EEV logo The English Electric Valve Company was a private company spun off the large English Electric Company in 1947 to hold a valve/tube business it had acquired. This meant that the brand appeared suddenly in the market, where it was very successful and, according to a now-defunct Web page, had become the largest hi-tech manufacturing company in the UK by 1959. In 1960, their transistor production was merged into the joint-venture Associated Transistors. This company was bought by Philips/Mullard in 1961, but the English Electric Valve Co continued to thrive and its legacy still exists as part of Teledyne e2v.

Compared to most UK electricals of the 20th century, this is definitely a success story. However, the EEV contribution to the early UK semiconductor industry is minor. Information is extremely scarce, and my data books show only a few germanium transistors, described below, and no diodes made by EEV. If you know more, please


EEV VB709

As far as I know, EEV made only three germanium transistors: VB701, VB704 and VB709, the last shown on the right. These are germanium PNP low-power junction types, all with 30 volts max collector-base voltage, and with different gains. All have an fTmin of 700 KHz which is well into the IF range. These are clearly not entry-level AF types. I am seeking examples of the VB701 and VB704, so if you have any for sale or exchange, or if you know anything at all about any early EEV semiconductors, please