The company traces its history to 1912, when Sennet Gilfillan took over his uncle's smelting company, which processed precious metals such as platinum and iridium. He was joined by his brother Jay to form
Gilfillan Brothers in 1914. During
World War I they produced platinum
points for automobile
ignition systems and branched out to aircraft parts. In the 1920s they began making
radio receivers and were best known for their
Bakelite radios based on the
Neutrodyne system. The introduction of the
superheterodyne rendered the Neutrodyne obsolete, and in 1932 the company bought the Willard Radio Company who had a line of "superhet" radios. During WWII, the company produced
Ground-controlled approach radar sets, and the
Project Alberta pressure gauges. Beginning in 1942, during
World War II, the company was selected to build the
precision approach radar (PAR) systems that had been developed at the
MIT Radiation Laboratory. These were installed at
Royal Air Force airfields beginning 1944 and became a must-have item for bombers returning from missions over Germany. By the end of the war they had also introduced the first dedicated
airport surveillance radar, which provided clear images of the large amounts of air traffic immediately around an airport. These successes launched the company into the radar market, where they focused their future development. In the post-war era they began expanding their product line, initially with new ATC systems. During this period they changed their name to
Gilfillan Radar Development and Manufacturing Company. The company was purchased by ITT in 1964. By the 1970s they were a leading manufacturer of mid-range systems in the US. Among their better-known lines from this period is the
ITT-Gilfillan S320 radar, used as the basis for many US military radars, the PAR-2000 and GCA-2000 air traffic radars, the MPN-26 mobile PAR, and a range of
airport surveillance radars. ==References==