This column will start a new feature. The history of the companies that eventually became The Honeywell Corporation we know today. All you readers are welcome to contribute any information or items from your own knowledge and or your experiences. This will be a continuing series of articles.
I would like to thank the following people for their assistance in gathering this information. Tom Buckmaster, Carol O'Hanlon, Jerry Kearney, Pam Holmes, Kathleen Timothy.
Editor's Note: last updated: March 5, 2007
Index
This section first appeared:September 10, 2002
Formed in December 1920 as a means of ending foreign domination of the chemical industry. Consisted of the following:
Subsequently these five subsidiary companies became operating divisions.
In 1958 the name was shortened. From time to time its divisional structure had been realigned to meet the needs of growing, more complex operations. Manufacturing was carried on by eight Divisions. Agricultural, Fabricated Products, Fibers, Industrial Chemicals, Plastics, Semet-Solvay, Specialty Chemicals and Union Texas Petroleum. Allied Chemical Canada, Ltd., managed all Canadian business. Allied Chemical International directed export sales and manufacturing interests outside of the U.S. Canada.
The Agricultural Division was formerly known as the Nitrogen Division -- renamed in 1967 to reflect the Company's broadened scope of farm products, which were consolidated in a single operating unit. The Division was initiated in 1952, to take over from the former Solvay Process and Barrett Division the production and sale of ammonia and other nitrogenous materials.
At Syracuse, New York, in 1921, Allied Chemical had been the first in the United States to develop commercially the synthetic ammonia process for the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen. This operation was moved to Hopewell, Virginia, where a sizable plant was completed in 1928, making America for the first time independent of imported nitrate deposits. Additional facilities for ammonia and nitrogen fertilizers were later established at South Point, OHIO, and Omaha, Nebraska. The Company's chemical/fertilizer complex at Geismar, Louisiana, provided a large new production center for the Agricultural Division's plant foods.
As the leading domestic producer of ammonia, urea, and a broad line of solid and liquid nitrogen fertilizes, the Agricultural Division to the farm economy. Other major products were phosphatic fertilizers, pesticides and liquid protein supplements for animal nutrition. The Division also marketed potassic fertilizers and micronutrients. At locations in the East and Mid-west, the Agricultural Division produced paving materials for highway construction, parking areas and other paving requirements.
Fabricated Products Division -- Established in 1967. Manufactured and marketed products strongly oriented to end-users. The division operated five separate businesses. Three departments were:
The Fibers Division -- Formed in 1963. Specialized in production and marketing of the Company's Caprolan Nylon, which had been initiated by the former National Division after almost a decade of corporate research and pilot plant study. The best known of Allied's Chemical consumer oriented products, Caprolan is, in chemical terms, a nylon-6 polyamide fiber from caprolactam monomer. Allied was the first to produce captolactam and nylon-6 in America, in 1955, building its monomer plant at Hopewell, Va., and spinning facility nearby in Chesterfield County. The caprolactam plant operated by the Plastics Division, supplied the Fibers Division with raw materials for its heavy- and medium-denier yarn made at the Chesterfield plant near Columbia, South Carolina, which began production in 1962. The heavy deniers went into tire cord, carpeting, upholstery, seat belts, cordage, conveyor belts and similar hard-wearing industrial products where unusual strengths were required. Fine-denier yarns went into hosiery, lingerie, colorful gowns, and many types of apparel including outer wear. In 1968 a new fiber combining the desirable qualities of polyamide and polyester polymers was introduced under the trademark "Source". Its principle use was carpeting.
The Industrial Chemical division -- Was established in 1966, consolidating the former National Aniline, Solvay Process, and General Chemical Division -- Three of the Company's original components. Their predecessor firms were prominent in the early days of American manufacture. The oldest and largest of National Aniline's predecessor was the Schoellkopf Aniline and Chemical Company, pioneer dye manufacturer, which was started in 1879 at Buffalo, NY. National Aniline itself was formed in1917 by the merger of Schoellkopf with two other dye firms.
