The purpose of this page is to document
to the best of our ability, how various electrical manufacturer companies
got their names. If you know any additional stories not shown here,
please let us know at info@tradeslang.com
| According
to Mark Drastal of Crouse Hinds, the name comes from the combination
of the founders names Jesse L Hinds and Huntington B Crouse.
Originally, they marketed switches and panelboards using Mr. Hinds
patent on the 'tubular-arm' knife switch. Eventually they
expanded into removable headlights for trolley cars and finally in
1905 manufacturered their first condulets that we know them for
today. Click here for a catalog
image of the very first condulets they produced in 1905. |
| Company
Name |
Founded |
Old
Logo |
|
WIREMOLD |
1919 |
 |
| Today,
we think of Wiremold in the context of metal or plastic surface
raceway but at the turn of the century, surface raceway was made
from wood. By the mid-teens, the wood molding had given way to
a metal raceway and was specifically forbidden by several Electric
Codes. To accommodate the growth of electrical timesaving
devices at home and in the office, a metal "on wall"
product" called Wiremold™ was introduced at June 1916
NECA convention by the American Conduit Manufacturing Corporation.
Three years later in 1919, the company changed its name to the American Wiremold
Co Click
here for an advertisement from 1918. |
| At the time of its incorporation
in 1927, it brought under one corporate identity a variety of old
line companies such as Rome Wire Company, the Phillips Wire and Safety Cable Company
and Standard Underground Cable. It was the Rome Wire Company that introduced the
Romex® brand name in 1922.
|
| The General Electric we know today is the result of
over a hundred years of mergers and acquisitions. In
1892, Edison General Electric Company and Thomson-Houston
merged to form the first General Electric Company. Later, in
1927 they acquired the 39 year old Pettingell Andrews & Company.
|
|
| The company founder, Louis Ferguson, named the company after the
materials used in the transformer coolant that he invented. By
joining mineral oil and lacquer, he coined the name Minerallac and
invented a product critical to distribution equipment.
|
|
The name OZ Gedney came from a merger.
General Railway Signal purchased OZ Electrical Manufacturing from
Michael Cafero. Michael
Cafero was a friend of Malcom Herron and since Malcom didn’t have any
children, Michael convinced
him to sell to General Signal. General
Signal merged the two companies into OZ Gedney
|
Founded as the Greenlee Brothers
& Co in Chicago, ILL by brothers Robert Lemuel and Ralph
Stebbins Greenlee, the firm had its roots in their fathers business
of manufacturing machines which made wooden barrels for storing
crude oil. The growth of Chicago during the Civil War and
after the great fire of 1871 saw the brothers manufacturing
woodworking tools and the business we know of as Greenlee. The
turn of the century saw them manufacturing construction equipment
which turned raw lumber into railroad ties as track was laid and
finally building a machine which drove the spikes as well.
They were purchased by the Textron Corporation in 1986.
|
|
| Brothers and Company founders Al,
Harry, Frank, Joe and Lee Bussmann first made their fuses in the
basement of their home in St Louis, Missouri. |
| Company
Name |
Founded |
Old
Logo |
|
ILSCO |
1894 |
|
| The Incandescent Light And Stove
Company was founded by a tinsmith named Joseph Stubbers. The
firm evolved with the advent of electricity by building and
marketing a single-cylinder gasoline powered generator in 1913 to
provide power to outlets run throughout a residence. World War I saw
their introduction of battery connectors to Cooper Batteries and
Ford Motor Company. It wasn't until 1935 that they started
producing the SLU line we are familiar with today. |
| Company
Name |
Founded |
Old
Logo |
|
Arrow-Hart |
Merged 1927 |
|
| The current company which exists
as a division of Cooper Industries was formed in October of 1927 as
the result of a merger between Arrow Electric Company and the Hart
& Hegeman Manufacturing Company.
|
| Hubbell
Incorporated had its beginnings in a score of individual companies
that came of age in the beginning of the electrical manufacturing
industry and which today find themselves part of a Corporate parent.
The original Hubbell company began business in
Bridgeport, Connecticut manufacturing a wrapping paper
holder/cutter for the retail industry. Harvey
Hubbell's first electrical
product, patented in 1896, was the "pull socket"
whose design remains essentially unchanged today. It
was an immediate hit because the initial "Edison"
electric systems used existing
abandoned gas piping that
saved installation costs but which lacked the ability to add a
switch leg. Until the electric lighting fad caught on,
people were reluctant to invest the considerable sums required to
refit a structure to accommodate electrical wiring. Thus,
the all-in-one lamp holder and switch was introduced.
Today, Hubbell is structured around 6 platforms: Electrical
Products, Lighting, Power Systems, Industrial Technology, Telecom
and Wiring Systems. Some of the brand names are
themselves anachronisms lost to the passing years: RACO is
really Roach Appleton Company founded 1921, BRYANT was named after
Waldo C. Bryant in 1888
|
| Company
Name |
Founded |
Old
Logo |
|
ERICO |
1903 |
|
| ERICO®
was founded by Billy Cleveland as the Electric Railway Improvement
COmpany to provide bonding and welding equipment to the railway
industries.
Charles Cadwell, a Physics Professor at Case School of
Applied Science in Cleveland, Ohio, created the CADWELD® line in
1938.
Today the company is known by its various brand names: CADDY®,
CRITEC® , ERIFLEX®, FLEXIBAR®, ERITECH® and LENTON®. The
CADDY line came about in the 1950's as an offering of 6 time saving
fasteners.
|
| Company
Name |
Founded |
Old
Logo |
|
SquareD |
1902 |
|
| Per the SquareD Website
"Square D Company began in 1902 as a two-man operation making
electrical fuse links under the name of McBride Manufacturing. In 1908 the expanded
company, then known as the Detroit Fuse and Manufacturing Company,
became the first US manufacturer of
enclosed safety switches. The name Square
D originated from one of the company's first products, a new safety
switch with the company's new logo, a
"D" (for Detroit) inside a square. The product quickly
became the industry standard and many
customers began asking for "the square D switches." The
trademark was developed in 1915 and the
name Square D Company was formally adopted in 1917. To this day,
Square D is one of the few companies ever named
by its customers.
On May 24, 1991, Square D Company merged with
Schneider Electric of Paris, France. Schneider Electric
is the world's leading manufacturer of electrical distribution and
industrial control and automation products
and systems, and the only manufacturer dedicated to the distribution
and control of electricity."
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