Bell Labs and Bell Sound Division Thompson Ramo Wooldridge, Inc. are not associated.
Bell Sound Division was part of TRW originated in 1901 with the Cleveland Cap Screw Company, founded by David Kurtz and four other Cleveland residents.
It lasted more than a century until being acquired by Northrop Grumman in 2002.
In 1950, Simon Ramo and Dean Wooldridge worked for Hughes Aircraft, leading the development of the Falcon radar-guided missile, among other projects. They grew frustrated with Howard Hughes’ management, and formed the Ramo-Wooldridge Corporation in September 1953.
With continued backing from Thompson Products, Ramo-Wooldridge diversified into computers and electronic components, funding Pacific Semiconductors in 1954. They also produced scientific spacecraft such as Pioneer 1.
By 1953, Floyd Bell was nearing retirement and decided to sell his company. Bell Sound was acquired by Thompson Products (originally the Cleveland Cap Screw Company, founded in 1901) for about one million dollars. Bell became a wholly owned subsidiary of Thompson Products (TP), but Bell retained most of its management, its independent identity, and its manufacturing facility in Columbus, Ohio.
However, in the late 1950’s, the hi-fi market became increasingly crowded with a multitude of new manufacturers. Bell Sound met stiff competition from companies like Scott and Harmon-Kardon. The company had annual sales of less than five million dollars in 1958. Thompson Products merged with Ramo-Wooldridge to become the ‘T’ in TRW and Bell Sound.
Thompson Products and Ramo-Wooldridge merged in October 1958 to form Thompson Ramo Wooldridge Inc.
In February 1959, Jimmy Doolittle became Chairman of the Board of Space Technology Laboratories (STL), the division which continued to support the Air Force ICBM efforts.
Dean Wooldridge retired in January 1962 to become a professor at Caltech.
Simon Ramo became President of the Bunker-Ramo Corp in January 1964, a company jointly owned by TRW and Martin-Marietta for the production of computers and displays.
This reel to reel tape recorder was built in 1964. We could find no mention of Bell Sound Division manufacturing this reel tape recorder.
Thompson Ramo Wooldridge officially became TRW Inc in July 1965.
The company was #57on the Fortune 500 list of highest revenue American companies in 1986, and had 122,258 employees in 2000.
They had operations in 25 countries.
When aerospace company Northrop Grumman purchased competitor TRW in 2002, it sold TRW's automotive division to private equity firm The Blackstone Group.
TRW Automotive went public in a February 2004.
The company's operations primarily encompass the design, manufacture and sale of safety systems and is one of the world's largest players in the field. It operates approximately 200 facilities with 70,000 employees in 26 vehicle-producing countries
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