Blue collar science: Bringing the transistor to life in the Lehigh Valley

Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences

Volumn 32, Issue 1, 2001, Pages 71-113

  Leslie, Stuart W ^a  

^a JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0039246892     PISSN: 08909997     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1525/hsps.2001.32.1.71     Document Type: Article

References (167)

1. M. Tanenbaum, "Part of material prepared 7/67 for testimony by M. Tanenbaum, Pacific Rate Case, 1967 85-10-01, AT&T Archives.
2. Robert Boardman, "Bell Laboratories," WE, 15 (1963), 9.
3. Michael Riordan and Lillian Hoddeson's Crystal fire:The birth of the information age (New York, 1997), provides the best history of the transistor, with some attention to manufacturing at Western Electric and Texas Instruments.
4. Anna Lee Saxenian, Regional advantage: Culture and competition in Silicon Valley and Route 128 (Cambridge, 1994) contrasts the horizontal structure of Silicon Valley with the vertical structure of Route 128.
5. Robert Fox and Anna Guagnini, "Laboratories, workshops, and sites: Concepts and practices of research in industrial Europe, 1800-1914," HSPS, 29:2 (1999), 191-294, on 250.
6. Factories can be metaphors, even models, for laboratories, as Daniel Todes suggests in "Pavlov's physiology factory, 1891-1904," Isis, 88 (1997), 205-246, and Daniel Todes, Pavlov's physiology factory (Baltimore, 2001). Laboratories can also be extended beyond their conventional boundaries, as argued by Bruno Latour, The pasteurization of France (Cambridge, 1988), and in a different way by Graeme Gooday, "Instrumentation and interpretation: Managing and representing the working environments of Victorian experimental science," in B. Lightman, ed., Victorian science in context (Chicago, 1997), 409-437. Here, however, I mean that the factory literally had to become a laboratory to meet the unprecedented demands of electronics manufacturing.
7. Factories can be metaphors, even models, for laboratories, as Daniel Todes suggests in "Pavlov's physiology factory, 1891-1904," Isis, 88 (1997), 205-246, and Daniel Todes, Pavlov's physiology factory (Baltimore, 2001). Laboratories can also be extended beyond their conventional boundaries, as argued by Bruno Latour, The pasteurization of France (Cambridge, 1988), and in a different way by Graeme Gooday, "Instrumentation and interpretation: Managing and representing the working environments of Victorian experimental science," in B. Lightman, ed., Victorian science in context (Chicago, 1997), 409-437. Here, however, I mean that the factory literally had to become a laboratory to meet the unprecedented demands of electronics manufacturing.
8. Factories can be metaphors, even models, for laboratories, as Daniel Todes suggests in "Pavlov's physiology factory, 1891-1904," Isis, 88 (1997), 205-246, and Daniel Todes, Pavlov's physiology factory (Baltimore, 2001). Laboratories can also be extended beyond their conventional boundaries, as argued by Bruno Latour, The pasteurization of France (Cambridge, 1988), and in a different way by Graeme Gooday, "Instrumentation and interpretation: Managing and representing the working environments of Victorian experimental science," in B. Lightman, ed., Victorian science in context (Chicago, 1997), 409-437. Here, however, I mean that the factory literally had to become a laboratory to meet the unprecedented demands of electronics manufacturing.
9. Factories can be metaphors, even models, for laboratories, as Daniel Todes suggests in "Pavlov's physiology factory, 1891-1904," Isis, 88 (1997), 205-246, and Daniel Todes, Pavlov's physiology factory (Baltimore, 2001). Laboratories can also be extended beyond their conventional boundaries, as argued by Bruno Latour, The pasteurization of France (Cambridge, 1988), and in a different way by Graeme Gooday, "Instrumentation and interpretation: Managing and representing the working environments of Victorian experimental science," in B. Lightman, ed., Victorian science in context (Chicago, 1997), 409-437. Here, however, I mean that the factory literally had to become a laboratory to meet the unprecedented demands of electronics manufacturing.
10. Mervin Kelly, "A first record of thoughts concerning an important postwar problem of the Bell Telephone Laboratories and Western Electric Company," 1 May 1943, 464-06-02-04, AT&T Archives.
11. Richard Gillispie, Manufacturing knowledge: A history of the Hawthorne experiments (New York, 1991).
12. "Tomorrow's model plant," n.d., 2-5, Agere Systems Archives, Allentown, PA.
