Gas sensors are the core of our gas alarm and gas detectors , but in fact, when New Cosmos Electric was founded in 1960, it was engaged in a completely different business.
Click here for "What is a gas sensors?"
The story of how we decided to develop gas sensors is a little dramatic tale that is still told within the company.
This time, we will introduce this article.
Founded as a manufacturer of variable resistors
As previously mentioned in the article below, New Cosmos Electric had experienced two bankruptcies prior to its establishment.
The reason why New Cosmos Electric is "new"
New Cosmos Electric Electric was established as a company that manufactured variable resistors used to control the volume of televisions and radios, which was the main business of its predecessors, Fukushima Electric Works and Osaka New Cosmos Electric.
We were recovering from bankruptcy and in a difficult environment, but we were gradually regaining our credibility as a variable resistor manufacturer. In an effort to create something better, we reviewed the materials and developed a new variable resistor that we were confident in, achieving high performance. We had completed the prototype and product samples, and were just waiting to ship them when a problem occurred.
During random testing just before shipping, the resistance value, which should have been 1KΩ, was an absurd 50KΩ. Everyone involved was dejected, saying, "This is no longer marketable," and "We were so confident in this product..."
In the midst of this, founder Kasahara immediately began to investigate the cause. He discovered that the grease that had been applied to the volume shaft to make it smooth had overflowed and was dirty, so the overflowing parts were wiped off with toluene, an organic solvent, before shipping. The vapor from this toluene was causing the resistance value to go haywire.
Kasahara then thought, "If the resistance value increased when toluene vapor(gas) was adsorbed onto the resistor, perhaps it would be possible to create a resistor that reacts sensitively to gas."
This was the start of the research and development of "gas sensors," which are now our company's core technology.
After this, we faced a series of hardships before we were able to create a gas sensors that could actually be used in gas alarm and gas detectors. However, we had the creativity to not let failure be just a failure, and the tenacity to never give up. This is what has enabled us to exist as a gas alarm manufacturer with one of the world's largest research and development facilities for gas sensors .
This spirit is also enshrined in our Corporate Philosophy and has been passed down to our current company and employees.