The Solvay Process Company, responsible for the first commercial soda ash plant in the United States, was founded in 1881 on the outskirts of Syracuse, NY, near the regional abundance of salt and limestone. The General Chemical Company organized in 1899 through the merger of a dozen basic chemical firms, was the first in America to develop the "contact" process for large production of sulfuric acid. As a major supplier of basic chemicals and leader in supplying sulfuric acid essential in the production of other chemicals as nitric and hydrofluoric acid and aluminum sulfate. Soda ash the leading alkali, together with caustic soda and chlorine form the nucleus of another principal product group required by the industry. Chemicals related to this group are calcium chloride, bicarbonate of soda and hydrogen peroxide.
Mutual Chemical Company of America was acquired in 1954. Mutual began mining chromite ore near Baltimore, Maryland in 1827, becoming the largest producer of chromium chemicals. Industrial chemicals' principal plants were located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Brunswick, Georgia; Chicago, Illinois; Claymont, Delaware; East St. Louis, Illinois; El Segundo, California; Green River, Wyoming; Moundsville, West Virginia; Port Chicago, California; and Syracuse, New York.
The Plastics Division -
Once part of the former Barrett Divisions' operations, was made a separate unit in 1958 for the purpose of intensifying research, customer service and market development in the plastics field. The divisions' initial title - Plastics and Coal Chemicals, was shortened to Plastics in 1960.
In 1967, Allied sold its building materials business; and the paving materials operation, which originated in with Barrett's "Tarvia" at the turn of the century, was transferred to the Agricultural Division In 1953 Allied Chemical acquired the Libbey-Owens-Ford Glass Company's Plaskon Division of Toledo, Ohio. In 1964 Allied acquired the Mesa Plastics Company of Los Angeles, California.
A comprehensive group of specialty products were produced ranging from nylon molding compounds to flourine-based resins. The production of phthalic anhydride and phenols and other tonnage materials for the plastics industry were manufactured at its Philadelphia complex. In Hopewell, Virginia, the division manufactured caprolactum, which was used for its nylon molding compounds. Other principal plant locations were Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Chicago, Illinois; Painesville, Ohio; and Whippany, New Jersey.
The Semet Solvay Division -
One of the five concerns to form Allied Chemical in 1920 originated in 1895. Louis Semet, a relative of Ernest and Alfred Solvay of Brussels, Belgium, had developed with Solvay a coke oven designed to recover valuable materials formerly wasted in the coking process. At Syracuse, New York, in 1892 the Solvay Process Company was the first to construct the new by-product ovens in America, and three years later formed the Semet-Solvay Company to build and operate them. The coke plants were located in Ashland, Kentucky; Buffalo, New York; Detroit, Michigan; and Ironton, Ohio. Semet-Solvay operated its own mines in West Virginia for a substantial portion of its coal supply.
Wilputte Coke Oven Division, a part of Semet-Solvay, evolved from the Wilputte Coke Ovens Corporation, which was acquired by Allied in 1940. Wilputte designed and constructed coke ovens and chemical facilities for the company and for customers in the United States and overseas.
This section first appeared: November 5, 2003
The Special Chemicals Division -
Created in 1968 to provide a better opportunity to develop the diverse marketing techniques required by certain product groups from the Industrial Chemicals Division. Prominent in the manufacture of dyes, dye intermediates, food colors, and detergents. The new Division manufactured these and other organic chemicals at its plant in Buffalo, New York. Its organic pigments were made in Haledon, New Jersey, at the Harmon Colors plant acquired from the B.F. Goodrich Company in 1959. Isocyanates - the principal ingredients of urethane plastics, as well aniline, chloromethanes and acidulants were produced at Moundsville, West Virginia. A part of Specialty Chemicals operations included fluorine and fluorine based compounds. One of the major products in this area was uranium hexafluoride (UF6), a vital nuclear material for the enriched uranium fuel elements used in power generation.
