Conrac

Lore & Background

Conrac, Inc., was founded in late October 1939 by Leon Whitney Conrow, George L. Carrington, and Harry M. Bessey, all former employees of Western Electric's ERPI division. The company's first product was the Conrac Attendance Register, an electrical people counter using light beams and photoelectric sensors to count theater patrons entering a door. After Conrow's death in 1943, E. Z. Walters became president, and the company maintained close ties with Altec Lansing. In 1949, Conrac pivoted to television manufacturing, acquiring Peyton Video and producing consumer sets under the Fleetwood brand. Under president William J. Moreland, Conrac shifted focus to broadcast reference monitors, releasing the black-and-white CA-16 for CBS and the first commercially available color reference monitor in 1953. In 1961, Conrac was acquired by Giannini Controls Corporation, which renamed itself Conrac Corporation in 1967. Between 1968 and 1969, Conrac worked with RCA to define controlled phosphors for color monitors, leading to the SMPTE C standard, which was largely based on Conrac's existing equipment. By the mid-1970s, Conrac entered the computer industry, producing monitors for investment bankers and later for CAD/CAM, military, aerospace, and medical imaging. Its monitors were used by NASA aboard the Space Shuttle and by JPL for Voyager program images. In the early 1980s, Conrac expanded into telephony, establishing the Alston Division and acquiring Code-A-Phone.

Reader's Guide

Conrac's significance lies in its pioneering role in broadcast reference monitors and its influence on color television standards. The company's 1953 color reference monitor was the first commercially available, and its collaboration with RCA led to the SMPTE C standard, which became the de facto color gamut for television, closely resembling modern HDTV standards. Conrac's monitors were widely adopted in television studios and production facilities, as well as by NASA for critical space missions and planetary imaging. In the computer industry, Conrac competed with Barco, Intergraph, Hitachi, and Mitsubishi Electric, serving high-specification markets. The company's acquisition by Mark IV Industries in 1987 for $150 million marked the end of its independent existence, but its technical contributions to color reproduction and display standards persisted in subsequent digital television formats.

Did You Know?

• Conrac's first product was an electrical people counter for movie theaters, using light beams and photoelectric sensors.
• The SMPTE C standard for color phosphors was largely based on Conrac's existing color reference monitors.
• Conrac monitors were used by NASA aboard the Space Shuttle and by JPL to view images from the Voyager program.