13. Robert O. Wolfe, "Remember when...," Electronicle, 43 (1990), 17; Jack Molets, "Allentown celebrates 50 years of producing electronic components," Electronicle, 50 (1997), 1-12; Roy Kaufman, "The Allentown story...," Electronicle, 37 (1984), 1.
14. Robert O. Wolfe, "Remember when...," Electronicle, 43 (1990), 17; Jack Molets, "Allentown celebrates 50 years of producing electronic components," Electronicle, 50 (1997), 1-12; Roy Kaufman, "The Allentown story...," Electronicle, 37 (1984), 1.
15. Robert O. Wolfe, "Remember when...," Electronicle, 43 (1990), 17; Jack Molets, "Allentown celebrates 50 years of producing electronic components," Electronicle, 50 (1997), 1-12; Roy Kaufman, "The Allentown story...," Electronicle, 37 (1984), 1.
16. "Allentown: The plants, the product, the people," WE, 1:1 (1948-49), 8-16, on 10.
17. Hill and Knowlton for the Austin Company, 11 Oct 1948: Western Electric Company press release, 13 Oct 1948, Agere Archives.
18. Ref. 9, 8.
19. "New W.E plant will keep step with tomorrow," 195 Bulletin (1948), 4.
20. Western Electric Company, 11 Oct 1948, p. 2, Agere Archives.
21. Ibid., 3.
22. "Fundamental development of electron tube devices for radio systems," Case No. 10836, v. J, 25 Mar 1947 to 13 Jul 1948, AT&T Archives.
23. Robert Steinmetz, "High purity water," WEE, 3 (1959), 9-14.
24. Western Electric introduces new Allentown plant to Bell System, 11 Oct 1948, Agere Archives.
25. Alexander M. Hanfmann, "Product cleanliness," WEE, 2 (Apr 1958), 24-29.
26. "Can you see what they see?" WE, 3 (1951), 32-33.
27. Author interview with Nanci Mulzet, 8 June 2001.
28. Ref. 14, 5.
29. Ref. 21.
30. Blueprints of BTL - Allentown, Casefile 3823-A, AT&T Archives.
31. J.W. West to J.D. Barry, 4 Mar 1948, Casefile 38233-A, AT&T Archives; "Allentown marks its first ten years," The Bell Telephone Laboratories reporter (1958), 12.
32. D.A Quarles to H.J. Delchamps et al, 16 Aug 1946, Casefile 38233-A, AT&T Archives.
33. I.M. Baker to J.R. Ross, n.d., Casefile 38233-A, AT&T Archives.
34. V.L. Ronci to J.W. West, 29 Jan 1946; J.V. Ronci to S.O. Ekstrand et al, 29 Jan 1946, Casefile 38233-A, AT&T Archives.
35. Allentown Laboratory-253 organizational chart, 1 Jul 1955, included as an appendix in A.E. Anderson and R.M. Ryder, "Development history of the transistor in the Bell Laboratories and Western Electric (1945-1975)," section 1, "General narrative," AT&T Archives.
36. V.L. Ronci to J.R. Wilson, 23 May 1950; V.L. Ronci to G.E. Long, 29 May 1950, Casefile 38233-A, AT&T Archives.
37. Author interview with A. Eugene, 12 Dec 2001.
38. Robert Brewer and James Hosford, "Desigring automatic machines," WEE, 1 (1957), 9-11.
39. V.L. Ronci, "Agenda for BTL-WeCo Conference on WE Employee Loans and Shop Work in WE Area by Resident BTL Dept. 2930," 22 Apr 1946 Casefile 38233-A, AT&T Archives.
40. Brewer and Hosford (ref. 33), 11.
41. T.L. Tuffnell, "Introduction to electron tube theory and manufacturing techniques" (1956), 464-06-02-04, AT&T Archives.
42. "Allentown Plant: Five years of operation at Union Boulevard," n.d. circa 1952, Agere Archives.
43. "Tiny grids perform big job in vacuum tubes," Electronicle, 1:12 (1948), 1-4, on 4; Staff report, "Precision manufacture for high performance in electron tubes," WEE, 1 (1957), 3-8, on 7; "Invisible wire," WEE, 1 (1949), 41.
44. "Tiny grids perform big job in vacuum tubes," Electronicle, 1:12 (1948), 1-4, on 4; Staff report, "Precision manufacture for high performance in electron tubes," WEE, 1 (1957), 3-8, on 7; "Invisible wire," WEE, 1 (1949), 41.
45. "Tiny grids perform big job in vacuum tubes," Electronicle, 1:12 (1948), 1-4, on 4; Staff report, "Precision manufacture for high performance in electron tubes," WEE, 1 (1957), 3-8, on 7; "Invisible wire," WEE, 1 (1949), 41.
