{{short description|American electronics manufacturer}} {{For|consolidated rental car centers|CONRAC}} {{Infobox company | name=Conrac Corporation | logo=Conrac logo.svg | type=Public | former_name={{ubl|Conrac, Inc.|Giannini Controls Corporation (1961–1967}} | founders={{ubl|Leon W. Conrow|George L. Carrington|Harry M. Bessey}} | founded={{start date and age|1939|10}} in [[Newark, New Jersey]] | headquarters=[[Duarte, California]] (1961–1987) | industry=Electronics | defunct={{end date and age|1987|05}} | fate=Acquired by [[Mark IV Industries]] | num_employees=Over 400 (1983)<ref name=itsconrac /> | website=[https://web.archive.org/web/19981202071417/http://www.conrac.com/ conrac.com] (archived) }} '''Conrac Corporation''' was an American electronics manufacturer independently active from 1939 to 1987. Founded in [[Newark, New Jersey]], as '''Conrac, Inc.''', by Leon W. Conrow, George L. Carrington, and Harry M. Bessey, it was founded as a manufacturer of [[people counter]]s for the [[movie theater]] industry. In the late 1940s, Conrac pivoted to manufacturing [[broadcast reference monitor]]s for television studios, becoming a major innovator in the field, releasing the first commercially available [[Color television|color]] reference monitor in 1953. In 1961, Conrac was acquired by '''Giannini Controls Corporation''', a diversified aerospace and industrial control company based in [[Duarte, California]]; in 1967, Giannini renamed itself to Conrac Corporation. In 1987, Conrac was acquired by [[Mark IV Industries]] of New York for $150 million.
==History== Conrac, Inc., was founded in [[Newark, New Jersey]], and incorporated in Delaware, in late October 1939, by Leon Whitney Conrow, George L. Carrington, and Harry M. Bessey.<ref name=manmade>{{cite news | last=Staff writer | date=November 2, 1939 | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-register-middletown-man-made-p/188705478/ | title=Middletown Man Made President of New Company | work=The Daily Register | page=8 | via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Both Conrow and Carrington had co-founded the [[Altec Services Company]], which was formed as a spin-off of the [[Electrical Research Products, Inc.]] (ERPI), division of [[Western Electric]], their former employer.<ref name=diessuddenly>{{cite news | last=Staff writer | date=December 23, 1943 | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-register-leon-w-conrow-dies-s/138564706/ | title=Leon W. Conrow Dies Suddenly | work=The Daily Register | page=3 | via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Altec later merged with the [[Lansing Manufacturing Company]] of Los Angeles to become [[Altec Lansing]], a prominent loudspeaker manufacturer which {{as of|2026|lc=y}} is still in business; Conrow remained the chairman of Altec Lansing until his death in 1943.<ref name=diessuddenly /> Conrac was founded to market an early electrical [[people counter]] for the movie theater industry. Called the Conrac Attendance Register, it used a series of [[light beam]]s and [[photoelectric sensor]]s to count patrons entering a movie theater's door into an internal register. It was designed in such a way that it would not count patrons leaving the same door.<ref name=manmade /><ref>{{cite magazine | last=Staff writer | date=November 1939 | url=https://archive.org/details/internationalpro14finn/page/n294/ | title=New Conrac Register Counts Picture Theatre Patrons | work=International Projectionist | publisher=James J. Finn Publishing | volume=XIV | issue=10 | page=23 | via=the Internet Archive}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine | last=Staff writer | date=October 27, 1939 | url=https://archive.org/details/filmdail76wids/page/n167/ | title=Conrac to Manufacture Patron Counting Device | work=The Film Daily | publisher=Wid's Films and Film Folk | volume=76 | issue=83 | page=2 | via=the Internet Archive}}</ref>
During the 1940s, Conrac functioned as an electronics manufacturer and distributor serving the Northeastern United States.<ref name=upped /><ref name=peyton>{{cite news | last=Staff writer | date=May 3, 1949 | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/los-angeles-mirror-conrac-buys-peyton-vi/188713924/ | title=Conrac Buys Peyton Video | work=Los Angeles Mirror | page=38 | via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Conrow died of a heart attack at age 46 at his home in [[Fair Haven, New Jersey]], in December 1943. E. Z. Walters, another Altec associate, was named president of Conrac in the wake of Conrow's death.<ref>{{cite magazine | last=Staff writer | date=July 15, 1949 | url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Radio_Daily/FbDvB9A22j0C?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22E.+Z.+Walters%22+%22conrac%22&dq=%22E.+Z.+Walters%22+%22conrac%22&printsec=frontcover | title=Conrac Chief Engineer | work=Radio Daily | publisher=Wid's Films and Film Folk | volume=48 | issue=10 | page=20 | via=Google Books}}</ref><ref name=ftn>{{cite magazine | last=Staff writer | date=June 3, 1950 | url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-TV-Digest/50s/Television-Digest-1950-06.pdf#page=22 | title=Financial & Trade Notes | work=Television Digest | publisher=Radio News Bureau | volume=6 | issue=22 | page=22 | via=World Radio History}}</ref> Conrac's upper management kept close ties with Altec Lansing, with Carrington serving as president and Bessey serving as vice president of Altec Lansing while running Conrac on the side (Carrington died in 1959, age 57).