San
Joaquin County
Biographies
PAUL OARD
In the Oard Radio Laboratories,
Stockton possesses an industry that is decidedly out of the ordinary. Located in a handsome plant at South and
Aurora streets, this concern, specializing in the manufacture of radio
apparatus of a very high quality, distributes its product across the entire
United States.
Paul Oard, the founder of this
concern, one of the pioneer radio men of the industry, and an inventor whose
devices have contributed materially toward the progress of the radio art, was
born in Salem, Oregon, October 28, 1894, the son of Sherman and Edith (Pelton) Oard. In a sudden and distressing accident three
years later, the father met death while with the Northern Pacific Lumber
Company of Portland, leaving Mrs. Oard the breadwinner of the little
family. In later years, Mrs. Oard,
visiting friends in California, met and married H. R. McCoy of Stockton, now a
retired Delta farmer.
Mr. Oard while still in Stockton
high school, became fascinated with the possibilities of the radio art, which
at this time, 1911, was emerging from the experimental stage into its present
commercialized form. In 1912, passing
the Government radio examination with flying colors, he entered the services of
the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company as a ship operator, and while with this
concern for the following two years visited the major part of the globe.
In 1914, barely out of his teens,
Mr. Oard resigned from the Marconi Company, and returning to Stockton, opened
his first place of business. Shortly
afterwards he put his first radio patent through the Patent Office. The business prospered in a modest way until
the United States entered the World War, and all privately owned radio stations
were closed by Government order. In view
of Mr. Oard’s thorough knowledge of the radio art he was appointed radio
instructor by the Government and by the state of California for Stockton high
school, and in
this capacity took active part in the training of operators for the Government
service. As a result of his untiring
services, Stockton furnished a larger proportionate number of radio operators
than any other city in the state of California.
With the close of hostilities and
the resumption of radio activity, Mr. Oard plunged actively into the
manufacture of radio apparatus again. It
was at this time that the Oard Radio Laboratories came into existence, with Mr.
Oard’s step-father, H. R. McCoy, as the silent partner. Shortly after the organizing of the concern,
possession was gained of what is now conceded to be one of the most valuable of
wireless patent licenses, the famous Armstrong Regenerative Circuit, which gave
the Oard Radio Laboratories a commanding position in the radio world.
In 1921, George A. Turner, prominent
capitalist of Stockton, and also an inventor, became interested in Mr. Oard’s
work, and incorporated the Portable Wireless Telephone Company for the express
purpose of acting as distributors of the Oard radio apparatus. Under his able and capable direction a strong
organization was launched which in a short while was distributing through the
medium of several hundreds of dealers across the United States. Prominent among the radio devices is the now
famous Phantom Radio Receptor, one of Mr. Oard’s inventions which possess the
property of being able to receive radio messages over distances of several
thousands of miles without the use of outside aerial wires or connections.
Although the bulk of the business
comes from east of the Rocky Mountains, and although several flattering offers
have been received relative to establishing the manufacturing plant on the
Atlantic Seaboard, Mr. Oard prefers to keep the industry in Stockton. At this writing, the books of the company
show that over one thousand dealers and jobbers are handling the Oard products,
the concern not handling any retail trade.
A national advertising policy is also followed.
The marriage of Mr. Oard united him
with Miss Lucial Garrow, a
daughter of Alexander Garrow, whose life history is
to be found in these pages. Mr. and Mrs.
Oard are the parents of one daughter, Ruth Lucial. In politics, Mr. Oard is a Republican and is
a member of Truth Lodge, I. O. O. F., of Stockton.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
944-947. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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