Hewlett-Packard Company , American manufacturer of software and computer services. The company split in 2015 into two companies: HP Inc. and Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Headquarters were in Palo Alto, California.
Bill Hewlett and David Packard graduated with degrees in electrical engineering from Stanford University in 1935. The company originated in a garage in nearby Palo Alto during a fellowship they had with a past professor, Frederick Terman at Stanford during the Great Depression.
In 1938, Packard and Hewlett began part-time work in a rented garage with an initial capital investment of US$538.
In 1939, Hewlett and Packard decided to formalize their partnership. They tossed a coin to decide whether the company they founded would be called Hewlett-Packard (HP)
Of the many projects they worked on, their first financially successful product was a precision audio oscillator, the Model HP200A.
Their innovation was the use of a small incandescent light bulb (known as a "pilot light")
The Model 200 series of generators continued production until at least 1972 as the 200AB, still tube-based but improved in design through the years.
Hewlett-Packard Company, American manufacturer of software and computer services. The company split in 2015 into two companies: HP Inc. and Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Headquarters were in Palo Alto, California.
The garage in Palo Alto, California, where William Hewlett and David Packard began building electronic equipment in 1938.
The garage in Palo Alto, California, where William Hewlett and David Packard began building electronic equipment in 1938.
Reproduced with permission of the Hewlett-Packard Company Archives
The company was founded on January 1, 1939, by William R. Hewlett and David Packard, two recent electrical-engineering graduates of Stanford University. It was the first of many technology companies to benefit from the ideas and support of engineering professor Frederick Terman, who pioneered the strong relationship between Stanford and what eventually emerged as Silicon Valley. The company established its reputation as a maker of sophisticated instrumentation. Its first customer was Walt Disney Productions, which purchased eight audio oscillators to use in the making of its full-length animated film Fantasia (1940). During World War II the company developed products for military applications that were important enough to merit Packard a draft exemption, while Hewlett served in the Army Signal Corps. Throughout the war the company worked with the Naval Research Laboratory to build counter-radar technology and advanced artillery shell fuses.
After the war, Packard became responsible for the company’s business, while Hewlett led its research and development efforts. Following a postwar slump in defense contracts, in 1947 Hewlett-Packard returned to the revenue levels of the war years and grew continuously thereafter through a strategy of product diversification. One of its most popular early products was a high-speed frequency counter that it introduced in 1951. It was used in the rapidly growing market of FM radio and television broadcast stations for precisely setting signal frequencies according to Federal Communications Commission regulations. Military sales during the Korean War also boosted company revenues.
To help fund the development of new products, Hewlett-Packard raised money by issuing public stock in 1957. In addition, it embarked on a long campaign of expanding its product line by acquiring companies, beginning the year after it went public with the purchase of F.L. Moseley Company, a maker of graphic recorders. In 1961 it began its climb to status as a medical-instrument manufacturer with the purchase of Sanborn Company.
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In 1964 Hewlett-Packard instrumentation gained international recognition in a technological publicity stunt. Company engineers flew around the world with its cesium beam HP 5060A instrument to synchronize the globe’s atomic clocks to within one-millionth of a second. Four years later the company introduced the first desktop calculator. In 1972, using advanced integrated-circuit technology, Hewlett-Packard unveiled the first pocket-sized calculator. Selling at one-sixth the price of the original desktop unit, the pocket calculator eventually forced the obsolescence of the venerable slide rule.
Hewlett-Packard's HP-35 calculator, 1972.
Reproduced with permission of the Hewlett-Packard Company Archives
Although the company never developed weapons systems, it depended heavily throughout its history on military spending, because its instrumentation has been used to develop and test military products, particularly as weapons systems have become more dependent on electronic and semiconductor technologies. The military expertise of Hewlett-Packard was underscored in 1969 when U.S. Pres. Richard M. Nixon appointed Packard deputy secretary of defense, in which position he oversaw the initial plans for the development of two of the country’s most successful jet fighter programs, the F-16 and the A-10.
Computer Business
Hewlett-Packard’s first computer, the HP 2116A, was developed in 1966 specifically to manage the company’s test and measurement devices. In 1972 the company released the HP 3000 general-purpose minicomputer—a product line that remains in use today—for use in business. In 1976 an engineering intern at the company, Stephen G. Wozniak, built a prototype for the first personal computer (PC) and offered it to the company. Hewlett-Packard declined and gave Wozniak all rights to his idea; later he joined with Steven P. Jobs to create Apple Computer, Inc. (now Apple Inc.).
Hewlett-Packard introduced its first desktop computer, the HP-85, in 1980. Because it was incompatible with the IBM PC, which became the industry standard, it was a failure. The company’s next major foray into the PC market was with the HP-150, an IBM PC-compatible system that had a touch screen.
