Here is a short film (25min) on the manufacturing process of Mullard valves.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dErsA6wFmlM.

Thanks - I've bookmarked this for later..
Maven

I watched that one a while ago, great informative film

Blackburn story is good history too if you haven't seen it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDvF89Bh27Y.

Puts me in mind of what Holden was originally planning to do...making everything
thought not as far as making the steel...

Hard to think that 10 years latter transistors had put pretty much paid to Blackburn thought I am not sure when it draw it last breath...kinda sad... not just for valves but the whole idea of producing goods in your own country..from beginning to End

Thanks Redxm

Puts me in mind of what Holden was originally planning to do...making everything thought not as far as making the steel...

There was a time when most car makers did make the majority of their own parts though Holden in particular made just about everything including axles and automatic gearboxes. Tyres and the humble radio were made by others though.

Probably fair to say that very few carmakers do more than make the basic body and the engine of a vehicle now and just bolt on stuff made elsewhere by specialist contractors.

Yes very true these days... every-things done on a whom can provide at the best price in that particular field of manufacture..out sourced.

Just on valves and them being made here,
it was mentioned in another post of them being made in rather small premises originally forgotten who it was AWV possibly.

After watching a video of some guy in the USA hand making valves well I can see how some just got in and done it here...looking at Blackburn that was like the mecca of the tech but really its not all that hard if you can create the right tools and get your hand on the right materials ..thought very time consuming process and Id guess you have to get use to quite few failures
not that I am going to try but its good to see it being done

Anyway here glass slinger goes through all the tools his made to make Valves with.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FN9J4zgsgk.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeowhLVl7Hw.

The Vids are all rather long and multi part

Making Type C triode
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAMRHcbE3g0.

Anyway if you watch one being made it tends to give you a greater appreciation I think for those Glowing Glass Bottles

...it was mentioned in another post of them being made in rather small premises originally forgotten who it was AWV possibly.

AWA made the Expanse-B valve and a few other types at their original Radio-Electric Works in Knox Street, Darlington. This predates their AWV division by several years. The building is still there but it has since been converted into a block of flats.

It might well have been that Brad, was it a shop front?.. probably in the factories post or a link off there I seen it....anyway I found the idea interesting

There is another up on YT of a some guy in France making a radio tube too
(I might have posted it before somewhere here not sure now..anyway worth a look)
you can see the basic steps are pretty much the same as in the blackburn videos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzyXMEpq4qw.

(the repetitive music gets annoying thought)

His website seems to be gone thought

Thanks Brad

It might well have been that Brad, was it a shop front?.. probably in the factories post or a link off there I seen it...

Here.

Very tedious process at Mullard but the product was quality. Would have been Philips' headache if operation ran at a loss. Too much 'vertical-integration' (making their own tungsten wire from scratch) Couldn't they have got wire from Miniwatt in Eindhoven? Same with Mullard colour picture tubes, why did Philips duplicate this in two nearby countries?

Although vertical integration was big in first half of 20th century like massive Ford Rouge River complex: raw materials IN - cars OUT! And Western Electric Hawthorne Works (made everything for telecom from raw materials). Both employed 10's of thousands and no longer exist! But both have museums nearby (Ford's has steam generators from Rouge)(didn't have to move them far fortunately!). (Hawthorne only has clock tower still there!)

Similar situation here with all the badge-engineering that went on. AWA and Philips had the only large-scale valve factories though they did a lot of badge-engineering on them. Philips made lots of valves here with Mullard labels though oddly, EMMCO (via Airzone) made Mullard-badged radios for a long time before Philips assumed this role.

Then there is the humble light globe. As far as I know there's only been one large lamp factory in Australia, located near Newcastle in NSW. They made one series of products (15,25,40,60,75,100,150,200,300,500 and 1000 watt light globes and 10,15,20,40,65 and 80 watt fluorescent tubes). Yet the brand they stamped on them depended on where you bought them. Philips, Osram, GEC, Sylvania, Thorn, Crompton, GE, Home Brand, Embassy, etc.

When I was employed by the Department of Health a long time ago I found that they also badged lamps for the New South Wales Government so it could be proved if someone had stolen lamps from the government's supply. Under the brand name all lamps either had 'NSWG' stamped adjacent or had the name of the statutory authority stamped in lieu. The former Sydney County Council's fluorescent tubes had 'SCC' embossed on the end caps.

As for doubling up, AWA did a bit of that. If you look at one AWA radio you'll see Ducon condensers, a Rola loudspeaker and IRH resistors yet the next model will have either an AWA or MSP loudspeaker and AWA's own condensers. I am not sure if AWA drew their own wire for filaments but if they did it wouldn't surprise me. Additionally, much of AWA's manufacturing machinery was made in-house too.

they also badged lamps for the New South Wales Government

I remember the naked low wattage incandescent bulbs in Sydney's old "red rattler" rail carriages had NSW GR or similar stamped on them. Of course you had to be quick to notice because usually the lights were off more than they were on due to breakers tripping out. Sometimes it was like being in a disco with slow motion strobes. LOL!

Yes, they did too and I still remember the flicker well, or more of a shimmering really. To be honest I never thought once of lifting any of those lamps. Its not like someone wouldn't have got away with it. No cameras back then and in the middle of the day one often had a whole car to themselves. I always wondered why the flicker/shimmer from lights in those trains. They had a battery bank under the floor which kept the lights on when the pantographs were lowered and this should have kept the supply voltage smooth.

As far as I know there's only been one large lamp factory in Australia, located near Newcastle

Factory owned by Philips?
Amazing amount rebranding going on there (Philips & GE being fierce competitors today - lights/medical equipment) but at least they were made in Australia!

The lamp factory was jointly owned by Philips and another mob, I don't remember who though. Philips also used to make Xray equipment here. They were the days.

Valve Production by the Amalgamated Wireless Valve Company, Sydney Australia

http://youtu.be/89pNkNIAcI4.