Fisher factory pictures

dsndblm

Super Member
Has anyone ever seen any pictures of the Fisher factories? It would be very interesting to see the assembly lines where the Fisher receivers and amplifiers were made.
 
There's an outside picture of the factory in Pennsylvania and if you search online you'll find it. I've only seen a picture of where the Queens factory used to be. I've never seen an inside photo.
 
It's to bad that more info doesn't exist. Maybe it does but just isn't public. I spent a couple of days in Long Island last year for work. I was at lunch talking about hobbies with one of the guys from the factory I was visiting. I mentioned that I liked to restore Fisher equipment from the 60's that I owned a few units. He recalled that when he was a kid one of his neighbors worked for Fisher. It would be cool to talk to some of the people and get some insight on what went on during manufacturing and assembly. I wonder if many of the employees are still alive? I bet many of the assembly workers also worked in radio during the golden era.
 
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I went to summer camp with Avery Fisher's grandson. We had a Fisher receiver in our bunk. I remember my bunkmate's father (Avery's son) had some trouble getting it working when he brought it in. I wasn't that friendly with the kid, and didn't remain in touch with him after camp ended. This must've been 1970 or so.
 
Whoa... Chip was the kid I went to camp with. Was that Avery's son or grandson? John, do you know Chip?
 
Chip is his son. If it was 1970, that sounds about right, Chip was born in 1955 if I remember correctly. I have never met him, but I have emailed with him many times. I just sent him a note. You said the kids father came in to get it working! That was Avery!!! holy crap! If you only knew then what you did now. But still, how cool!
John
 
Thanks sloober. That would be great if we could get some pictures and some knowledge on how the units were made. Keep me posted! Let me know if there is something I can do.

JonL, You most likely met the man and didn't even realize it until now. Long Island is a nice place. Not at all what I expected as I've lived my whole life in the west. I met some really nice people during my visit.
 
Yes, I did meet him. I remember watching over his shoulder as he was hooking up the receiver and asking him something about the speaker impedance. He wasn't exactly interested in what I had to say... not surprising! I knew Chip was of the Fisher electronics family. Not sure I knew about the Lincoln Center endowment. I was 12 or 13 at the time, and I was an aspiring hippie. I think I would have been studiously unimpressed by the establishment guy. All these years I assumed Chip was the grandson, not the son. Oh well.

As to Long Island... it is big, and many parts are really beautiful. Some parts are very crowded and not as nice. Where on LI were you?
 
zr1gary, Nice books. Any chance of getting them scanned as sloober mentioned? I also love the sound of my 400!

JonL,
I was in Hauppauge, not to far off the 495 & 111 express ways if I remember right. Pretty intense driving. I rolled out of JFK right at rush hour... And I thought driving in Phoenix traffic was bad. I will never complain again.......
 
Yes, the Belt Parkway leaving JFK is about as bad as it gets. If you were in Hauppauge, you were pretty much in the dead center of the island. 495 runs east-west lengthwise roughly along the middle of the island. Almost all of the north shore is beautiful, most of the south shore is also beautiful in a very different way. Out east, the island splits into a north fork and a south fork. Both also beautiful. North fork is still very rural and laid back, used to be mostly potato farms many of which now are vineyards. The wineries have nice tasting rooms and patios, and have entertainment most weekends. The south fork has the famous Hamptons which are uber-trendy. Montauk is all the way at the end, and is more laid back and quite lovely. LI is a big, diverse place. 120 miles long.

*Sorry for the hijack*
 
Fisher had facilities in Long Island City, NY; Milroy, Pa.; Lewistown, Pa. and Belleville, NJ. These are images from various Fisher catalogs. The color image is from a 1966 catalog and shows an artists conception of Plant No. 1 in Milroy, Pa. Oddly, the actual photo of that facility is from an earlier '63 publication. I'm unable to find a picture of the Lewistown, Pa. plant. Perhaps it was not as photogenic as the others though the speaker plant in Belleville was pretty unremarkable. It would be cool to hear from someone who worked at one of these facilities.

Nos12-Headquarters.jpg

MilroyPa.jpg

BellevilleNJ.jpg
 
I'm only about 15-20 miles from Belleville. I think I know where that building is. Does it provide a street address?
 
Amazingly large buildings. Much bigger than I would have thought they needed.
 
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