Litton, Charles Vincent, 1904-1973.

Biography

Charles Vincent Litton was born, March 13, 1904, in San Francisco, California to Charles A. and Alice J. (Vincent) Litton. As a boy he had been fascinated with radio—at the age of 12 he had his own "wireless house" in back of his parents' house in Redwood City-and so, it was not surprising that he went on to study electrical engineering. He received his A.B. from Stanford University in 1924 and his E.E. in 1925.

After graduation he went to work in the area of the design and building of glass vacuum tubes. First he was a research engineer at Bell Telephone Laboratories in New York, from 1925 to 1927, and then a development engineer and department head of the vacuum tube division at Federal Telegraph Company in Palo Alto, California, from 1927 to 1932.

When Federal Telegraph Company left the Bay Area, Litton expanded his "backyard laboratory" in Redwood City and in April, 1932, established Litton Engineering Laboratories. This was the first and the longest lived of the businesses owned by Litton. All were administered so that his own personal philosophy, policies of operation and ideas were those of the company.

Litton Engineering Laboratories designed and manufactured glassworking machinery and equipment for the manufacture of power vacuum tubes and became engaged as well in some vacuum tube development work. Their Litton lathe was world-famous. In 1940 they expanded and began to manufacture vacuum tubes to meet wartime demands.

In 1942, while still supervising his own business, Litton went East for two years to help Federal Telephone Company in New Jersey with the manufacture of a high frequency radar tube.

A fire in November, 1945, destroyed Litton Engineering Laboratories' manufacturing plant and development laboratories. This precipitated the separation of the vacuum tube phase of the business and its subsequent move to San Carlos, California.

In 1946 this operation became Litton Industries (of California). It handled the vacuum tube development and manufacture in the microwave field and sold only to the Department of Defense. Litton Engineering Laboratories continued to manufacture glassworking machinery and equipment.

As the owner of two businesses, he was concerned about the financial situation of his family in the event of his death. He also wished to be freer to do research and development, rather than being tied down to the running of the businesses. So in 1953, he sold the stock of Litton Industries (of California) to Electro-Dynamics and it became Litton Industries, Inc.

Litton then founded English Mountain Ranch, Inc., to handle ownership of new buildings and real estate and moved Litton Engineering Laboratories to Grass Valley, California. The business still kept mainly to the production of machinery and equipment but did turn out some lines of magnetrons.

In 1961 Litton and some of his staff set up another corporation to manage and operate Litton Engineering Laboratories. Litton was able, once more, to return to research and development. Later he moved to Carson City, Nevada, where he died in 1973.

From the guide to the Charles Vincent Litton Papers, 1912-1972, (The Bancroft Library)