The Division doubled the capacity of its UF6 plant in Metropolis, Illinois, to serve the growing nuclear power industry. Genetron aerosol propellants, refrigerants and solvents, manufactured at several locations, are major fluoride-based products, as well as specialty resins and fluorinated acetones and keytones. Laboratory reagents, fine chemical and electronic chemicals formed another specialized products group, made at Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania and marketed under the B&A label. This trademark originated with the Baker & Adamson Company, acquired by the General Chemical Company.
The Union Texas Petroleum Division -
Was established in 1962, upon the merger of Union Texas Natural Gas Corp. into Allied Chemical. The Union Texas organization dates back to 1891, when the well-known industrialist, Herman Frasch, formed the Union Sulphur Company in southern Louisiana, and developed his own mining process that was to revolutionize the sulphur industry. Union Sulphur subsequently became the Union Oil and Gas Corporation of Louisiana, which was merged, in 1960, with the Texas Natural Gasoline Corporation to form the Union Texas Natural Gas Corporation.
Of significant long-range benefit to Allied Chemical, the Union Texas Petroleum Division provided a readily supply of hydrocarbon starting materials for many of the Company products. Engaged in exploration and production of natural gas and crude oil, extraction of natural gas liquids, refining of condensate, and manufacture of olefins, Union Texas Petroleum operated a network of oil and gas wells, plants and pipelines. It distributed and marketed Texgas liquefied petroleum gases (LPG’s), natural gas, motor gasoline, propylene and ethelene.
This Division pioneered the agricultural use of propane for weed control, tractor and irrigation fuel, and residential heating. Its ethane and propane are valuable petrochemical feedstocks for the Company. The Division carried on its operation at a score of localities-principally in Louisiana and Texas.
The Corporation’s Geismar Complex -
In 1965 a new chemical and fertilizer production center was to be constructed on a 3,300-acre site bordering the Mississippi River at Geismar, Louisiana, about 20 miles south of Baton Rouge. The first group of plants to be completed included large scale facilities for ammonia and urea, sulfuric and phosphoric acids, ammonium nitrate, diammonium phosphate, and a variety of the Agricultural Division’s Arcadian fertilizer solutions. Barge and railway directly to the Company's distribution points transported the plant-foods products. From Union Texas Petroleum Division’s reserves, Company owned pipelines to the complex-thus integrating oil and gas operations with chemical and fertilizer production carried natural gas fuel and hydrocarbon feedstocks. Facilities had also been completed at the site for ethylene, an important plastics intermediate, as well as for aluminum fluoride, used in the manufacture of aluminum, and for hydrofluoric acid, which is essential in making aluminum fluoride and other chemicals.
Allied Chemical International -
Headquartered at 40 Rector Street, was formed in 1967 to consolidate two units: the International Division and the corporate international Development Department. The International Division had been organized in 1954 to centralize and coordinate the exports of various divisions, which over the years had found markets in many foreign lands. In fact, upon the Company’s formation in 1920, a few products of the member firms were already being exported-notably National Analine’s dyestuffs, which had worldwide markets. The former International Development Department was created in 1966 to manage several foreign manufacturing enterprises that had been initiated by the operating divisions, and to develop other projects overseas.
A large Iranian fertilizer complex, jointly owned with the government of Iran, introduced Allied Chemical as a major manufacturer in the Middle East.
Allied Chemical Canada, Ltd. -
Originated in 1958 with the consolidation of five wholly owned Canadian subsidiaries: The Barrett Company Ltd.; Brunner Mond Canada Ltd; National Analine & Chemical Company Ltd; The Nichols Chemical Company Ltd; and Semet-Solvay Ltd. With the exception of Semet-Solvay Ltd, formed in 1947, all these firms had been subsidiaries of Allied Chemical’s predecessor companies from the early days of Canadian chemical manufacture. With headquarters in Montreal, Allied Chemical Canada’s plants served the principal industrial areas of that country. Products included soda ash, calcium chloride, sulfuric acid, Genetron aerosols and refrigerants, fine chemicals, CP acids and other products.
From an outline given to me, this concludes a period from 1920 to 1968. Since then I have received additional information.
