Lorain
Electronics Corporation (LEC)
The Lorain equipment images (1940s-50s)
shown below are in a roughly chronological order. The first 15 images on this page are
courtesy of Robert Carver
 A
LC-50D 1944 boat installation on the
SS George F.
Baker being operated by Capt. Homer R. Johnson |
 A LC-50D 1944 boat installation |
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We know a lot about the two
pictures above - information gleaned from enlargements of the
paperwork on the wall. The photos were taken on September 16
or 18, 1944. The boat belonged to the Pittsburgh Steamship
Company (US Steel), and one of the officers was Homer R. Johnson
(pictured) - Master's License # 165746. What we didn't know
initially was the name of the boat. However detective work by
Dennis Widdows identified it as the SS George F.
Baker.
 This beautiful 6 foot high cabinet from the
early
1940s housed a Type LC-50 D -
4 channel AM rig |
 Type LC-50 D Inside - Click for large image
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 Type
LC 50 96 - 6 Channel AM MF/HF rig
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 Type
LC 100D - 8 Channel MF/HF rig (DC Supply
Typical early 1950s gear. |
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 Type LC 100-8 (AC Supply) in process of being
installed on
the Wm. G. Mather WB 4521 |
 Eight
channel AM MF/HF in high
cabinet (DC Supply) |
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 Ten
Channel AM MF/HF unit of mid-
1950's - vintage (AC Supply) |
 Shipboard
VHF-FM radio Type MC-261 - 7 Channel - Dual
Rx -
1952 vintage - This unit is mostly (if not all) GE
Pre-Progress
Line as GE had a unit with the same model number. -
LEC may
have made a few changes to suit their needs. |
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 Type MC-261 VHF-FM unit being installed on the Wm. G.
Mather by Chester Dobeck - (Early-mid 1950s) |
 Control
head and accessories - 1950s vintage. |
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 LEC Encoder for Amoco ocean going oil tanker |
 Installing
the equipment control head aboard the Wm. G.
Mather
Probably by RobertWelsh ?? - (Early-mid 1950s) |
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 Captain (?) - Steamer John T. Hutchinson (WA 6537)
using
Radio-Telephone |
 This Model LRK 3 channel 120VAC monitor receiver is probably
from
the 1950s. It was
likely used on shore by companies and
crew families - Click on
the image for a larger view and images
of the inside. -
Photo from Mark Karney who owns the unit. |
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The
control head in the picture
on the left immediately above is for a 16 channe, dual MF/HF and VHF-FM
radio-telephone
installation. See this page for larger images of this one and and a similar 8 channel VHF-FM one. Also on this page Charles C. Reynolds provides more information about these control heads.
 Lorain VHF-FM Control Head
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 A 14 channel control head for VHF-FM.
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 Konigsberg (Konel) SSB Transceiver KR-72CA rebranded as Lorain KR-102C |
We have three Lorain advertisements.
The
first advertises Lorain's services and is courtesy of Joe Papworth, K8MP. It is from the April 1947 issue of the Great Lakes Review.
The second advertisement
is from a September 1954 Lorain County Radio Corp. publication entitled
"Study Guide for Third Class Radio-Telephone Operator
Permit." The MC-261 unit in the tall cabinet on the right in
the advertisement was built by General Electric in Syracuse,
NY. In 1959, when the Archivist first went to work as a
design engineer for General Electric, equipment of this vintage had
already been replaced by newer designs, but GE later supplied Lorain
Electronics with several versions of newer VHF-FM receiver
and transmitter chassis for shipboard installations and also, I
believe, for the LEC 14 station automated VHF-FM
network . The third ad is a Canadian GE ad for Lorain VHF-FM gear with GE RF modules.
Here is a PDF of some photos of the LEC LC 100 M8 found in a
Chicago surplus warehouse in 2007.
In 1944 LEC issued this booklet of Operating Instructions for the HF Automatic Radiotelephone System of that time. |
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Later (1982) LEC issued this 30+ page Great Lakes Marine Telephone Directory which included operating instructions for the VHF Automatic Radiotelephone System which they had developed and were justifiably proud of.
We have three Lorain advertisements.
The
first advertises Lorain's services and is courtesy of Joe Papworth, K8MP. It is from the April 1947 issue of the Great Lakes Review.
The second advertisement
is from a September 1954 Lorain County Radio Corp. publication entitled
"Study Guide for Third Class Radio-Telephone Operator
Permit." The MC-261 unit in the tall cabinet on the right in
the advertisement was built by General Electric in Syracuse,
NY. In 1959, when the Archivist first went to work as a
design engineer for General Electric, equipment of this vintage had
already been replaced by newer designs, but GE later supplied Lorain
Electronics with several versions of newer VHF-FM receiver
and transmitter chassis for shipboard installations and also, I
believe, for the LEC 14 station automated VHF-FM
network . The third ad is a Canadian GE ad for Lorain VHF-FM gear with GE RF modules.
This short item is from a
history of GE's mobile radio business: May, 1955
- Cruise of the yacht, Cappy, on the Great Lakes to survey
coverage furnished by Lorain County Radio Corporation's, 250 Watt GE
station, at Lorain, Ohio.
Here's a very nice 8 Page Lorain Electronics advertising brochure
from about 1954, a 1976 LEC calendar and a
Match book cover.
Here's a photo of 4
workers assembling electronic chassis in the LEC factory.
Names and date unknown.
In 1974 Lorain Electronics issued this VHF-FM frequency change bulletin to ship masters.
John Dean provided a 1964 list of LEC
employees A-K and L-W
saved by this father-in-law Frank Bako, a former LEC employee. Richard
Hartwig, K8ML has provided
listings of LEC employees in 1980
and 1982-1 and 1982-2.
Personal addresses and telephone numbers have been removed from the
last 3 lists.
All of the Lorain Electronics Sales
& Service Dept. personnel quite at the end of 1980 shortly
after the purchase of LEC by Oakmont Electronics. Most of the
technicians then to work for ITT-Mackay Marine and became the Great
Lakes Depot of same. In 1985 the remaining contents of 2307
Leavitt Rd. were sold and Lorain Electronics closed it's doors.
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