<ref name=upped>{{cite magazine | last=Staff writer | date=January 5, 1944 | url=https://archive.org/details/exhibitornov194331jaye/page/n496/ | title=Carrington, Bessey Upped by Altec | work=The Exhibitor | publisher=Jay Emanuel Publications | volume=31 | issue=8 | page=7 | via=the Internet Archive}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine | last=Staff writer | date=September 1959 | url=https://archive.org/details/sim_smpte-motion-imaging-journal_1959-09_68_9/page/646/ | title=Obituaries: George L. Carrington, Sr. | work=Journal of the SMPTE | publisher=Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers | volume=68 | issue=9 | page=646 | via=the Internet Archive}}</ref> In 1949, with the widespread rise of [[television]] following [[World War II]], Conrac pivoted to manufacturing [[television set]]s.<ref name=obit /> In May 1949, Conrac acquired Peyton Video, a manufacturer of consumer television sets based in [[Glendale, California]], serving the West Coast of the United States. Under the brand name Fleetwood, Conrac began manufacturing consumer sets from Peyton's facilities in Greater Los Angeles.<ref name=obit>{{cite magazine | last=Staff writers | date=1986 | url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Journal_of_the_Audio_Engineering_Society/HjNWAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22conrac%22&dq=%22conrac%22&printsec=frontcover | title=Obituaries: William J. Moreland | work=Journal of the Audio Engineering Society | publisher=Audio Engineering Society | volume=34 | page=1063 | via=Google Books}}</ref>
[[File:Norman Lear standing before bank of camera monitors, 1975.jpg|thumb|[[Norman Lear]], pictured in 1975, standing before a bank of Conrac [[broadcast reference monitor|reference monitors]] during the production of an episode of ''[[All in the Family]]'']] In June 1950, William J. Moreland succeeded Walters as president of Conrac.<ref name=ftn /> Under Moreland's tenure, Conrac began shifting its focus from consumer sets to [[broadcast reference monitor]]s, as used in [[television station]]s and [[television production studio|production studios]]. Its first reference monitor, the black-and-white CA-16, was used widely by [[CBS]]. In 1953, Conrac developed the first commercially available color reference monitor. Conrac rapidly became the market leader for reference monitors in the television and video production industries, its commercial success continuing well into the 1980s.<ref name=obit />
In 1961, Conrac was acquired by Giannini Controls Corporation, a diversified aerospace and industrial control company based in [[Duarte, California]].<ref name=obit /> Giannini subsequently renamed itself to Conrac Corporation in 1967.<ref name=obit /><ref>{{cite news | last=Staff writer | date=March 13, 1967 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1967/03/13/archives/giannini-to-change-name.html | title=Giannini to Change Name | work=The New York Times | page=54 | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180324142416/https://www.nytimes.com/1967/03/13/archives/giannini-to-change-name.html | archivedate=March 24, 2018}}</ref> Donald H. Putnam, previously of Giannini, was named chairman and president of Conrac, serving in this capacity until 1984.<ref>{{cite news | last=Staff writer | date=May 26, 1987 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/05/26/obituaries/donald-h-putnam-62-head-of-conrac-corp.html | title=Donald H. Putnam, 62, Head of Conrac Corp. | work=The New York Times | page=D18 | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150523023405/https://www.nytimes.com/1987/05/26/obituaries/donald-h-putnam-62-head-of-conrac-corp.html | archivedate=May 23, 2015}}</ref> Moreland was demoted to manager of Giannini's Conrac Division, which was in charge of the company's reference monitor production, until 1968, when he became VP and manager of Conrac's Communications Group. He retired in 1974 and died in 1986.<ref name=obit />
Between 1968 and 1969, Conrac worked closely with the [[RCA Corporation]] to define a set of controlled [[phosphor]]s for use in color reference monitors. This standard was codified by the [[Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers]] as [[SMPTE C]], with the ''C'' standing for ''Conrac''.<ref name=demarsh>{{cite magazine | last=DeMarsh | first=LeRoy E. | date=December 1993 | title=TV Display Phosphors/Primaries—Some History | work=SMPTE Journal | publisher=Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers | volume=102 | issue=12 | doi=10.5594/J01650 | pages=1095–1098}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine | last=Poynton | first=Charles | date=July 2007 | url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Information_Display/XM0pAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22smpte+c%22+%22conrac%22&dq=%22smpte+c%22+%22conrac%22&printsec=frontcover | title=Wide-Gamut Displays | work=Information Display | publisher=Society for Information Display | volume=23 | issue=7 | pages=10–15 | via=Google Books}}</ref>{{rp|13}} The parameters of SMPTE C were largely based on Conrac's existing color reference monitors, widely used in the television industry at the time, making SMPTE C more of a ''de facto'' standard based on Conrac's equipment than a ''de jure'' standard like [[NTSC]]. According to [[Society for Information Display]]'s Raymond M. Soneira, "it was the Conrac color gamut rather than the NTSC gamut that was the real color-television standard gamut".