G.L. Carrington- quite a guy

[Steve Schell]

Hi gang,

Quite a discovery tonight. I was patent surfing as I do occasionally- reading U.S. Patents related to speakers, following cited references to earlier patents and printing out the juicy ones. This can easily go on for hours and drain printer cartridges.

Anyway, I happened on to a very surprising U.S. Patent issued to G.L. Carrington, long time president of Altec Lansing from the formation of the company in 1941 onward. It describes the speaker that Altec produced beginning about 1946 as the 603 Dia-cone; a 15" full range driver that used a 3" aluminum center dome loaded by a multicellular horn- essentially the same horn that was used in the 604 Duplex. It is U.S. Patent #2,568,883, "Loud-Speaker with Expanding Horn Unit."

The funny thing is that an article introducing the 603 Dia-cone was written by John Hilliard and published in the May, 1947 issue of Audio Engineering magazine ("High Fidelity Loudspeaker of Unique Design"). I had always assumed that the 603 was largely Hilliard's work, likely assisted by Jim Lansing before he left Altec in mid 1946. I am fortunate to own 603 #15, mounted on its original baffle board complete with the authentic-looking initials "JBL" in pencil. Now, kaboom, we find a patent on the design issued to Carrington!

I have always regarded George Carrington Sr. as a management "suit", a competent corporate cheiftain from the old ERPI heirarchy who came to lead Altec after their purchase of Lansing Manufacturing Company. Todd White of the Unofficial Altec Lansing web site has attempted to give credit to Carrington for loudspeaker engineering in our past sparring on the Audio Asylum, and I scoffed at this. It is now looking like some crow pie might be on the menu for me!

The patent can be viewed or printed out at:
http://www.pat2pdf.org/patents/pat2568883.pdf

One thing that has fascinated me ever since this web site was conceived is that the pieces of the history puzzle keep falling into place, bit by bit, seemingly at their own pace. The principals are nearly all dead now, yet useful information continues to surface regularly either in correspondence, in ebay auctions, or in happy accidental discoveries such as this one. Damn, this is fun!

[10 Watt Street]

Thanks Steve for connecting the dots. Here is a pair of the 603 Dia-cone:

[spkrman57]

Looks like one piece copper or brass!

Thanks for the pics!

Ron

[Mr. Widget]

One thing that has fascinated me ever since this web site was conceived is that the pieces of the history puzzle keep falling into place, bit by bit, seemingly at their own pace. The principals are nearly all dead now, yet useful information continues to surface regularly either in correspondence, in ebay auctions, or in happy accidental discoveries such as this one. Damn, this is fun!

Thanks again for another interesting tid bit... and to you and Don for putting this place together.

As much as eBay is damned and sometimes rightly so, it is probably the single most powerful force keeping so many treasures out of the dumpsters around the world.


Widget

[Mr. Widget]

Looks like one piece copper or brass!

It is die cut bakelite, an early plastic. That style of spider can be seen on many other early speakers.


Widget

[edgewound]

It is die cut bakelite, an early plastic. That style of spider can be seen on many other early speakers.


Widget

I thought it was phenolic. Seems bakelite would be too brittle?

[Mr. Widget]

You're right!

It is made of phenolic resin. Phenolic resin is what Bakelite is made of... Bakelite is actually a brand name... like Xerox. It has become synonymous with the product.


Widget

[edgewound]

You're right!

It is made of phenolic resin. Phenolic resin is what Bakelite is made of... Bakelite is actually a brand name... like Xerox. It has become synonymous with the product....


Widget

...or Kleenex...or Coke...or Tivo....or ??

I didn't know that, Widget....now I do.

Thank you for a new tidbit of education.

[Steve Schell]

Right on, edgewound and Mr. Widget. Bakelite used to be a trade name for phenolic resin, or the products made from it. This type of resin was invented by a fellow named Bakelund (or similar), and has been used a great deal in manufacturing from the 1920s on. I'm sure that a Google search would yield more than one ever wanted to know about Bakelite.

