Machlett Laboratories

Machlett Laboratories was a Northeastern United States-based company that manufactured X-ray and high-power vacuum tubes. Machlett was a large producer of the tubes and developed accessories to be used with them as well.

For its contributions to World War II efforts, the US government gave it an "E" award in 1945. The company was bought by Varian in 1989.

The company began as E. Machlett and Son, which was founded in 1897 in New York City, United States as scientific glass makers.

Machlett Laboratories was created from E. Machlett & Sons in order to exploit the then new technology of X-rays. They made X-ray tubes from the beginning to 1989 when they were bought by Varian. In addition to making X-ray tubes, they manufactured high-power vacuum tubes for use in radio and TV broadcasting (857B mercury-vapor half-wave rectifier tube) and for industrial induction heating. Those two sides of the business were about equivalent for most of the life of the company.

Machlett Laboratories, Inc. was established on Hope Street and Camp Avenue in 1934. This manufacturing operation began making X-ray tubes and became the largest producer of its kind in the world. Raymond was president of the company, founded by his father Robert, a scientist who made the first practical X-ray tube in America and devoted his life to making it safe and successful in the field of medicine. Robert Machlett associated with Madame Curie and other leading roentgenologists to make this happen.

They moved to 1063 Hope St. in Stamford, Connecticut, in the early 20th century, and remained there. Among their achievements was a counter made by them for Irene and Frederic Joliot-Curie for use in their experiments on artificial radioactivity in 1934 which is currently contained in the Science Museum in Great Britain. They were given an “E” award by the US government in 1945 for their contribution to the war effort.

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