C.E. Manufacturing Co. Inc.
702 Eddy Street, Providence, Rhode Island

Tube brand: CeCo

In additon to the standard types of tubes of the 1920's - 30's, CeCo also made a series of nine tubes with metal enclosure. On the boxes, these were designated M01A, M24 etc. while the actual tubes are marked with the standard tube types.

A list of all nine tubes was included in each box, showing type numbers such as MG01A or MG24 (MG=Metal/Glass).

The Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office, June 1931 Vols. 406 & 407 have an entry for Argus tubes, stating "Ceco Manufacturing Company, Inc. doing business as Argus Radio Tube Co., Providence, R.I."

The C.E. Manufacturing Company was incorporated on August 8th, 1924 with a capital of US$ 50,000. It was listed as a manufacturer of electrical apparatus and appliances with William Cepek, Rose Cohen and Martin Bedrosian as founders. Eli Egnatoff was also involved with the company. As tube making was a new venture, the company hired Ernest Kauer as chief engineer. The works were located at 702 Eddy Street, Providence, Rhode Island.

Kauer proved to be an excellent tube maker and in June 1928 he bought the company from the partners and changed the name to the Ceco Manufacturing Company. Two years later the company had produced 10 million tubes. The factory covered three and a half acres and employed 1000 people. They were licensed by RCA in May 1929 to manufacture tubes. A new research laboratory was created in a four storey building next to the tube factory. This was in 1930 and two new tubes were developed there - The P1 and P5 pentodes. Kauer rejected the idea of entering the set manufacturing business, instead focussing on tube research and development. They did some work on circuits using their tubes.

By 1931 the company had moved to 1200 Eddy Street and Kauer was president with T. Maharin as Vice President. A small article on page 29 of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 19th October 1932, stated that the company was in receivership and being acquired by the Gold Seal Electric Co Inc.