The Allen D. Cardwell Manufacturing Corporation was a leading producer of radio parts from the 1920s through the 1950s. In 1908, Allen Cardwell (1888-1951) began working in the telecommunications industry as an employee of his stepfather’s business, American Telegraph Typewriter Company. By the 1920s, Allen Cardwell had taken over the company and began to supply parts to the burgeoning radio industry.

Cardwell made many types of telecommunications equipment, including telegraph transmitters, wavemeters, coils, receivers, and other types of radio equipment. Cardwell was perhaps best known for their condensers (better known today as capacitors), an important electronic component in radios. Cardwell claimed that their sophisticated condensers provided listeners with a smoother sound and less static interference than their competitors’ models.

Cardwell designed products for a variety of companies, including Western Union, American Telephone & Telegraph (AT&T), Western Electric, and the Radio Corporation of America (RCA). Cardwell also designed the first automatic stock quotation system for the New York Stock Exchange. Additionally, Cardwell worked closely with the United States Government, designing and manufacturing communications equipment for the United States Navy, the Army Signal Corps, and the Bureau of Standards. During World War II, Cardwell supplied equipment to the Allied forces, and on May 15, 1943, the employees of Cardwell received a telegram from General Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969) thanking them for their support of the war effort.

Cardwell also sold radio equipment to individual consumers and hobbyists. Products were sold to distributors, who then marketed the parts to electronics supply stores. The company used various promotional methods to build the Cardwell brand in hopes that consumers would request their products by name when visiting retail stores. Consumers could also order specialty versions of parts directly from Cardwell.

In 1944, Cardwell moved its headquarters from Brooklyn, New York, to Plainville, Connecticut. By the early 1950s, the company was known as the Allen D. Cardwell Electronics Productions Corporation, reflecting the company’s shift to the design and manufacture of a wider variety of telecommunications products. After the company was bought by Norman Kjeldsen (1916-2003) in 1957, it was renamed the Cardwell Condenser Corporation. In 1959, the headquarters were moved once again, this time to Lindenhurst, New York, on Long Island. From the 1960s through the 1990s, Cardwell purchased many smaller companies and continued to build its business of supplying electronics and telecommunications equipment. In 2004, Cardwell became a part of the Viking group and is now known as Viking Technologies, Ltd.