Bill Hewlett and David Packard graduated with degrees in electrical engineering from Stanford University in 1935. The company originated in a garage in nearby Palo Alto during a fellowship they had with a past professor, Frederick Terman at Stanford during the Great Depression.
In 1938, Packard and Hewlett began part-time work in a rented garage with an initial capital investment of US$538.
In 1939, Hewlett and Packard decided to formalize their partnership. They tossed a coin to decide whether the company they founded would be called Hewlett-Packard (HP)
Of the many projects they worked on, their first financially successful product was a precision audio oscillator, the Model HP200A.
Their innovation was the use of a small incandescent light bulb (known as a "pilot light")The Model 200 series of generators continued production until at least 1972 as the 200AB, still tube-based but improved in design through the years.
Hewlett-Packard Company, American manufacturer of software and computer services. The company split in 2015 into two companies: HP Inc. and Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Headquarters were in Palo Alto, California.
The garage in Palo Alto, California, where William Hewlett and David Packard began building electronic equipment in 1938.
The garage in Palo Alto, California, where William Hewlett and David Packard began building electronic equipment in 1938.
Reproduced with permission of the Hewlett-Packard Company Archives
The company was founded on January 1, 1939, by William R. Hewlett and David Packard, two recent electrical-engineering graduates of Stanford University. It was the first of many technology companies to benefit from the ideas and support of engineering professor Frederick Terman, who pioneered the strong relationship between Stanford and what eventually emerged as Silicon Valley. The company established its reputation as a maker of sophisticated instrumentation. Its first customer was Walt Disney Productions, which purchased eight audio oscillators to use in the making of its full-length animated film Fantasia (1940). During World War II the company developed products for military applications that were important enough to merit Packard a draft exemption, while Hewlett served in the Army Signal Corps. Throughout the war the company worked with the Naval Research Laboratory to build counter-radar technology and advanced artillery shell fuses.
After the war, Packard became responsible for the company’s business, while Hewlett led its research and development efforts. Following a postwar slump in defense contracts, in 1947 Hewlett-Packard returned to the revenue levels of the war years and grew continuously thereafter through a strategy of product diversification. One of its most popular early products was a high-speed frequency counter that it introduced in 1951. It was used in the rapidly growing market of FM radio and television broadcast stations for precisely setting signal frequencies according to Federal Communications Commission regulations. Military sales during the Korean War also boosted company revenues.
To help fund the development of new products, Hewlett-Packard raised money by issuing public stock in 1957. In addition, it embarked on a long campaign of expanding its product line by acquiring companies, beginning the year after it went public with the purchase of F.L. Moseley Company, a maker of graphic recorders. In 1961 it began its climb to status as a medical-instrument manufacturer with the purchase of Sanborn Company.
Get exclusive access to content from our 1768 First Edition with your subscription.
Subscribe today
In 1964 Hewlett-Packard instrumentation gained international recognition in a technological publicity stunt. Company engineers flew around the world with its cesium beam HP 5060A instrument to synchronize the globe’s atomic clocks to within one-millionth of a second. Four years later the company introduced the first desktop calculator. In 1972, using advanced integrated-circuit technology, Hewlett-Packard unveiled the first pocket-sized calculator. Selling at one-sixth the price of the original desktop unit, the pocket calculator eventually forced the obsolescence of the venerable slide rule.
Hewlett-Packard's HP-35 calculator, 1972.
Reproduced with permission of the Hewlett-Packard Company Archives
Although the company never developed weapons systems, it depended heavily throughout its history on military spending, because its instrumentation has been used to develop and test military products, particularly as weapons systems have become more dependent on electronic and semiconductor technologies. The military expertise of Hewlett-Packard was underscored in 1969 when U.S. Pres. Richard M. Nixon appointed Packard deputy secretary of defense, in which position he oversaw the initial plans for the development of two of the country’s most successful jet fighter programs, the F-16 and the A-10.
Computer Business
Hewlett-Packard’s first computer, the HP 2116A, was developed in 1966 specifically to manage the company’s test and measurement devices. In 1972 the company released the HP 3000 general-purpose minicomputer—a product line that remains in use today—for use in business. In 1976 an engineering intern at the company, Stephen G. Wozniak, built a prototype for the first personal computer (PC) and offered it to the company. Hewlett-Packard declined and gave Wozniak all rights to his idea; later he joined with Steven P. Jobs to create Apple Computer, Inc. (now Apple Inc.).
Hewlett-Packard introduced its first desktop computer, the HP-85, in 1980. Because it was incompatible with the IBM PC, which became the industry standard, it was a failure. The company’s next major foray into the PC market was with the HP-150, an IBM PC-compatible system that had a touch screen.
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