Excerpt:
The company was founded by Paul V. Galvin as the Galvin Manufacturing Corporation, in Chicago, Illinois, in 1928. Its first product was a "battery eliminator," allowing consumers to operate radios directly from household current instead of the batteries supplied with early models. In the 1930s, the company successfully commercialized car radios under the brand name "Motorola," a word suggesting sound in motion. During this period, the company also established home radio and police radio departments; instituted pioneering personnel programs; and began national advertising. The name of the company was changed to Motorola, Inc., in 1947.