<ref name=gamuts>{{cite magazine | last=Soneira | first=Raymond M. | date=July–August 2016 | url=http://archive.informationdisplay.org/id-archive/2016/july-august/frontlinetechnologydisplaycolorgamuts | title=Display Color Gamuts: NTSC to Rec.2020 | work=Information Display | publisher=Society for Information Display | volume=32 | issue=4 | page=26–31 | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124055014/http://archive.informationdisplay.org/id-archive/2016/july-august/frontlinetechnologydisplaycolorgamuts | archivedate=November 24, 2020}}</ref> SMPTE C closely resembles the modern [[Rec. 709|ITU-R Recommendation 709]] standard for [[HDTV]] image encoding, which is only 13 percent larger in [[Color gamut|gamut]], and served as the direct foundation for the [[Rec. 601]] standard for [[digital television]].<ref name=gamuts />
By the mid-1970s, Conrac had entered the computer industry, initially producing monitors as part of turnkey systems for investment bankers such as [[Morgan Guaranty Trust]].<ref>{{cite magazine | last=Staff writer | date=July 9, 1975 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZBOeYXRzQG4C&pg=PA16 | title=Monitors Feed Data to Money-Market Traders | work=Computerworld | publisher=CW Communications | volume=IX | issue=28 | page=16 | via=Google Books}}</ref> By the early 1980s, Conrac was a major player in high-specification computer monitors, serving [[CAD/CAM]], military, aerospace, and medical imaging.<ref name=itsconrac>{{cite magazine | last=Loewe | first=Julian | date=June 9, 1983 | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/monrovia-news-post-its-c-o-n-r-a-c-sci/188704375/ | title=It's C-O-N-R-A-C: Scientists sure know how to spell the name of Duarte high-tech firm | work=Monrovia News-Post | page=21 | via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine | date=1988 | url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/SMPTE_Journal/Lb4eAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22conrac+corp%22+%22from+its+inception%22&dq=%22conrac+corp%22+%22from+its+inception%22&printsec=frontcover | title=Conrac Corp. Display Products Group | work=SMPTE Journal | publisher=Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers | volume=97 | issue= | page=176 | via=Google Books}}</ref> Its later computer monitors were compatible with the [[IBM Personal Computer]] and [[List of IBM Personal Computer models|its derivatives]] and the [[Macintosh II]].<ref>{{cite magazine | last=Mathews | first=Renee | date=December 14, 1987 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Aj8EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA37 | title=Conrac Reduces Prices on 7351 Color Monitors | work=InfoWorld | publisher=IDG Publications | volume=9 | issue=50 | page=37 | via=Google Books}}</ref> Notable users of Conrac's computer monitors included [[NASA]], who used them aboard the [[Space Shuttle]], as well as NASA's [[Jet Propulsion Laboratory]], who used Conrac's monitors to view pictures from Jupiter and Saturn taken during the [[Voyager program]].<ref name=itsconrac /> Conrac's competitors in the computer industry at the time included [[Barco (manufacturer)|Barco]], [[Intergraph]],<ref name=peddie />{{rp|178}} [[Hitachi]], and [[Mitsubishi Electric]].<ref name=peddie>{{cite book | last=Peddie | first=Jon | date=1994 | url=https://archive.org/details/highresolutiongr00jonp/ | title=High-Resolution Graphics Display Systems | publisher=Windcrest/McGraw-Hill | isbn=9780830642922 | via=the Internet Archive}}</ref>{{rp|137}}
In around the early 1980s, Conrac expanded to [[telephony]] products, establishing the Alston Division from their Duarte headquarters to market digital [[private branch exchange]] equipment to enterprises. In 1983, Conrac acquired Code-A-Phone, a telephony manufacturer based in Oregon, and began reselling their namesake [[answering machine]].<ref name=itsconrac />
In May 1987, Conrac was acquired by [[Mark IV Industries]] of New York for $150 million.<ref>{{cite news | last=Weiner | first=Daniel P. | date=August 9, 1987 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/08/09/business/mark-iv-the-making-of-a-miniconglomerate.html | title=Mark IV: The Making of a Miniconglomerate | work=The New York Times | page=F10 | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20250104110912/https://www.nytimes.com/1987/08/09/business/mark-iv-the-making-of-a-miniconglomerate.html | archivedate=January 4, 2025}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist|colwidth=30em}}
==External links== * {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/19981202071417/http://www.conrac.com/|title=Official website|date=December 2, 1998}}
[[Category:1939 establishments in New Jersey]] [[Category:1949 disestablishments in New Jersey]] [[Category:1949 establishments in California]] [[Category:1987 disestablishments in California]] [[Category:American companies established in 1939]] [[Category:American companies disestablished in 1987]] [[Category:Computer companies established in 1939]] [[Category:Computer companies disestablished in 1987]] [[Category:Computer monitors]] [[Category:Electronics companies established in 1939]] [[Category:Electronics companies disestablished in 1987]] [[Category:Defunct computer companies of the United States]] [[Category:Defunct computer hardware companies]] [[Category:Defunct electronics companies of the United States]] [[Category:Television sets]] [[Category:Video equipment manufacturers]]