1833 - Samuel E. Barrett was born in Keene, New Hampshire.
1853 - Samuel arrived in Chicago, Illinois. Worked in a sugar factory. Accepted a job as a salesman with Benjamin F. Barrett (an older brother ?) who conducted a roofing business.
1850 - B. F. Barrett hires M.W. Powell as a roofing mechanic. Powell eventually becomes superintendent and later general manager. B. F. Barrett built the first plant.
1854 - Samuel E. Barrett launched his own business, founded the organization that became Barrett Division.
1855 - April, B.F. Barrett turned his business over to Samuel E. Barrett. Samuel took Wilson C. Dow in as his partner. The new company's name is now Barrett, Dow & Company.
1857 - William C. Dow leaves the firm. Samuel E. Barrett takes another partner, a roofer named Thomas Arnold. The company name is now Barrett & Arnold.
1876 - Business was poor. The demand for tar almost disappeared. A plague of grasshoppers was ravaging the crops in four states - Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota and Missouri. Barrett visited the governors of those states with a proposal that sheet iron be placed in the path of the grasshopper invasion, the sheets to be covered with coat-tar. The grasshoppers swarmed onto the tar, which was set afire. The crops were saved. Barrett made a tidy profit from the sale of 7000 barrels of tar.
Major Barrett organized the S.E. Barrett Manufacturing Company and brought into his firm a group of five other roofing manufacturers. These included the Forest City Chemical Company, the St. Louis Coal Tar Co., and the Ehert-Warren Manufacturing Co., Chas. H. Conner & Co. of Louisville, Ky., Slocum, Lloyd & Orr of Pittsburgh, the Beloit Paper Mill of Beloit, Wis.
1896 - Major Barrett expanded into East, South and Middle West. Brought together five more companies- M. Ehert, Jr. & Co., Warren-Ehert Co., the I.D. Fletcher Company, the New York Coal Tar Chemical Co., and H.W. Jayne Chemical Company. The Jayne Chemical Co. eventually became Barrett's Frankfort Chemical Plant.
To facilitate the distribution of Barrett products in Canada, in 1906, two foremost roofing manufacturers in Canada were purchased. The Paterson Manufacturing Co. of Toronto and Montreal, and the Carrite-Peterson Manufacturing Co. of St. John, New Brunswick. In 1917 these two companies became the Barrett Company Ltd. As Canada grew and expanded so did Barrett. In 1909 a plant was built in Winnipeg followed by another in Vancouver. Barrett’s Canadian felt mill in Joliette was an acquisition from Alex. McArthur & Co. In 1953, acquired the plant of the Louiseville Pulp and Wallboard Mfg. Ltd., produced insulating board products.
A felt mill was built in Peoria, establishment of a Research Laboratory in Edgewater, NJ., the building of a modern roofing plant in Chicago and tar distillation plants in Birmingham, Toledo, Youngstown and Detroit.
The automobile became a popular item but was limited as to where it could go. Barrett’s “Tarvia” road tar came on the scene. Barrett’s advertising campaigns on “Tarvia” was meant for the public to the needs and benefits of paved roads and highways. The sale of road-tar for highway paving began in 1903. The trademark “Tarvia” was adopted in 1906.
In 1906 Barrett commissioned Alfred W. Erickson, the founder of the advertising firm of McCann-Erickson, to make a survey of the roofing materials field to determine if the new science of advertising could discover a remedy for an unhealthy condition in the built up roofing application business, which was endangering the reputation of the industry. Using less material than essential for a good job and varying applications, somewhat questionable, were affecting derogatorily the prestige of the larger group of reputable roofers. Mr. Erickson developed a “specific” method for the application of roofing materials, thereby standardizing procedures which proved themselves to be sound. These specifications prescribed the number of plies of felt, amount and type of pitch to be used, and the spacing of the layers of felt. Thus was born the famous Barrett “Specification” Roof.