46. Ref. 38, "Precision manufacture," 2-8.
47. John Jarrett, "The traveling-wave tube and its manufacture" WEE, 5 (1961), 2-11.
48. Ref. 32.
49. A special issue of The Bell System technical journal, 36 (1957) gives a good summary of the project as the participants saw it. H.A. Lamb and W.W. Heffner, "Repeater production for the North Atlantic link," 103-138 provides a manufacturing perspective.
50. A special issue of The Bell System technical journal, 36 (1957) gives a good summary of the project as the participants saw it. H.A. Lamb and W.W. Heffner, "Repeater production for the North Atlantic link," 103-138 provides a manufacturing perspective.
51. Alburton Spence, "Selecting amplifier tubes for use in submarine cable rigid repeaters," WEE, 7 (1963), 3-4.
52. "What's new in electronics," WE, 15 (1963), 8.
53. Anderson and Ryder (ref. 30), section 5, "Reliability," 116-117.
54. Spence (ref. 43), 4-9.
55. "Last of a long line of highly reliable miniature tubes from Allentown," Electronicle, 26:6 (1972), 3.
56. Riordan and Hoddeson (ref. 3), is easily the best history of transistor, with a particularly detailed account of developments at Bell Laboratories.
57. A.E. Anderson and R.M. Ryder (ref. 30), section 1, "General narrative," 13.
58. "Allentown at twenty," The Bell Telephone Laboratories reporter (1968), 1-12, on 10-11.
59. Richard Shafer, "Mechanized assembly of transistors," WEE, 2 (1958), 3-8, on 3.
60. Anderson and Ryder (ref. 30), section 1, "General narrative," 21.
61. A. Eugene Anderson, "Transistor technology evolution-I" WEE, 3 (1959), 3-12, on 6.
62. Ref. 32.
63. J.A. Morton, "The germanium material problem," 16 Nov 1950, 85-10-01, AT&T Archives.
64. "Ah, yes! I remember it well," WE, 24 (1972), 25-31.
65. "Allentown was a natural for the transistor," Electronicle (1972), 3-4, on 3.
66. "Allentown plant: Five years of operation at Union Boulevard - Design trends," Agere Archives.
67. Anderson and Ryder (ref. 30), section 1, "General narrative," 195-202.
68. Ron Schneiderman, "Making 'em was no bed of roses," Electronic news (18 Dec 1972), 5.
69. Saul Fingerman, "Making the mighty midget," WE, 24 (1972), 13.
70. Anderson and Ryder (ref. 30), section 1, "General narrative," 31, 59.
71. A. Eugene Anderson (ref. 51), 3.
72. Ron Schneiderman (ref. 57); Anderson and Ryder (ref. 30), section 1, "General narrative," 31.
73. A. Eugene Anderson (ref. 51), WEE, 3 (1959), 3-4.
74. Mervin J. Kelly, "First five years of the transistor," Bell Telephone magazine (1953), 81-83.
75. Anderson and Ryder (ref. 30), section 4, "Physical design and facilities," 9-14.
76. Ref. 32. 69. Anderson and Ryder (ref. 30), section 1, "General narrative," 47-51.
77. Ref. 32.
78. J.A. Morton, "Summary of transistor development, 1948-1954," 41, 85-10-01, AT&T Archives.
79. J.A. Morton, "Some thoughts concerning transistor manufacture," 28 Jul 1954, 85-10-01, AT&T Archives.
80. "Background information: History of Bell Telephone Laboratories in Allentown," n.d. circa 1964.
81. Ref. 32.
82. "Andy Anderson retiring: Pioneered electronic device industry," Electronicle, 29 (1975), 2-6, on 2; Ref. 32.
83. R.B. Butterfield, Memorandum, 12 Jul 1961, 85-10-01, AT&T Archives.
84. Anderson and Ryder (ref. 30), section 1, "Geneal narrative," 33.
85. J.A. Morton, "Bell System Transistor Program," Hershey Conference, 1958, 85-10-01, AT&T Archives.
86. A.E. Anderson, Memorandum for File, 6 Dec 1961, Agere Archives.
87. Ralph Mueller, "Manufacturing engineering course," WEE, 4 (1960), 31.
88. Anderson and Ryder (ref. 30), section 2, "Diodes," 3-59, on 55.
89. Ibid., 43-46, 87-89; Roy Kaufman, "The S-pack diode, part 1 - Design and development," WEE, 10 (1966), 2-14.
90. Ibid., 43-46, 87-89; Roy Kaufman, "The S-pack diode, part 1 - Design and development," WEE, 10 (1966), 2-14.
91. J.I. Pankove, "Report on a trip to BTL [Bell Telephone Laboratory], Allentown, PA, 1955 Hagley Museum and Library, 2069 (Box 47).
