Design Museum

1918
Attachment Plug

In 1918, Konosuke Matsushita rented a two-story home, establishing Matsushita Electric Devices Manufacturing Works on the first floor. In his larger workshop, Konosuke was able to expand production to include the innovative attachment plug and a two-way socket – earning the company a reputation for high quality at low prices.

1931
3-Tube Radio

Radio broadcasting was rapidly catching on in Japanese households, but the radio sets the nation was tuning in on were prone to problems. Konosuke Matsushita himself was irritated to have a programme he was enjoying cut short, and so set out to design a radio that “wouldn’t break down”.

1952
Monochrome TV 17K-531

Gearing up for the open experiment held in Kyoto before the full-blown start of Japanese TV broadcasting in 1953, a group of engineers joined forces to complete the development of the first National TV set, the 17K-531, in only two months.