Industry | Manufacturing |
---|---|
Headquarters | United States |
Products | Steel |
The Blaw-Knox company was an American manufacturer of steel structures and construction equipment based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company is today best known for its radio towers, most of which were constructed during the 1930s in the United States. Although Blaw-Knox built many kinds of towers, the term Blaw-Knox tower (or radiator) usually refers to the company's unusual "diamond cantilever" design, which is stabilized by guy wires attached only at the vertical center of the mast, where its cross-section is widest.[1] During the 1930s AM radio broadcasting stations adopted single mast radiator antennas, and the Blaw-Knox design was the first type used. A 1942 advertisement claims that 70% of all radio towers in the United States at the time were built by Blaw-Knox.[2]
The distinctive diamond-shaped towers became an icon of early radio. Several are listed on the United States National Register of Historic Places,[3][4] the distinctive diamond antenna design has been incorporated into logos of various organizations related to radio and a very large (scale) replica of the WSM (AM) Blaw-Knox tower has been built into the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.