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Uncle Albert's Amplifier, Inc.
Amplifier Repair Restoration Modification
History
The Silva family's history in electronics dates back over a century to when Albert DeVere "Duke" Silva began working at General Electric in Schenectady, New York, in January of 1910. He was employed in the lighting division, designing light components and fixures.
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Duke right front row
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Later, during the Great War, Duke enlisted in the army and was sent Indianapolis to attend officers' training camp. He entered the war as a lientenant and was assigned to the Signal Corps in Paris, France, where he was put in charge of developing the first tank radios.
Signal Corps 1917
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Duke second row far left Armstrong
Captain Edwin Armstrong was another engineer working at the lab in Paris, designing the first aircraft radios. Armstrong also developed the "Superheterodyne" radio, the basis for AM radio. he would go on to invent FM radio in 1933. When the war ended, Armstrong remained in Paris to teach, and Duke was assigned the task of bringing the "Armstrong" radio back to the States, Duke, now a captain, worked at Camp Alfred Vail after the war and was put in charge of their engineering department.
A post card from Edwin Armstrong to Duke
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The original requisition papers Armstrong history
Albert DeVere Silva the year he started at The Awater Kent Manufacturing Company 36 years old
Atwater Kent was a design engineer in Philadelphia who patented the first distributor system for automobiles, the point and condenser circuit used up until the advent of the electronic ignition system. He also made radios. Duke started at the Atwater Kent Manufacturing Company in the summer of 1924 as chief engineer, overseeing all radio design. He was the assignee on over a dozen amplifier and speaker patents owned by the Atwater Kent Co. Duke became Atwater's close friend and accompanied him to major events and exhibitions in the ever-changing radio industry. His salary in 1936 was 36k a year--equivalent to 840k today. The Atwater Kent Manufacturing Company went out of business in August of that same year.
Duke and Atwater testing a radio set circa 1935
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Duke at Atwater Kent
With his wife, Ellie, Albert Sr. had three sons: Albert DeVere Jr., b.1921, Donald Mayance, b.1925, and LeRoy Francis, b.1932. They relocted to Columbus in the winter of 1936, and Duke started at Nobitt-Sparks in January, 1937 as Chief Engineer in charge of radio design. His salary, 6k a year.
Lafayette Street Columbus 1936
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Albert DeVere "Dev" Silva 1935
Donald Mayance Silva 1935
LeRoy Francis Silva 1935
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Noblitt-Sparks (Arvin) began making radios in 1934, first designed by Earl Booth. They featured ornate woods and stainless steel and sold in the $150 range. With the onset of the Great Depression, sales were dismal at best.
Atwater Kent made metal cabinet radios and Noblitt-Sparks made metal mufflers, so it made perfect sense to stamp the cabinets out of steel. Duke designed the Model 40, the "Mighty-Mite", a two tube, no transformer, four-inch speaker, TRF radio. The Model 40 sold for $6.65, and they sold 100,000 radios in the first six months. Duke, along with fellow engineer Ben Irwin, designed all the Arvin radio sets from 1937 until 1948. Noblitt-Sparks Industries eventually became Arvin Industries in 1950.
Working at home in 1946, Duke developed a chemical-based process to coat and protect electronic equipment from extreme moisture. With the help of G.Q. Noblitt, Duke received a government contract protecting equipment going to the Philippines after WWII, mostly transformer equipped amplifiers, radio transmitters, and receivers. From 1946 to 1948, Duke split his time between N-S and his new company, Columbus Process. Financially sound, Duke left Noblitt-Sparks in 1948 and continued for another two years until the government contract expired.
Columbus Process 1952
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Columbus Process 1952
With some persuasion from industry friends, Columbus Process started manufacturing transformers in the fall of 1950. Duke brought his two oldest sons, Albert (Dev) Jr. and Donald, into his new business. LeRoy would join later. Albert DeVere Silva Sr. passed away February 14th, 1954, at the age of 63, just two weeks after the death of his friend, Edwin Armstrong. Columbus Process continued with Dev, Donald, and in time, Leroy. Duke had been aware that it required three seperate engineering degrees to make transformers, therefore Dev graduated with a chemical engineering degree, Donald in mechanical engineering, and LeRoy in electrical engineering.
By 1955, RCA, their biggest customer, was purchasing over a million transformers a year. They became C.P. Electronics in the late 1950s, manufacturing transformers for all industries. In 1970, while still solvent and facing rising costs and the possibility of moving production to Mexico, the Silva brothers liquidated the company.
C.P. Electronics in the 60s
Dev went to law school, becoming a judge several years later. He was Bartholomew County Indiana's Circuit Court Judge when he passed away at age 62. Donald took fourteen of his favorite workers, all female (C.P. Electronics had a workforce of 400 women winding transformers at their peak) and started the DS Company. Along with his wife, Shirley, they manufactured starter solenoids for Cummins Engine and electric motor speed controls for Reliance Electric. In 1983, Donald retired to West Lafayette, Indiana and started another company, ESG Group, with his brother, LeRoy, where they patented a compact, high current computer power supply, Donald passed in 1996 at the age of 71. LeRoy went on to teach electrical engineering at Purdue University. He was a design engineer on SkyLab, and at age 87, he was still teaching calculus at a state college in Florida when he passed away.
LeRoy Dev and Donald new computer 1966
Dev and Donald at the DS Company 1979
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Donald at C.P Electronics 1962 with a Sound Conditioner prototype
Sound Conditioner advertisement 1963
Donald taught his son Kevin how to solder when he was about seven years old. He would regularly bring home electronic kits for his son to build. At fifteen, Kevin worked in an electronic repair shop, repairing vacuum tube televisions and amplifiers.
Kevins 6th birthday, seated with a science kit gift
1986
Kevin has been actively playing music for over forty-eight years, touring for nearly ten, and has five albums of original material to his credit. Rick Springfield played on his last record.
With his passion for vacuum tube electronics and music, Kevin started Uncle Albert's Amplifier, Inc. in 1990, repairing and building vacuum tube amplifiers. After thirty-five plus years in business, Uncle Albert's is approaching close to 30,000 repairs. Kevin is well known in the music world, having worked for some of the biggest names in the industry: Aerosmith, Pink Floyd, Prince, Foghat, John Mellencamp, Kansas and Miranda Lambert to name a few. He possesses two patents, a wireless water alarm detection system, and a vacuum tube guitar amplifier built in to a small table. Kevin worked in production for a couple years in the late 80s, running sound for Charlie Daniels, BB King, The Guess Who, Johnny Rivers, and Crystal Gail. As a result of another personal passion, Kevin also amassed the world's largest Batman collection and for three years, October 2013-October 2016, was listed in two Guinness books.
Kevins current band The Toons with his daughter Kayleigh
Radios designed by Duke and Ben Irwin 1938
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Almost 3 million transformers a year (peak monthly)
"ZERO" defects award from RCA 1966
Reviews
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Reviews for the VTD series direct boxes
Atwater Kent to Duke reviewing the Model 40
The Logo
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Duke presenting an award to an employee 1952
Projects
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VTD-4A
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A batch of "Del Rays"
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"The Recordio" a prototype for Peavey 2009
The Dual Drive Kevin designed this for ProAnolog in 2004
Custom Builds
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Hiwatt Clone The Recordio 8x8 Amplifier Cabinet switcher
Restorations
1929 RCA Theremin Before
1929 RCA Theremin after
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The Wireless Water Alarm
Patents
Donald and LeRoy's patent
Duke's Field Winding patent
Kevin's Del Ray patent