Over a hundred years have passed since Thomas Edison invented the incandescent lamp, phonograph, and projector, during which Kondo Electric Industry Co., Ltd, the predecessesor of the Company was founded in 1927 in Setagaya, Tokyo as a manufacturer and saller of special incandescent lamps for projectors, flood lighting, and airport lighting. At that time, projectors were equipped to project still pictures and animation films, and were being mass-produced in response to the increasing demand. The incandescent lamp, the light source of a projector, was in strong demand both at home and abroad. In particular, the motion picture projector was added with a reproducing function using the edges of films, and an incandescent lamp for sound reproduction (exciter lamp) was also developed. In 1968, Kondo Electric Industry launched a joint venture with GTE Sylvania Inc. (U.S.) and constructed a factory for halogen lamps in Kahoku in Miyagi prefecture in 1973. Various technologies were introduced from GTE Sylvania, including an equipment to mix halogen and inert gas, which enabled the manufacture of multi-purpose halogen lamps.
The nation's first halogen lamp with a reflector was manufactured that time for film projectors. The reflector was coated with a special vacuum multi-layer film (dichroic coating) on the glass side, which reduced the heat reflected from the lamp and protected the film. This technology is still adopted in lamps for various applications. On the other hand, producion of incandescent lamps at Tsuchiura, Ibaraki was transferred to Kahoku factory, which later became a factory of special lightings. (Over the years, the special incandescent lamp was replaced by the halogen lamp. Subsequently, its production and sales were stopped.)
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In the 1980s, we implemented a process for filaments, which are critical parts of lamps, aiming to reduce development and delivery leadtime, and increase product quality. As halogen lamps operate by chemical reaction called the halogen cycle with a filament and filled gas, if they are controlled at the same site (factory) it helps greatly to maintain high quality.
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Moreover, various inspection and measuring equipments, such as gas analysers have been introduced for quality control.
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The technology provided by these appliances has enabled the horizontal deplopment of various special-purpose products such as a halogen heater lamp used for silicon wafer heat processing which resists an irregular lighting voltage used in semiconductor manufacturing process, and a standard light source for measuring analysis which requires high reliability.
In 1992, the company was taken over by Philips Lighting Holdings B.V. in Holland, and launched development, production, and sales of discharge lamps (metal halide lamp) in 1995. Currently, halogen lamps and discharge lamps are provided world-wide for various special applications in the fields of UV light, visible light and, infrared light.
