was as if it was still in 
his basement with 6 employees.

His treatment of engineers as indentured servants has affected my 
attitudes ever since, enforced by being drafted while on that leave of 
absence. I've not had a job on a payroll since. I've become very 
independent. In my one mah company I've had occasional employees and I 
mother henned them to death, like Art. Breaking the micromanagement 
spirit took decades of being radio club president.

73, Jerry, K0CQ, Technical Adviser to the Collins Radio Association.