92. A.E. Anderson, "Miniaturization - its potential effects on people," 11 Sep 1963, Agere Archives.
93. Ref. 32.; Anderson and Ryder (ref. 30), section 1, "General narrative," 40-41.
94. Stephen B. Adams and Orville R. Butler, Manufacturing the future: A history of Western Electric (New York, 1999), 162-163. Although the authors acknowledge that "No one event transformed Western Electric postwar manufacturing than the 1947 invention of the transistor" they give it only a paragraph, in the context of statistical quality control.
95. Anderson (ref. 53), 12.
96. Leslie Simon, "Western Electric Engineering Research Center," Bell Telephone magazine, 17 (1963/64), 25-33, on 29.
97. Anderson and Ryder (ref. 30), section 2, "Diodes," 106-114, on 112.
98. "Reading works, 1952-1992," Solid stater (1992), 4-5; 464-06-02-15, AT&T Archives; F.M. Smits, ed., A history of science and engineering in the Bell System: Electronics technology, 1925-1975 (New York, 1985), 50.
99. "Reading works, 1952-1992," Solid stater (1992), 4-5; 464-06-02-15, AT&T Archives; F.M. Smits, ed., A history of science and engineering in the Bell System: Electronics technology, 1925-1975 (New York, 1985), 50.
100. Thomas J. Misa, "Military needs, commercial realities, and the development of the transistor, 1948-1958," in Merritt Roe Smith, Military enterprise and technological change: Perspectives on the American experience (Cambridge, 1985), 253-288, provides an overview of the military side of Bell's transistor program.
101. M.D. Fagen, ed., A history of engineering and science in the Bell System: National service in war and peace, 1925-1975 (New York, 1978), 622-628; Anderson and Ryder (ref. 30), section 5, "Reliability," 58-61.
102. Morton, "An appraisal of military transistor development - 1948-1957," Table III, AT&T Archives.
103. F.M. Smits, ed. (ref. 90), 49.
104. Morton (ref. 93).
105. Smits, ed. (ref. 90), 50.
106. Jack Morton, "Some thoughts concerning transistor manufacture," 28 Jul 1954, 85-10-01, AT&T Archives.
107. Anderson and Ryder (ref. 30), section 5, "Reliability," 19-23, on 32.
108. Anderson and Ryder (ref. 30), section 5, "Reliability," consider Peck the third author of this section, and quote extensively from his unpublished writings on the theory and practice of reliability.
109. Ibid., 14-15.
110. Ibid., 87-99.
111. Adams and Butler (ref. 86), 160-165.
112. Ibid., 162.
113. Jeffrey Sturchio interview with Bonnie Small, n.d., 31, AT&T Archives.
114. Ibid., 25, 35-36.
115. Adams and Butler (ref. 86), 163.
116. Ref. 32.
117. Anderson and Ryder (ref. 30), section 4, "Physical designs and facilities," 29.
118. Wentworth Boynton, "Super-clean manufacturing: The production of transistors and diodes at Laureldale," WEE, 2 (1958), 37-39.
119. "Reading works," n.d., circa 1982, 6, 464-06-02-15, AT&T Archives.
120. P.H. Morrison, ed., Environmental control in electronic manufacturing (New York, 1973); Anderson and Ryder (ref. 30), section 5, "Reliability," 62-63.
121. Ibid., 10.
122. Raymond Colesworthy and William Fox, "Semiconductor device design and manufacturing development for the SG submarine cable," WEE, 79 (1975), 16-34.
123. "BTL-WE cooperation in low-cost high quality silicon transistors," 464-06-02-04, AT&T Archives, .
124. Saul Fingerman, "Reading works...A rising star," WE, 36 (1983), 2-9.
125. Bell Telephone Laboratories, "Active employees by location," 28 Apr 1983, 464-06-02-04, AT&T Archives.
126. Sheldon Hochheiser, "The innovative monopoly: AT&T, 1914-1984," Paper presented at the Society for the History of Technology, 6 Oct 2001. For AT&T's defensive patenting strategy in response to radio, see Leonard Reich, The making of American industrial research: Science and business at GE and Bell, 1876-1926 (New York, 1985).
