Note
Abstract: A History of the National Electrical Supply Co.
This monograph traces the century-long evolutionary lineage of the National Electrical Supply Company (NESCO) from its late-19th-century origins in Washington, D.C., to its subsequent modern corporate iterations through 1993.
Founded originally in 1880 as the machine shop Royce and Marean in Georgetown, the business initially specialized in mechanical repairs, brass/copper fabrication, and early electrical novelties like doorbells and motorized gas lighters. By the turn of the century, the company officially organized NESCO and shifted major operations toward commercial merchandising and government contracting, supplying telegraph equipment to the U.S. Army during the Spanish-American War.
With the advent of wireless technology, NESCO became a critical manufacturing asset for the U.S. military, the Signal Corps, and the Bureau of Standards. The company built pioneer long-wave receivers, wavemeters, and portable transmitters.
During World War I, NESCO expanded heavily into mobile field equipment—including mule-back pack sets, submarine radio apparatus, and early naval aircraft generators—while producing hundreds of CN-113 and CN-113A receivers for sub-chasers.
Following the war, NESCO played a foundational role in converting major Washington infrastructure from direct current (DC) to alternating current (AC). Its storefront additionally served as a prominent early hub for the amateur radio community.
The company underwent several key structural transformations:
1937: The merchandising division was sold to General Electric Supply Company. The manufacturing assets were reorganized into National Electrical Machine Shops, Inc. (NEMS), which subsequently earned multiple Navy "E" awards during World War II before relocating to Silver Spring, Maryland, in 1946.
1951: NEMS merged with the Clarke Instrument Company to form Nems-Clarke Company, Inc., expanding into specialized AM/FM/TV field-intensity meters, phase monitors, and telemetry components.
1957–1960: The company was acquired by the Vitro Corporation of America, eventually becoming the Vitro Electronics Division.
Post-1960: Successive corporate spin-offs distributed the original Nems-Clarke product lines across several industry firms, with the legacy broadcast instrumentation line ultimately transferring to Potomac Instruments in 1968.