Barrett building materials expanded with the building of a shingle plant in Birmingham, Alabama. In 1953 Barrett purchased the plant of the Maizewood Insulating Co. at Dubuque, Iowa to produce fibre board for insulation and roofing purposes. Barrett Division became probably the largest producer of coal-tar creosote.
Barrett’s entry in to the chemical field really began with the purchase of the Jayne Chemical Co. at Frankford.
In the mid-1960's Barrett Division built a plastic pipe plant on Green Pond Road in Rockaway, New Jersey. PVC pipe was extruded, which at the time was used mainly for irrigating farmlands, golf courses etc. The planted lasted 4 years. In 1967 Barrett sold its building materials business to Jim Walters of Tampa, Florida and the PVC pipe plant was included. The paving materials operations, which originated with Barrett’s “Tarvia” at the turn of the century, were transferred to the Agricultural Division.
This is all I have on Barrett Division.
Dr. Charles W. Nichols, whose father, William H. Nichols, was one of the founders of Allied and its first chairmen, acquired the property consisting of 85 acres in West Orange, New Jersey. At the time Dr. Nichols was Vice-President and General Manager of the General Chemical Company - later Allied's General Chemical Division. For the first decade after Dr. Nichols purchased the property, it was used mainly as a family summer and weekend retreat. Only a few of the existing buildings were then in existence and the family occupied a small bungalow, which was situated to the rear of the house.
Actual construction at the farm extended over a period of about 2 ½ years. Pleasantdale Farms was operated as a gentleman's farm. Horses, cows, sheep, and chickens were raised and there were extensive gardens, pastures barns and outbuildings. A special area was set aside for pheasant breeding. Dr. and Mrs. Nichols frequent trips abroad, where a particular architectural detail or object of art would interest them. The architect was asked to blend these styles.
The estate was acquired by Allied in 1963 to be used as a conference and training center. The East Wing was primarily a recreational area. There was a heated indoor swimming pool and game room. This wing offered excellent space for meetings and seminars in modern conference rooms with complete audio-visual equipment. From the East Wing, one would walk through the Orangery (or Conservatory) to the West Wing. The Main Entrance Hall, Fountain Room, Music Room, Trophy Room and Library. Housed in this Wing were most of the art collection, which included Late Renaissance paintings tapestries sculptures and furniture as well as fine examples of other periods. The spacious 54-foot Music Room with its wood-beamed cathedral ceiling featured a concert organ and grand piano, a balcony that was used for theatricals and an immense fireplace. The music room and Library connected to the Dining Room by an enclosed breezeway. Pleasantdale’s twenty-two bedrooms could accommodate 34 guests. Pleasantdale Farms was in constant use year round, with seminars, meetings and other functions being held every day of the working week.
In the early 1900’s, the property on which Honeywell International Headquarters now resides, was the summer estate of the late Otto Kahn, a prominent New York Financier and patron of the arts. “Cedar Court", his twin Monarch style mansions, connected by a 35 foot portico and surrounded by elaborately landscaped formal gardens, were a showcase of gracious living.
After Mr. Kahn’s death in 1920, his heirs leased his estate to Dr. Frederick Allen. Dr. Allen, who helped introduce insulin for the treatment of diabetes, converted the property into a medical treatment center. The project was not successful; however, several years later the Kahn family decided to raze “Cedar Court” to save taxes.
The property lay idle for more than a decade, until Allied Chemical & Dye Corporation, a New York based predecessor of Allied Signal, purchased the estate in 1942 for $32,500, having previously selected it as an ideal location for a research laboratory it intended to build when WWII ended.
Ammonia - The Solvay Process
The following is taken from two publications of Solvay Life; one issue was printed Sept. 1920 and the other was Dec. 1920. Thanks to Jack Zayak for sending them to AREA.
Brunner, Mond Canada, Ltd.
The scarcity of soda ash during WWI led to the development of the organization of the company known as Brunner, Mond Canada, Ltd. This plant was located just across the river from the Detroit plant of the Solvay Process Company. The plant was designed and built by the Engineering Dept. of the Solvay Process Company. The Amherstburg plant furnished an independent source of supply, produced within the boundaries of the Dominion, from natural resources hitherto undeveloped.
