Don Massa and his daughter Dawn F. Massa Stancavish with a Portrait with his Father, Frank Massa, Founder of the Company
Massa Products Corporation is located at 280 Lincoln Street, Hingham, MA 02043. We are the eyes and ears for naval ships and submarines that protect the U.S. coastline with our undersea technologies. We were founded by the man who pioneered the field of electroacoustics 75 years ago, Frank Massa, and the company maintains family ownership and leadership. Massa engineers and manufactures sonar and ultrasonic products for use in the water and air. Our products are for sale in commercial or industrial markets, and to the military.
We are set apart by our abilities to solve problems in various fields and environments with our electroacoustical expertise – we often will tailor our designs to fit customer needs when applicable. Massa is ISO 9001:2015 certified, and has been awarded over 165 U.S. Patents in sonar and ultrasonic technology.
Frank Massa – The Father of Modern Electroacoustics
What does it mean to be a pioneer? A person who is among the first to explore or settle a new area, or to venture into the unknown to introduce and establish new methods of doing things. One who opens up new areas of thought, and prepares the way for others to follow. One who creates the fundamental groundwork that allows for people to flourish in the creation of new commodities, products, and technology. Frank Massa is all of these things in the field of electroacoustics, and he taught and inspired those who ventured with him. The people who presently work at Massa are a highly experienced team that are still pioneering new designs in electroacoustic technology. The Massa facility has manufacturing capabilities that have produced over 8,000 transducers per day.
Frank Massa, MIT Swope Fellow Graduate, began involvement in the sound industry since the early days of the Victrola. He worked at Victor Talking Machine, and RCA Victor, and later Brush Development Company. He developed new designs and patents throughout his career. He worked on everything from the development of sound for motion pictures when silent films were being replaced by “talkies”, to the perfection of the hydrophone. Some of Frank Massa’s early designs even became iconic symbols, such as the ribbon microphone used for NBC. Many concepts that he developed and perfected resulted in the very first text book in the field of electroacoustics entitled, Applied Acoustics (Olson & Massa, 1934). This was the very first book written that took the practical science of engineering and applied it to acoustics.
He played a significant role in American History with the development of audible sound microphones and speakers for commercial industry, modern sonar transducers and systems for the US Navy, and ultrasonic technology. The amount of significant accomplishments are too numerous to mention, however a few of them include the development of the first standard microphones and hydrophones for accurate measurements of sound pressure in air and water; Artemis the largest and most powerful transducer ever built that produced a megawatt of sound in the ocean; and the first-ever mass-produced ultrasonic transducer. This transducer was the 40 kHz TR-7 for RCA and Motorola for use in Television Remote Controls – this is where 40 kHz Transducers began, and are still an industry standard. Frank Massa was personally credited by the US Secretary of the Navy in the 1950s for his work in sonar development and production and was credited for the WWII victory. Frank, and his sons Frank Jr. and Don, have all contributed to the fundamental patents in electroacoustic design that have paved the way for all sonar and ultrasonic systems that exist today. Massa has been awarded over 165 U.S. Patents and continues to increase the ever-growing number.
Pioneering the Future
Today as a stalwart family company, Massa Products Corporation upholds Frank Massa’s legacy of innovation in every aspect of the business; from the initial concepts of design through the final production process. Frank’s son, Don Massa, is the Chairman and Chief Technical Officer, and Don’s daughter, Dawn F. Massa Stancavish, is President/CEO & Chief Innovation Officer. Don and Dawn work with a skillful team of Massa employees to design, develop, and manufacture new, and modified products. Hundreds of transducers and systems that operate in fluid and gas at different frequencies spanning from 5 Hz to 500 kHz have been designed and manufactured by Massa. Our systems are used in various environments and applications including anti-collision, measurement, liquid level (C1D1 Hazardous and not), flow, anti-theft, web break, bowling scoring systems, active and passive sonars, and more. Don’s expertise in electroacoustics today is unparalleled. He was both raised and trained by the founder of the field, and he continues to design new products each day. With over 165 U.S. Patents and hundreds of different transducers and systems, Massa holds a library of fundamental knowledge that continues to grow. With the same pioneering spirit that Frank established, Massa actively seeks out new areas in which ultrasonic and sonar technology can be relevant as creative solutions to customer applications.
Massa Celebrates 70 Years of Innovation and Invention
Sea Technology, November 2015
(Massa) Uses Sound to Clean Tools, Dye Cloth, Do Other Jobs
Boston Sunday Post, September 13, 1953
See these and many other articles about Massa’s history on our Publications page.
