Tung-Sol was a manufacturer of lamps and vacuum tubes in Newark, New Jersey.

Tung-Sol developed the first successful car headlight in 1907 and the first two filament high and low beam headlight in a single bulb in 1913. Tung-Sol was also responsible for the first flashing turn signal.

In the 1920s they entered the electronics field. They were leaders along with RCA

RCA

RCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...

 in the development of sophisticated, statistical quality control systems. Tung-Sol created the 6550 vacuum tube

Vacuum tube

In electronics, a vacuum tube, electron tube , or thermionic valve , reduced to simply "tube" or "valve" in everyday parlance, is a device that relies on the flow of electric current through a vacuum...

, conceived and developed for Hi-Fi in 1955.

Tung-Sol was a privately held company and was run like a laboratory. This gave Tung Sol vacuum tubes a reputation of having some of the best metallurgy

Metallurgy

Metallurgy is a domain of materials science that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their intermetallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are called alloys. It is also the technology of metals: the way in which science is applied to their practical use...

 and chemistry

Chemistry

Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....

 that has ever been pulled off in actual production. The Tung Sol brand name is now owned by the New Sensor Corporation, which is the same parent company as Sovtek

Sovtek

Sovtek is a brand of vacuum tube owned by Mike Matthews's New Sensor Corporation and manufactured in Saratov, Russia. They are often used in guitar amplification and include the popular variants of the 12AX7, EL84, EL34, and 6L6 models...

 and the old Electro-Harmonix

Electro-Harmonix

Electro-Harmonix is a New York-based company that makes high-end electronic audio processors. The company was founded by Mike Matthews in 1968. They are most famous for a series of popular guitar effects pedals introduced in the 1970s and 1990s....

.