Philco was established in 1892 as the Helios Electric Company and initially focused on manufacturing carbon-arc lamps. But this wasn't particularly successful. So, in 1906, they began producing batteries for electric vehicles under the new name, Philadelphia Storage Battery Company. This proved to be much more successful which encouraged them to branch out into other types of batteries such as home charging batteries for radios. In 1919, they began using the brand name Philco. They became a pioneer in early battery, radio and television production and were the former employer of Philo Farnsworth (1906-1971).

Philco expanded into many products including air conditioners in 1938, refrigerators in 1939, home freezers in 1946, consumer televisions in 1947, electric ranges in 1949, home laundry washers and dryers in 1954, and home entertainment products.

In 1961, the company was acquired by Ford Motor Company. They continued to manufacture consumer products, computer systems and defense-related products, and continued providing car radios to Ford. In this period, the company was known as Philco-Ford. However, eventually the name was abandoned. In 1974, Ford sold Philco to General Telephone and Electronics. The Aerospace portion of Philco Ford was renamed Ford Aerospace in 1976.