Ben H. Tongue and Blonder-Tongue Labs

Ben's first job after college in 1945, was as a jr. Engineer at Federal Telephone and Radio Corp. in Newark NJ. The end of WW II and consequent US Government contract cancellations ended that job. Employment was then obtained at Panoramic Radio Corp. from late1945 through late 1949, where he progressed from jr. to Chief Engineer. He then co-founded Blonder-Tongue Labs with Isaac S. Blonder in early 1950. That Company specialized in products related to TV reception and distribution in both home and commercial/educational environments. He and Ike Blonder retired in 1989, and the company continues operations in its plant in Old Bridge, NJ. Blonder Tongue's Website

If you would like to see pictures of the first products Ben designed, in their entirety, at Panoramic Radio Corp, click here

Here are some early Blonder-Tongue Products to look at.
Electronic design by co-founder Ben H. Tongue.

This first Blonder-Tongue product was a low-noise, broadband, fixed-tuned 12 channel VHF TV booster amplifier that used four tubes. It employs a patented RF coupling circuit invented by Ben H. Tongue and was used to improve fringe area TV reception. This unit and its successors were produced from 1950 through about 1960: Model HA-1L	Here is the first B-T UHF tube type converter housed in a plastic cabinet. It was used to enable TV sets of its time to receive the then new UHF TV stations broadcasting on channels 14-83. Various tubed and solid state B-T UHF converters for home use were in continuous production from 1952 through about 1980: Model BTU-2	Here is the 'Audio Baton'. It was the first 'no-inductor' graphic audio equalizer for hi-fi and broadcast use. The unit uses six vacuum tubes and an audio band-pass filter circuit invented and patented by Ben H. Tongue. Nine one-octave bands are individually controlled. Manufactured from about 1959 through 1961: Model B-9
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