Texas Instruments
In 1930, J. Clarence Karcher and Eugene McDermott founded Geophysical Service, an early provider of seismic exploration services to the petroleum industry. In 1939, the company reorganized as Coronado Corp., an oil company with Geophysical Service Inc (GSI), now as a subsidiary. On December 6, 1941, McDermott along with three other GSI employees, J. Erik Jonsson, Cecil H. Green, and H.B. Peacock purchased GSI. During World War II, GSI expanded their services to include electronics for the U.S. Army, Signal Corps, and the U.S. Navy. In 1951, the company changed its name to Texas Instruments, with GSI becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of the new company.
Austin Organs
Austin Organ Company was founded in 1898 by John Turnell Austin in Boston, Massachusetts. Austin was from England and had come to the United States in 1889. Prior to founding the company, Austin worked for Farand and Votey in Detroit, Michigan. His first organs were manufactured in Detroit, but he established his operation in Boston, moving to Hartford shortly thereafter where integrity was the mainstay for all generations to come.
Austin developed the Universal Air Chest System. This was an airtight chamber with the chest action on the ceiling of the chamber. A feature of this system was that the chest could be entered from below while the organ was turned on; this allowed for fine adjustments of the organ keying action. The modern (current) chest design was further developed in 1913, and has been refined over the years. In 1905 the company began building electric consoles; these have also been refined over the years.