Work on the new plant started March 1917. The village of Amherstburg was a very old town, which grew up because of the river traffic, and especially the old crossing of the river by the Canadian Southern R. R. When this crossing was abandoned, the business of the river declined very rapidly. The contamination of the water supply by the large cities above it produced epidemics of typhoid fever. As a large number of workmen must live in the village of Amherstburg, it was decided to build a complete water purification plant to supply, not only for the works, but the entire community. A modern filtering and purification plant was built. During the year of construction there were more than 50 deaths of the inhabitants out of a population of 2500, since the purification plant was built there were no deaths from this cause.
One great advantage to the plant was its proximity to the quarries. A good bed of salt was located, a pumping station was constructed and an eight-inch pipeline was laid to the works, three miles to the south.
The works were put in run October 1919. As the property was of considerable size, it was necessary to carry on some farming operations and a large barn housed the crops used in the feeding of the horses. A garden and truck patch supplied the cafeteria with vegetables. The Company maintained a hospital with a works physician and nurse in charge, and conducted a number of conveniences for the benefit of the employees. A lodge for the accommodation of unmarried men employees and in the village, a building had been fitted up as a club with bowling alleys and recreation rooms.
Future plans for the plant included the manufacture of Bicarbonate Soda, Crystals, and possibly Caustic Soda. From these developments, Canada would have a supply of these products from her own natural resources. The only raw material, which it is necessary to bring from the outside, is coal.
As the demands increased, the company decided to build its own coke ovens to insure a reliable and adequate supply of ammonia and the coke necessary for the operation of its lime kilns.
Thomas Morris, an engineer, was engaged and sent to Europe to study the Semet-Solvay ovens and its operation and to bring home the plans for the construction of a plant in this country. Mr. Morris returned from Europe and work was started on the first block of Semet-Solvay ovens in America. Twelve ovens were built at the Syracuse works of the Semet-Solvay Process Company and put into operation in 1892.
These first ovens were small having a capacity of but four and one-half tons. Following the Belgian practice, the coking time was thirty two hours, so each oven had a capacity for coking six-tenths tons of coal per day, as compared with the modern oven which has a capacity of from twenty to twenty two tons per day.
The construction of this plant had many trying problems. There were no standards to follow to adapt the ovens to American materials and conditions. No where in the United States was the proper material or capable brick makers to be found to produce the materials needed to line the ovens. It was necessary to import all the lining bricks; "Belgian Tile" made from special clay, practically free from shrinkage or expansion. The first coal used contained about 20% volatile. The coke manufactured was used mostly at the kilns. The surplus gas was first used for illuminating purposes. The block was enlarged from 12 to 25 ovens as the demands increased, and coking time was lowered from thirty to twenty-four hours.
When the ovens were enlarged a richer coal was used. The quantity of surplus gas increased to such a volume that it was found sufficient to supply the necessary fuel for three pots in the caustic soda department, which had previously operated by hand and fired by coal.
In 1895 the first contract to build a plant of ovens for use of others than the Solvay Process Company, was made with the Dunbar Furnace Company of Dunbar, Pennsylvania. It was agreed to construct for them a block of Semet-Solvay ovens to supply their furnaces. The Semet-Solvay Company was formed in that year with a capitalization of $75,000. Rowland G. Hazard was made president and continued in that capacity until 1915.
In 1896 the company constructed a block of 25 ovens at Sharon, Pa., for the Buhl Steel Company and in 1897 and 1898 120 ovens were built at Ensley. Alabama, to furnish coke for the furnaces of the Tennessee Coal and Iron Company. The building of this plant confirmed the use of by-product coke for blast furnace purposes. In 1902 the plant was enlarged to 240 ovens. It was operated by the Semet-Solvay Company.
