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Philips & Co, the seed that grew
into an international corporation
On 27 April 1891, Gerard Philips purchased an empty factory building on the
Vrijstraat in Eindhoven for the sum of NLG 12,150. Soon afterwards,
on 15 May 1891, the firm
'PHILIPS & CO' was founded, and began the production of
carbon-filament lamps.
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Electric light, a
revelation
In the exposition you can follow the development of electric
light from the first carbon-filament lamps.
A host of products, pictures and posters illustrate the
evolution of the lamp, which defined Philips's profile for
decades.
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Spectacular development of sound
The first systems for recording and reproducing sound came
into being towards the end of the 19th century. The
collection shows the evolution from cylinder and metal disc
musical boxes to gramophones and from crystal receivers to
stereo radio's. One of the many eye-catching exhibits is the
very first complete Philips radio receiver, consisting of a
separate receiver unit, power supply and loudspeaker. In
fact at the beginning of the age of radio, Philips only
produced separate loudspeakers, radio valves and the like
for third parties. It was not until 1927 that the company
started the production of complete radio sets.
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Images, from black-and-white
to colour
From the late 1920's
Philips played a role in the
first experiments in 'mechanical' television based on the Nipkov
disc. Only much later
the cathode-ray tube was used for television. Nowadays we have TVs with
plasma and LCD screens. In the exposition you can see vintage
television sets, as well as related products like video recorders,
professional studio cameras and an 'antique' cinema projector. |
Philishave, an
international success story
The world-famous Philishave dry-shaver with rotating head
was a unique Philips invention. Almost the complete
development of this still popular appliance can be seen in
the exposition, from the first 'single rotating head', later
known as 'the Steel Beard'.
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Professional products
As well as consumer products, Philips has produced a wide spectrum
of professional products in many fields. You can see many examples,
such as electron microscopes, X-ray equipment, a studio
mixing desk, measuring apparatus and a short-wave transmitter.
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And so much more.....
In the exposition you will find a host of other
things that are well worth seeing, like a large model of the small provincial town of
Eindhoven in the year 1890, advertising posters, photographs, etc.
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