In the early 50s Louis King started designing and manufacturing FM isocouplers and AM antenna tuning units using inductors manufactured by E.F. Johnson and capacitors manufactured by Sangamo. He hired two Army veterans who he trained to oversee manufacturing and field service, respectively. He outsourced the metal cabinet works and the painting. In the mid-fifties he manufactured his first directional antenna phasing cabinet .
During these early manufacturing years of Louis Kings business, he was also providing broadcast consulting services and was involved in the preparation of AM license applications and directional antenna Proofs of Performance for many clients in the southeastern US. It was in 1962 that Louis arrived at the company name of Kintronic Laboratories.
As a broadcast consultant Louis enjoyed working with such esteemed Professional Broadcast Engineers as Bob Silliman, Ogden Presthold, Bob duTreil, John Mullaney, Palmer Greer and others. He would often leave home around midnight to work on transmitters that were off the air.
By the early 60s Kintronic’s business needed a facility with more manufacturing space. It was at this time that it moved to a rented building located at 801 English Street in downtown Bristol . As a result of the discontinuation of E.F. Johnson’s inductor and RF contactor production, Kintronic undertook the design of fixed and variable inductors and RF contactors. The design to improve the E.F. Johnson inductors by changing the frame bars from a straight design to a bowed design made it easier for the field engineer to adjust the inductor without scratching up his knuckles in the process and by changing the round contact pins on the E.F. Johnson contactors to a rectangular design to facilitate a more robust, larger surface area contact between the contact bar and the finger stock in the contact holder. Kintronic also developed a superior roller contact design for 20 amp variable inductors resulting in increased surface contact between the roller assembly and inductor winding, which served to eliminate arcing and pitting under power. The ultimate impact of these design improvements was a more reliable and user friendly AM antenna system.
In 1977 Kintronic signed a contract with Gates Radio to provide a 3 x 100kW AM triplexer for installation in Rio de Janeiro , Brazil . This was the largest project that Kintronic Labs had endeavored to produce up to that time. Upon completion of this high power AM project Kintronic Labs was out of debt and has maintained a positive cash flow since that time. It was around this time that Kintronic devoted its full time attention to the manufacturing of broadcast transmission equipment.
In the late 70s Kintronic worked with a manufacturer of inductorless wirewound resistors to design and develop a series of convection cooled and forced air cooled transmitter test loads for carrier powers from 1-50 kilowatts plus 125% modulation. It later developed a 100kW and 200kW load designs based on the successful launch of the lower power loads.
In early 1985 they moved to their present location in Sullivan County outside of Bristol where they consolidated our administrative and manufacturing facilities.
From concept to on air, Kintronic Labs, Inc. is ready to serve your radio broadcast facility needs in a timely, efficient, and cost effective manner. Kintronic Labs, Inc has established a world wide reputation for top quality products and timely solutions.