The division was founded in 1928 as The Teleregister Corporation. The name was changed in the 1960's due to mergers with other elements of the present Bunker Ramos Corporation. The original product was the Teleregister on-line stock quotation board system, created to serve brokerage offices in New York City. It was a network of electrically posted black boards, activated by a central transmitting station via telegraph lines. The first major advance in market information since the Edison ticker. The boards became operational in 1929, and the system eventually reached over 700 brokerage offices from coast to coast, serving the securities industry.
Notable Milestones
1945 - First automated system for airlines reservations. Used by American Airlines.
1952 - First computerized on-line real time data processing system ever used commercially.
1957 - First on-line teller terminal system for the banking industry.
1963 - First automated voice response system ever used commercially.
1964 - First production model cathode ray tube data terminal.
1969 - First electronic stock market. Bunker Ramo began work on the 25 million NASDAQ system that showed the financial community, for the first time, which market offered the best price on a given security. NASDAQ became fully operational in earl 1971.
1972 - First bank teller terminal with a CRT display.
1974 - First instantaneous news retrieval system. Market Decision System 7, a news retrieval service enabling subscribers to tap a database containing all significant business and financial news of the past 90 days. Called DJ NEWS? RECALL ®, it was developed through a joint venture with Dow Jones & Company Inc.
1975 - America's largest on-line bank teller terminal system. Bunker Ramo began installation of 9,000 terminals in over 1,100 branches of Bank of America throughout California. In 1986 Allied sold Bunker Ramo to ADP.
Thanks to Frank Feurer for the brochure on Bunker Ramos.
Did you know…
The present Morristown site was known as Cedar Court and was the estate of Otto Kahn which contained its own golf course, 40 acre deer path, tennis courts and wood floored roller skating rink. The property was purchased by Allied Chemical Corporation in 1942.
When the AB cafeteria opened in 1962, it was catered by Schraft. Coffee carts circulated once in the morning and afternoon.
1881 - August 12 - Vincent Hugo Bendix was born. The son of the Reverend Jann Bengston and his wife, Anna. Both were natives of Sweden. He had two younger siblings, Ernest Oliver and Esther. The family name was changed to Bendix. The family moved to Chicago, then called the Swedish Capital of the U.S.
1897 - At the age of 16, Vincent went to New York and got a job as an elevator operator in a hospital. A string of odd jobs followed. Vincent picked up various skills in electricity, stenography, and accounting. Those skills coupled with his hobby of motorcycle racing lured him toward mechanical engineering. While working for a N.Y.C. law firm he attended night school studying engineering. He wanted to specialize in automobile and automobile engine design.
1905 - Vincent first venture into this field was with Glenn Curtis, working on his Torpedo motorcycle. At an auto buggy show, he decided that this was the future for transportation. Vincent became the general sales manager for Holsman of Chicago, one of the leaders in the auto buggy field. He was instrumental in the successful marketing of the new and interesting Holsman High Wheel automobile.
He designed the Bendix Motor Buggy and organized an automobile firm. The building of the vehicle was subcontracted to the Triumph Motor Co. of Cragin, Illinois. A sales and service location was established in Chicago and Logansport, Indiana. Some 7,000 of these buggies were built and sold before the company went bankrupt two years later.
1910 - Vincent had an idea to start an automobile without having to crank the engine. He sent away for patents on a drive for an electric starter. He produced a little gadget, put it in his car and started out to sell it. Not one engineer who looked at the device believed the starter would work or that Vincent could successfully manufacture the pat. Vincent recalled a story about one manufacturer to whom he tried to peddle the idea. The engineer who had turned it down walked outside with him. Both were about to drive from the plant in their cars. Vincent got into his small car and pushed a button that started the engine and drove away. The engineer was left lustily cranking his car, oblivious of the riches driving away from him.
For three years Vincent went on improving the starter and trying to sell it. He knew he could manufacture the device, but he needed a special triple threaded screw that was produced by hand at a high cost. And low volume. The Eclipse Manufacturing Co. of Elmra, New York was mass producing a triple thread screw to make coaster brakes. Bendix licensed Eclipse, which later became part of the Bendix Aviation Corp., to develop and produce and sell his electric starter drive in exchange for royalties during the life of the original starter drive patent.