127. Sheldon Hochheiser, "The innovative monopoly: AT&T, 1914-1984," Paper presented at the Society for the History of Technology, 6 Oct 2001. For AT&T's defensive patenting strategy in response to radio, see Leonard Reich, The making of American industrial research: Science and business at GE and Bell, 1876-1926 (New York, 1985).
128. Smits, ed. (ref. 90), 336-340.
129. Robert Nicholson, "Thin film circuits," WEE, 10 (1966), 3-6.
130. Douglas Peters, "Allentown thin film," 29 May 1991, Agere Archives; Raymond Deutsch, "Assembly and bonding of thin-film circuits," WEE, 13 (1969), 2-7.
131. Douglas Peters, "Allentown thin film," 29 May 1991, Agere Archives; Raymond Deutsch, "Assembly and bonding of thin-film circuits," WEE, 13 (1969), 2-7.
132. A.E. Anderson, "Estimate of what might be in next ten years," Manufacturing Group Staff Conference, 21-23 Sep 1965, Agere Archives.
133. Smits, ed. (ref. 90), 2241-252; Fingerman (ref. 115), 6.
134. Ross Bassett, "New technology, new people, new organizations: The rise of the MOS transistor, 1945-1975" (Ph.D. dissertation, Princeton University, 1998), 20-46. Bassett traces the story in compelling detail, suggesting that MOS flourished where newcomers to semiconductor technology had a free hand to explore its possibilities, generally in new companies or in new or marginal divisions of older ones, and withered where it had to compete with entrenched interests and technology. For Bassett, Bell Laboratories provides the touchstone of entrenched corporate interest.
135. Smits, ed. (ref. 90), 106.
136. Bassett (ref. 123), 40, 44.
137. Anderson (ref. 121), 14.
138. Anderson (ref. 121), 26.
139. Ernest Braun and Stuart MacDonald, Revolution in miniature (New York, 1978), 123.
140. This is one of the primary conclusions of Bassett's dissertation (ref. 123), who persuasively contrasts the mass production approach of IBM to the flexible specialization of Intel.
141. Christophe Lecuyer, "Making Silicon Valley: Engineering culture, innovation, and industrial growth, 1930-1970" (Ph.D. dissertation, Stanford University, 1999).
142. Ref. 22.
143. Author interview with Edward Hearn, 8 June 2001.
144. Ref. 22.
145. "Effectiveness of Branch Laboratories," 26 June 1973, 464-06-02-04, AT&T Archives.
146. W.S. Boyle to J.W. Falk, 19 Apr 1973, 464-06-02-04, AT&T Archives.
147. Linda Crockett, "Solid State Technology Center," Bell Labs news (7 Nov 1988), 3-7.
148. Author interview with Edward Labuda, 20 Feb 2001.
149. Author interview with Leonard Pietrusznski, 26 Mar 2001.
150. Author interview with Robert Eggers, 26 Mar 2001.
151. Author interview with William Gault, 9 Jul 2001.
152. Tom Moylan, "Trans-Atlantic telephone cable will contain a piece of L.V." The morning call (20 Sep 1987), D-1.
153. Fingerman (ref. 115).
154. Crockett (ref. 136).
155. Ref. 137.
156. Tom Moylan, "AT&T tries a double experiment," The morning call (6 Nov 1988), D1, D7; Author interview with Bruce George, 9 Jul 2001.
157. Author interview with Daniel Wilts, 9 Jul 2001.
158. Author interview with Bruce George, 9 Jul 2001.
159. Crockett (ref. 136), 6.
160. Jack Molets, "Building lightwave: Ed Labuda concentrates on quality, costs, teamwork" (internal Lucent document in possession of the author).
161. Author interview with Walter Holbrook, 26 Mar 2001.
162. Margaret B.W. Graham and Alec T. Shuldiner, Corning and the craft of innovation (New York, 2001), 1-6, 254-255.
163. David Hounshell, "The evolution of industrial research," in Richard Rosenbloom and Mark Myers, eds., Engines of innovation (Cambridge, 1995), 13-85.
164. Martin Kenney, ed., Understanding Silicon Valley: The anatomy of an entrepreneurial region (Stanford, 2000) provides an overview of current thinking about the region's distinctive features.
165. Robert Buderi, Engines of tomorrow: How the world's best companies are using their research labs to win the future (New York, 2000) provides the best account of current thinking about industrial research in the electronics industry.
166. Bob Wolfenbarger, "Timetable for Indian Hill," Bell Telephone Laboratories reporter (1966), 11-13.
167. Bell Telephone Laboratories, "Active employees by location" (28 Apr 1983), 464-06-02-04, AT&T Archives.