TR-55

TR 55

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TR-55

The TR-55, released in 1955, was Sony

Sony

is a multinational corporation list of conglomerates corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan, and one of the world's largest media conglomerates with revenue exceeding US$99.1 billion ....
's first transistor radio

Transistor radio

A transistor radio is a small transistor-based radio receiver. Historically, the term "transistor radio" refers to a radio that is monaural and typically receives only the 540–1600 kilocycle AM broadcast band....
, and the first to be made in Japan

Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
. The use of transistor

Transistor

In electronics, a transistor is a semiconductor device commonly used to Electronic amplifier or switch Electronics signals. A transistor is made of a solid piece of a semiconductor material, with at least three terminals for connection to an external circuit....
s rather than vacuum tube

Vacuum tube

In electronics, a vacuum tube, electron tube , thermionic valve, or just valve is a device used to amplifier, switch, otherwise modify, or create an Electricity signal by controlling the movement of electrons in a low-pressure space....
s allowed the device to be much smaller than earlier radio

Radio

Radio is the transmission of signals, by modulation of electromagnetic radiation with frequency below those of visible light.Electromagnetic radiation radio propagation by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space....
s, and allowed them to be the first truly portable radio from Japan.

TR-55 used 5 transistors designed in house by Sony, the technology having been licensed from Bell Labs

Bell Labs

Bell Laboratories is the research organization of Alcatel-Lucent and previously of the American Telephone & Telegraph Company .Bell Laboratories has had its headquarters at Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, and it has research and development facilities throughout the world....
. This made Sony the first company to produce commercial transistor radios from the ground up: Regency had an earlier transistor radio but bought the transistors from Texas Instruments

Texas Instruments

Texas Instruments , better known in the electronics industry as TI, is an United States company based in Dallas, Texas, Texas, United States, renowned for developing and commercializing semiconductor and computer technology....
.