Norman Krim

Norman Krim - Raytheon Engineer and Engineering Manager (1933–1948), Vice President Receiving Tube Division (1948-1950) and First Vice President of Raytheon Receiving Tubes, Cathode Ray Tubes and Semiconductor Division (1950–11961). CEO and consultant for Radio Shack. Retired as Raytheon Historian.

Norman B. Krim (1913–2011) was an American electronics engineer and engineering executive. His drive to create a transistor product for the electronics experimenter-hobbyist market contributed to paving the path for a generation of American electronics engineers and technicians during the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union.

"The result was that a whole generation of aspiring engineers — kids, really, working in their garages and basements — got to make all kinds of electronic projects. A lot of them went on to become engineers." — Harry Goldstein, editor for IEEE Spectrum magazine. He worked for most of his career for Raytheon, (over 75 years).

He began as an engineer at Raytheon when he was hired in 1933 during his junior year at MIT for 50 cents an hour. His first success was in the development of subminiature tubes, in the Special Tubes group. While working in the special tube division, before the outbreak of WW2, he wanted to use subminiature tubes in consumer products (hearing aids and radios). After Raytheon's success in subminiature tubes for wartime applications such as the proximity fuze, Raytheon became the leader in the design and production of subminiature tubes. Raytheon promoted Krim to be head of the Special Tube Division.

The proximity fuze was a small device on an artillery shell that would detonate the shell when close to the target, without requiring a difficult direct hit. Previously, fuzes had relied on a time or altitude setting in the fuze and an estimated target height close enough that the shrapnel cloud would impact the target. Given the extremes of aircraft target range and speed, and of shell accuracy of the day, the proximity fuze dramatically increased the effectiveness of anti-aircraft fire. After World War Two ended, Norman Krim got the go-ahead from Laurence Marshall, head of Raytheon, to build the first pocket portable tube radio using and adapting subminiature tubes for commercial products. The radio was called the Belmont Boulevard, designed by Niles Gowell (Raytheon had acquired Belmont Radio Corp for this purpose).

Raytheon Semiconductor Products Although the Belmont Boulevard did not sell well, he later was given another challenge by Laurence Marshall, the head of Raytheon, to start making semiconductor products. Under his direction, Raytheon became a leader in making hearing aid transistors. A Time article in 1953 stated, "This little device, a single speck of germanium, is smaller than a paper clip and works perfectly at one-tenth the power needed by the smallest vacuum tube. Today, much of Raytheon’s transistor output goes to America's hearing aid industry." The hearing aid was the first mass-produced consumer electronic device to be miniaturized. By 1948 Raytheon had 98% of the hearing aid tube market. Because of the invention of the transistor by Bell Labs in 1948, Raytheon, under Krim's direction, started making transistors for hearing aids. Their first transistor product was the CK703 point-contact transistor. His successes in Raytheon's Semiconductor Products allowed him to become Vice President of Receiving, Cathode Ray Tubes and Semiconductor Division.

Transistor radios Although Regency is credited with building and marketing the first Transistor Radio (Model TR-1 in 1954), Raytheon was only a few months behind with the 8TP1 through 4 "lunchbox" style radio. Norman Krim was involved in the early transistor radio designs. According to Krim, at the Chapel St labs, they made a six-transistor superheterodyne radio in 1952-53. Transistor radio designs for mass production went to Belmont Radio Corporation, headed by Henry F. Argento, a division of Raytheon.

Unlike Regency (IDEA Inc), Raytheon used its own transistors. Regency contracted with Texas Instruments, a young upcoming semiconductor manufacturer. According to Consumer Reports Magazine articles dated April and July 1955, the Raytheon was a better radio (used 7 transistors vs 4 in the Regency), but was quite a bit larger. Raytheon marketed only four models (8TP series, T-100 series, T-150 series, and T-2500) and got out of the transistor radio market after 1956.

Later career and retirement Raytheon Transistor Radios. LEFT 8TP4 World's 2nd Transistor Radio (1955) and RIGHT T-2500 Raytheon's Last Transistor Radio (1956) Krim was married to the former Beatrice Barron (deceased in 1994) for 52 years. They had three children: Robert, Arthur, and Donald. Krim was a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers or IEEE. He died in December 2011, in Newton, Massachusetts, at the age of 98.

Engineering contribution to society

According to Jack Ward's Semiconductor Museum, Krim is credited with inspiring the transistor hobbyist and experimenter market with the creation of the CK721 and CK722. As Jack Ward, curator of the Semiconductor Museum website, states:

From the CK722 came articles in electronics magazines and books and pamphlets on do-it-yourself building projects, as well as competition, notably General Electric, who following Krim's lead of recycling out-of-specification transistors, came up with the 2N107 transistor.