Norelco HP3108 sunlamp
NORELCO
From the early 1940s, Philco, a pioneer
in early battery, radio, and television
production in the USA, was legally able to
prevent Philips from using the name
"Philips" on any products marketed in the
USA, because the two names were
judged to sound similar. As a result,
Philips instead used the name Norelco,
an acronym for "North American Philips
Electrical Company." Philips continued to
use that name for all their US products
until 1974, when Philips purchased The
Magnavox Company. Philips then
relabelled their US consumer electronics
products to the Magnavox name, but
retained the Norelco name for their other
US products like sunlamps as the
HP3108 sunlamp on display here. When
Philips bought Philco in 1981, Philips was
able to freely use the Philips name for all
of their US products, but they chose to
retain the Norelco name for personal care
appliances and the Magnavox name for
economy-priced consumer electronics. In
1991 the North American Philips
Corporation was formally dissolved and a
new corporate division was formed in the
US with the name Philips Electronics North America Corporation. To improve Philips
brand recognition in the USA, Philips started branding their shavers "Philips Norelco"
from 2005 on.
