The City Accumulator Co. was founded by Gorden Ebden Ward in 1921 and closed in 1939. [1]

Over this period, he traded with three subsidiary companies for the various aspects of radio manufacturing and sales detailed below.

Brands: C.A.C. / Violina / Orpheus / Austin

City Accumulator Co. (1922 – 1939)
79 Mark Lane, London EC3 (1922)
Head Office: 10 Rangoon Street, London EC3 (1924 - 1933)
1a, New London Street, London, EC3 (1929)
18-20, Norman's Buildings, Central Street, London, E.C.1 (1933 - 1939)

The company started in 1921 selling ex-government radio equipment and was a wholesale & retail distributor for Burndept Ltd. [2]

In September 1922, their Single Valve Panel Radio sold in hundreds, and they advertised they had every wireless accessory in stock. [3]

They announced they were manufacturers of the Violina loudspeaker in January 1923. [4]

By January 1924 they secured additional premises at 10 Rangoon Street which became their head office and warehouse. [5]

In July 1924, the manufacturer of Tungar Rectifiers, British Thomson-Houston Co. Ltd. was granted an injunction restraining the City Accumulator Co. from infringing the Tungar trademark. [6]

The company manufactured radios, components, and kits, and set up valve & cabinet manufacturing companies as below.

The company was deregistered in 1939. [12]

CAC (C.A.C.) Radio Ltd. (1925 -1927)
10 Rangoon St, Crutched Friars, London EC3 (1925-    )

Brand: Orpheus

Tube manufacturer.

CAC (C.A.C.) Radio Ltd. in August 1925 announced after months of research they were in a position to place upon the market their series of wireless valves. They made arrangements with the trade to distribute samples of their valves to the public for a limited time only, at the nominal price of 6/- each for a Bright Emitter and 9/- each for the Dull Emitter. This offer was available for the first 20.000 valves.

This offer was advertised under the company name C.A.C. Radio Ltd. This alternate name may have been due to the earlier injunction by British Thomson-Houston Co. Ltd. [7]

In its first year of production, tubes were given the name Orpheus as a prefix to its type number. Seven other tubes were given this prefix. Data for a total of 18 tubes have been located.

The base of the tubes was a black molded compound, commonly referred to at the time as "molded mud". The tubes were also sold with the name City Accumulator Company [8]

From Pittman’s Radio Annual 1926, page 166 the Managing Director of C.A.C. Radio Ltd. (late City Accumulator Co.) was G. E. Ward & Chief Engineer Alan L. M. Douglas. [9]

Valve production finished in 1927. [8]

C.A.C. Valve Distributing Co. (1925 – 1927)
10 Rangoon St, Crutched Friars, London EC3 (1925-    )

Marketing & distribution of C.A.C. radio valves and radio sets.

C.A.C. Cabinets Ltd. (1933 -       )
18-20, Norman's Buildings, Central Street, London, E.C.1
Head Office: Angel Court, 173 Strand London WC2.
Works: 15 Clerkenwell Green, London EC1.
Showrooms: 4 Surrey Street, Strand London WS2.

In April 1933 the company acquired the old-established business of F.W. Edwards who since the inception of broadcasting had specialised in the manufacture of high-grade E.C.M Radio Cabinets and formed C.A.C. Cabinets Ltd. [10]

Also, in September 1933 they employed Technical Consultant W. I. G. Page B. Sc., the well-known radio designer from Wireless World magazine. With his design ability, they created kit-set radios and Austin brand radios using C.A.C. cabinets. They also supplied cabinets to other British radio manufacturers. [11]

[1] Broadcaster Trade Annual 1936, Page 50.
[2] Amateur Wireless Dec 9, 1922, Page 612.
[3] Amateur Wireless Sep 26, 1922, Page 564.
[4] Amateur Wireless Jan 27, 1923, Page 82.
[5] Wireless Weekly Jan 23, 1924, Page Ad v.
[6] Modern Wireless Aug 1924, Page 318.
[7] Wireless Constructor Aug 1925, Page 946.
[8] British Radio Valves The Classic Years 1926-1946, p. 241 & Supplement, p. 15. Thrower, Keith.
[9] Pitman's Radio Annual 1926, Page 166.
[10] Broadcaster Trade Annual 1936, page 36.
[11] Wireless World Apr 7, 1933, Page Ad 6.
[12] London Gazette,  April 14, 1939, Page 2529.