Radio Craftsmen
Radio Craftsmen was a small American maker of radio and audio equipment, and most of what is known about it comes from collector sources such as Radiomuseum, which the original site quoted. According to that account, it was founded around 1947 by John Cashman, and its first product was a kitchen radio called the Kitchenaire, shown by Sams Photofact in October 1946.
Its lasting importance lies in the people who worked there. Sidney Smith, who engineered the first C500 amplifiers, later joined Marantz, where he contributed to the circuits of its classic tube era. Ed Miller left to found Sherwood in Chicago in 1953. The C500 series itself, introduced in 1951 according to the same source, was a Williamson-type amplifier with two KT66 output tubes in triode connection.
We have not found an independent encyclopaedia entry for the company, so treat these dates as the collector sources give them.
“The Radio Craftsmen” seems to be founded in 1947 by John Cashman who before worked at Hallicrafters Radio Company. The first product (perhaps even before the official foundation of the company) is the very special designed kitchen radio “Kitchenaire”. Shown by SAMS Photofact in October 1946, this date is for sure. But the aim was to develop and produce home audio and television sets. Ed Miller and Sid Smith were two major engineers to work for Radio Craftsman during early 40’s – mid 50’s. Actually, Ed Miller is the founder of Sherwood and who leave Radio Craftsman before 1953 (This year he founded Sherwood and mainly focused on integrate amp and receiver). Sid Smith later left Radio Craftsman and joined Marantz as chief engineer in 1954. Via www.radiomuseum.org