Book on the History of Ekco

[YoungManGW]

Apologies if this has already been posted, but I thought forum members might be interested to know that there's newly out a book on the history of Ekco. Ekco Sounds, by Chris Poole and Peter C Brown, is available from Estuary Publishing, price £9.99 plus postage. (I've no connection with either author or publisher.)

[dave walsh]

Interesting. Not a compendium of sets [from the description] but the social/technical history of the Company and its developement. Seems to be a community based publisher that's worth supporting as well. Thanks for posting I intend to get a copy.
Dave

PS. Your site is very interesting as well!

[Peter.N.]

Should be interesting, there have been several partial stories about E K Cole on TV over the last few years.

Peter

[Dickie]

Yes, thanks for the post. I've just ordered a copy, note the free postage offer for December

[Cobaltblue]

Also ordered a copy thanks for the tip

Cheers

Mike T

Here... http://www.estuarypublishing.co.uk/slide/ekco-sounds/

...and just ordered one.

[Jac]

Why did they use a Philips radio for the front cover photo?

Jac

[thermionic]

Thanks for flagging this publication up, I have just ordered a copy. This promises to be a good read as one of the authors once worked for Ekco.


SimonT

[Nickthedentist]

Originally Posted by Jac

Why did they use a Philips radio for the front cover photo?

I presume someone thought the Philips looked more evocative of the period than any Ekco did - truely bizarre! Maybe it will tell us more in the book.

Nick

[mark pirate]

They should have used an RS3 for the cover!
Looks like a good read though, with free postage for a limited time.

Mark

[Robert Darwent]

Ekco made bakelite mouldings for other manufacturers as well as for their own models, eg; the cabinet for the Philco 444 people's set.

Just wondering if they made the bakelite front on the 834 model for Philips used on the cover? Although having said that, a company as large as Philips probably produced their own mouldings.

Regards

[Jac]

Hello Robert,

Yes, as far as I could find out, Philips made the cabinets for the 834 in the bakelite ("Philite") factory in Eindhoven.
But it is not impossible that for sets assembled in the UK, Ekco supplied some parts as well. On the other hand this would have meant moulds in Eindhoven as well as at the Ekco plant, which makes it a bit unlikely again.
Depends perhaps as well on the quantity required and on the production capacity of the (large) Eindhoven factory...

Book looks nice though.
I would like to know if the pre-war Ekco TV manufacture and design is also covered!

Jac

[Andrewausfa]

I've only skipped through it but there's a little bit about the tie in with Scophony.

Andrew

[Brigham]

That's all you ever get about Scophony- a little bit.

Book duly ordered.

[Robert Darwent]

Originally Posted by Robert Darwent

Just wondering if they made the bakelite front on the 834 model for Philips used on the cover? Although having said that, a company as large as Philips probably produced their own mouldings.

Originally Posted by Jac

Yes, as far as I could find out, Philips made the cabinets for the 834 in the bakelite ("Philite") factory in Eindhoven.

Yes I thought so, I was just trying to find a reason for using the Philips 834 on the front cover instead of an Ekco model.

I've now had time to browse the book and it is largely the history of the Ekco company as remembered by E.K. Cole's son Derek and a number of former workers. So if you're looking for specific information on a radio or TV model then that is not what this book is about - an interesting read though.

There are a few appendix at the back one of which gives the company structure in January 1960. Apparently Ekco consisted of several subsidiary and associate companies, most notable of for me being Ferranti Radio & Television Ltd and Dynatron Radio Ltd.

I knew there was a link with Ferranti and that the "jellymould" bakelite cabinets used by the Ferranti 145 and others were made by Ekco, but I didn't know they owned Ferranti as a subsidiary. Likewise, I didn't know Ekco owned Dynatron - I thought Dynatron was more connected with Hacker?

Regards

[Jac]

Thank you Andrew, Brigham and Robert for the info about the TV-content of the Ekco book.

Jac

[mark pirate]

Originally Posted by Robert Darwent

I didn't know Ekco owned Dynatron

Ekco acquired Dynatron in the 50's, Dynatron TV's were Ekco sets with a posh frock!

As far as I remember, the Hacker brothers left Dynatron and set up their own company producing high quality sets of their own.
I am not sure if Hacker were taken over by Ekco in the 60's?

Mark

[Robert Darwent]

If you've bought the book you'll find the following video interesting too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhF2UepHCBw

Regards

[Paul_RK]

Originally Posted by mark pirate

I am not sure if Hacker were taken over by Ekco in the 60's?

No, nay, never

Dynatron was indeed taken over by Ekco in 1955, and the Hacker brothers stayed on as managing directors before leaving in 1959 to start production again using their own name. Ekco themselves were swallowed by Pye in the early '60s, who in turn became part of Philips. Philips weren't particularly interested in the Dynatron arm (though Dynatron's cabinet works was kept going and produced among other things the cabinets for Philips' R634 reproduction radio in the late '70s), and they sold the Dynatron brand to Roberts who used it in place of their Roberts Video brand as a continuation of their fairly short-lived venture into the colour TV market.

Hacker was independent until 1976. Before vanishing in 1979/80 the brand was owned in turn by an engineer/financier (Harry McGhee), seat belt manufacturer Pullmaflex and finally Motoradio, who moved Hacker production to their Bournemouth base. Geoffrey Dixon-Nuttall told me that Roberts eventually bought the rights to the Hacker name to ensure that nobody else would revive it.

Paul

[Cobaltblue]

I posted this earlier elsewhere but thought some might like to see it.

This is a cutting from EKCO service Bulletin Vol 1 No3 December 1931.

The same Bulletins editorial is keen to see the back of the "dabbler" and to promote the "legitimate trader".

I love reading the manufacturers in house publications.

Cheers

Mike T