J.E. Jenkins & S.E. Adair
1500 N. Dearborn Parkway, Chicago, Illinois (1929)
3333 Belmont Avenue, Chicago, Illinois (1930)

See also Jenkins Television Corp.; Passaic, N.Y.

This company made sound equipment for theatres, cinemas, US government departments and the like.

They also made three audio tube types.
Tube brand: J & A
This tube manufacturer listed on page 357 of Tyne's "Saga of the Vacuum Tube".

The first information located on Jenkins and Adair relates to U.S. patent no. 1565942A applied for by John Elliott Jenkins on October 29th, 1924. This was a patent for Sound Propagating Apparatus and was granted on December 15th, 1925. It related to a suitably mounted microphone (such as in an organ), enabling broadcasting of the instrument's music. The assignee was the Zenith Radio Corporation. An advertisement in "Radio Broadcast Advertiser" June 1929 shows the company address as 1500 N. Dearborn Parkway, Chicago. In 1930 (month not known) they were at 3333 W. Belmont Ave, where they stayed.

From Bulletin 1E (company catalogue - 174 pages) of 1931, it appears that Jenkins and Samuel E. Adair formed Jenkins and Adair Inc some time in 1925. The company made and sold Audio Frequency Apparatus such as transformers, gain and mixing controls, complete radio broadcast panels, microphones and stands and other related broadcast items. They also made three audio tube types. Over the next 10 years to 1935-36, the company continued in a fairly capacity. It was stated that J & A Apparatus was the poor man's Western Electric. Several patents were applied for in this time and improvements made on existing products. Broadcast systems were made for government use and this also included a system for police squad cars.

Jenkins married English actress Alexandra Carlisle in 1924 and after his death by suicide in 1934, some pending patents listed her as assignor. Adair continued the company for a couple of years but sold to the Bendix Aviation Corp. in January 1936.