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Elmer Tiling Cunningham (September 1, 1889 b June 14, 1965) was an American entrepreneur and businessman, specializing in vacuum tubes and radio manufacturing. He is best known for being the most successful business person to produce counterfeit (AKA bootleg) or unlicensed vacuum tubes (1915-1920). Cunningham was in direct violation by infringing on the Fleming and De Forest vacuum tube patents. Unlike other businesses making unlicensed or bootlegged vacuum tubes, Cunningham was very aggressive in his advertising. Manufacturers of counterfeit vacuum tubes generally ended their activities after a lawsuit has been filed but Cunningham came out ahead after various lawsuits brought against him and his company, the Audio Tron Sales Company. His successes encouraged many others to do the same thing.
An important design in the Audio Tron Tube is the use of a cylindrical anode instead of the typical flat plate in the Audion. The cylindrical anode provided better gain and tube efficiency. This design for the Audio Tron was probably inspired by George Haller with whom he co-authored the book about Tesla Coils.
Elmer Cunningham would continue to make Audio Trons until April 6, 1917. With the coming of World War I, the US Government ordered all amateur radio equipment either dismantled or put away. This resulted in a large loss of market for Audio Tron, and their sales stopped.
The Audio Tron tubes went on sale again after June 1919. Later in 1919, the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) took legal action against Cunningham for the violation of the Flemming and DeForest patents.
By 1921, Audio Tron Manufacturing Company started slowly changing their name to E T Cunningham Inc. This continued until 1931 when a new line was added: E T Cunningham Inc., A Subsidiary of Radio Corporation of America.
By 1931 E T Cunningham Company became an integral part of RCA and consolidated with the RCA Radiotron Company, giving RCA rights to the use of the Cunningham brand. In addition, Elmer T Cunningham became a part of the RCA organization.
Information courtesy of Wikipedia.
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