Phenolic can be cast or formed into almost any shape, being cured with a combination of heat and pressure. It has a relatively short curing period, which means that lots of parts can be made quickly and cheaply. The finished piece is tough, strong, flexible if thin and very heat resistant. The largest current industrial use is in forming the panels of aircraft and automotive interiors. Cloth materials are coated with semi-cured phenolic, the result being called "prepreg." This material is rolled out and pressed in molds to make the finished pieces.

I once ran across a U.S. Patent for the molded, die cut phenolic-and-cloth spider for loudspeakers; can't find it now, though. The patent was issued to an employee of The Magnavox Company in about 1932, and assigned to the company. Many speakers produced by Magnavox, Jensen, and others began using phenolic spiders from about this time onward.

Here's how this dry treatise relates to Lansing Heritage. As far as I have been able to determine, Jim Lansing began manufacturing his classy, cast frame 15" field coil woofer in about 1933, probably to compete with Jensen's Auditorium Series speakers in the console radio market. I have an early 15X pedestal base woofer that predate's Lansing's use of the phenolic spider; the basket casting does not have the raised bosses and reliefs that allowed the phenolic spider to be fitted. This early 15X has been reconed using a corrugated cloth spider, but it looks like it must have had the same type originally. The 15X is a pedestal base model that includes a rectifier power supply for the field coil. When the Shearer Horn project began at MGM, Jim Lansing was well positioned to participate, already having a suitable woofer in production. The model 15XS (S for Shearer?), as used in the Shearer prototype sytems and Lansing's production version, was nearly identical to the 15X but minus the pedestal base and field supply.

Every Lansing 15" woofer I have seen other than my early one uses the phenolic spider, which I believe Lansing obtained from Magnavox. I took the picture below several years ago; the speaker is a Lansing 15X which is in JBL's collection in Northridge. The identical spider appears in the deluxe 12" and 15" Magnavox units of the 1930s. Lansing distributed Magnavox speakers on the west coast in the 1930s, and I believe that he also obtained parts from them for his own products, including these spiders.

When the Lansing woofers (by then Altec Lansing) were redesigned in 1944 for the Voice of the Theatre, the voice coil diameter was increased to 3". A new phenolic spider of this size was designed for the 515 woofer, and also found its way into the 603 Dia-cone, 604 Duplex and 803 woofer. This spider was replaced by a corrugated cloth model in the early to mid 1950s.

[franz]

Hi Steve and all!

why do you think did phenolic spiders vanish from the market in the 50ies?
Was it just a matter of price?
Were cloth spiders thouht to be more linear ? (I personally don´t think they are)
Was glueing becoming more convenient or popular with the manufacturers?
OTOH they must have been aware that by replacing screwed-on spiders one was also giving up the chance to re-adjust vc centering !?

Were/are phenolic spiders in fact the superior centering system? Goodmans I think still used them in their Axiom 80 reissue.

I would really enjoy to get to know your expertise oppinion here !! Thanks!!


Franz

[Steelyfan]

Bakelite used to be a trade name for phenolic resin, or the products made from it. This type of resin was invented by a fellow named Bakelund (or similar), and has been used a great deal in manufacturing from the 1920s on. I'm sure that a Google search would yield more than one ever wanted to know about Bakelite.

Hello Steve, please allow me, the inventor of Bakelite is Leo Baekeland (1863-1944), (he was an American of Belgian origin).

[Rudy Kleimann]

That Carrington's name appears on the Patent as a result of Altecs' full ownership of Lansing Manufacturing Company i.e., all intellectual property, designs, and future designs by Jim and/or John as Altec emloyees? Or would it be required to Name Jim Lansing and/or John Hilliard in the patent if he/they actually did it? Or am I all wet?


Maybe Zilch would know. I think he has experience regarding patent issues.

[Zilch]

Patent application must name actual inventor(s). There's no "Figureheads," rather, it's the source of the idea for (or discovery of) the invention, though not necessarily those who actually did the work refining or developing it as employees, for example.

Generally speaking, employers have intellectual property rights to inventions of employees in or related to the field of employment for the duration of that employment, and employment agreements often specify additional terms for research and development employees.