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| Company Name: | Cathodeon Crystals Ltd | ||
| Pye Group Division: | Industrial Components, Processes & Services Division | ||
| Site Location(s): | Main site: Linton, Cambridge | ||
| Feeder factory: Weasenham Lane, Wisbeach | |||
| First/Last Address: | High Street, Linton, Cambridge | ||
| Date Formed/Acquired: | Formed by Pye Ltd: 1953 | ||
| Date Merged/Sold/Closed: | Closed by CEI Ltd: 1989 | ||
| Field of Activity: | Electronic component manufacture: - | ||
Quartz crystals | |||
Crystal filters | |||
Crystal oscillators | |||
| Markets/Customers Served: | Radio communications | ||
PMR (Private mobile radio) | |||
Public Safety | |||
Government Agencies | |||
Fuel & Power Utilities | |||
Petro-chemical & Mining | |||
Transportation | |||
Business & Industry etc. | |||
Military (HF and VHF tactical radio) | |||
Diplomatic Wireless Service | |||
| Scientific instruments | |||
| Electronic process control | |||
| Products/Services Supplied: | Quartz crystals for frequency reference | ||
| Crystal filters for selectivity applications | |||
| Packaged crystal oscillators | |||
| Crystal ovens | |||
| Pi Networks (minor, but important activity) | |||
| Key Products: | Quartz crystals | ||
Metal cans (solder-seal, cold weld, resistance weld) | |||
Glass encapsulation (high precision) | |||
| Crystal filters | |||
Sideband filters for military & Diplomatic Wireless Service HF communications | |||
Intermediate frequency 10.7, 11.5, 21.4 MHz filters etc for for mobile radio | |||
Miniature filters | |||
Used for the first generation of cellular radio mobiles (TACS, latterly, GSM) | |||
Note: worked with the Vodafone design team who were temporarily working in Cincinatti prior to the 1982 network launch in the UK. | |||
| Crystal Oscillators | |||
OCXOs (Oven controlled crystal oscillators) | |||
Mainly used for scientific instruments | |||
TCXOs (Temperature compensated crystal oscillators) | |||
Used as a frequency reference for radio communications fixed stations | |||
SPXOs (Simple Packaged crystal oscillators) | |||
Used for a variety of electronic applications which required better than average frequency control | |||
| Subsidiaries/Divisions/Departments: | Main departments: - | ||
Sales department | |||
Crystal manufacture | |||
Optical shop | |||
Wisbech feeder factory | |||
Electrical shop | |||
Test department | |||
Filter department | |||
Oscillator department | |||
Oven manufacture | |||
Engineering department | |||
R&D | |||
Industrial Engineering | |||
Plant Engineering | |||
Accounts department | |||
| Company Statistics: | Annual Sales Turnover: | £2.8M (1985) | |
| Profit before tax etc: | £165K (5.9%) | ||
| Exports: | 0.357 | ||
| Total Employees: | ~ 520 (full-time corrected) | ||
| Employees at main location: | ~ 470 | ||
| Known Managerial Staff: | Chief Executives: - | ||
Founder - Norman Rolfe (ex. STC) | 1953-1971 | ||
Tony Mugford (ex. Magnetic Devices) | 1971-1975 | ||
Bob Collins (ex. Mullard / Belling Lee) | 1975-1977 | ||
Bill Metcalf (former Technical Director) | 1977-1987 | ||
| Senior staff: - | |||
Roy Brasher (Finance Director) | |||
Stan Bainbridge (Production Manager) | |||
Des Grimwood (Production Director) | |||
Ed Robinson (Production Manager) | |||
Ian Lines (Wisbeach Factory Manager) | |||
Andy Finlayson (Sales Manager) | |||
John Howe (Senior Sales Engineer) | |||
Eric Kentley (Chief Engineer) | |||
John Dowsett (Senior Crystal Engineer) | |||
Tony Rogers (Senior Filter Engineer) | |||
Derek Smith (Senior Oscillator Engineer) | |||
Ed Chamberlain (Industrial Engineering Manager) | |||
Gordon Hulyer (QA Manager) | |||
Barry Reader (Electrical Shop Foreman) | |||
Phillip Biggs (Electrical Shop Foreman) | |||
Roy Butters (Optical Shop Foreman) | |||
Derek Cox (Plant Manager) | |||
Keith McCullum (Plant Manager) | |||
Colin McLeish (Senior Accountant) | |||
Ken Jacobs (Personnel Manager) | |||
Roy Jackson (Personnel Manager) | |||
Ken Curl (Personnel Manager) | |||
Christine Moon (Personnel Manager) | |||
| Key Achievements or Milestones: | 1953: | Opened in Shepherd’s Hall, Linton | |
| 1960: | Moved to purpose-built factory | ||
| 1965: | First 10.7 Mhz crystal filters | ||
| 1971: | Extended factory to ~ 90,000 ft2 | ||
| 1971: | First SSB filters (1.4 MHz) | ||
| 1972: | Introduced synthetic quartz | ||
| 1972: | Set up oscillator production | ||
| 1976: | Opened Wisbech factory | ||
| 1977: | Introduced high precision (glass) glass crystal | ||
| 1978: | TCX (temperature compensated crystals) | ||
| 1978: | Bulk manufacture of 10.7 MHz crystals | ||
| 1983: | Closed Wisbech factory | ||
| 1988: | Closed main factory | ||
| 1989: | Closed remaining operations | ||
| Other Information: | |||
| Company Time Line: | 1960: | Moved to purpose-built factory | 1960 |
| 1953: | Founded | 1953 | |
| 1960: | Factory in Linton | 1960 | |
| 1971: | Major extension | 1971 | |
| 1973: | Opened Wisbeach feeder factory | 1973 | |
| 1976: | Pye purchased by Philips | 1976 | |
| 1981: | Transferred from Pye to CEI | 1981 | |
| 1988: | Closed main production | 1988 | |
| 1989: | Closed all operations* | 1989 | |
* For a short while there was a residue of operations within Newmarket Microsystems run by Ian Lines. Cathodeon Crystals Limited was dissolved in 1992 according to Companies House (Company No. 00525339). | |||
| Document Sources: | Information supplied by Bill Metcalf, Ian Lines, Phillip Biggs & Anthony Jones | ||
| Document version: | v1.1 | Bill Metcalf (30 August 2014) | |
| v2 | Modified by RJH for web site use (23 June 2015) | ||
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