1914 - The Chevrolet "Baby Grand" was the first car to have the Bendix starter and over 5,500 drive units were produced that year. It didn't take long before the device became standard on all cars.
1919 - As the money rolled in, he began to look for a place to manufacture his starter and to experiment with other ideas. He decided on South Bend, Indiana because it was on a rail line midway between Detroit and Chicago, which were competing to become the auto capital of the United States. He the Winkler-Grimm Wagon Co. plant at the western end of the Washington Avenue streetcar line in South Bend. The company specialized in making fire engines for the city of South Bend. The American-La France bid against Vincent and won.
Vincent's personal life took a turn at this point. Divorced by his wife of 18 years, he moved from Chicago into a lavish apartment he had built for himself on the second floor of the South Bend factory. His social circle remained in Chicago and was a member of several men's clubs.
1922 - He took Elizabeth Channon of Chicago as his second wife. Elizabeth stayed in Chicago and occasionally traveled to South Bend. A tragedy in the Vincent's family prompted him to develop his next invention. While standing on a street corner in Chicago, his father standing on a corner was killed by a car equipped with ineffective brakes. The accident caused Vincent to focus on the inadequacy of automobile brakes, and he vowed to devise better braking system.
This section first appeared: March 5, 2007
Later that year, on a trip to France, Vincent met Henri Perrot at an auto show. The French engineer had invented an internally expanding brake shoe that could be used on all four wheels. Vincent bought the American Patent Right to the Perrot braking system, and brought Perrot back to the United States to improve it. One year and $350,000 later, Vincent introduced his Bendix four-wheel brakes into the auto market. Soon one out of every four new American cars was equipped with Bendix brakes.
1923 - Vincent broke ground on the first small building of what would soon become a huge manufacturing complex in November. The Bendix-Perrot Brake Co. stood on the old site of the Winkler-Grimm factory.
1924 - A year later the company name was changed to The Bendix Corporation. For the first time Vincent sold stock in corporation. Over 40,000 shares were sold and $800,000 was raised to finance operations. The corporation grew quickly. Production of brakes rose from 650,000 to 3,600,000 in 1928.
1932 - A writer for American Magazine interviewed Vincent who showed him a collection, no other company, at the time, could match: a set of 14 volumes that contained the records of the 5,500 patents held by Vincent and his company. With the money flooding in, the car parts dynamo went on a buying spree. He purchased an interest in the Stromberg Carburetor and Bragg-Kliesroth Corp.; which made vacuum boosters and several other companies in the field. His small factory in South Bend expanded into an immense complex as he moved the companies he purchased into South Bend and brought them under the Bendix Corporation name. During the depression of 1929, many companies failed. Vincent decided to continue to forge ahead and speed up. Hardly a month went by that Bendix put out new products. In 1931, 20 new products were put out on the market. Vincent not wanting to become a car manufacturer kept his business in car parts.
Vincent got into the aviation industry when he bought the Pioneer Instrument Company, which made aircraft instruments and several other companies that made airplane parts. As flight fever hit the country, Vincent himself got caught up with it too; he changed the name to Bendix Aviation. In 1930 Vincent had met Clifford Henderson, the originator and promoter of the National Air Races. Bendix agreed to sponsor the Bendix Trophy Race. Jimmy Doolittle won the first race in his plane the Solution, at an average speed of 223 mph from Los Angeles to Cleveland in 2 hours and 1 minute.
Vincent bought more than businesses. In less than 2 years he purchased 2 landmark mansions an ocean front estate in Palm Beach and a posh apartment in New York City. In 1928 bought the mansion at 1710 S. Jefferson Blvd., built for Clement Studebaker Jr. in 1910. The estate was elaborately remodeled. The remodeling included a spacious brick clubhouse. The three-hole pitch and putt golf course was enlarged to nine. After further refinements, Vincent surrounded the property with a high spiked fence that was hand made in France, reportedly costing more than $30,000. The estate was renamed Chateau Bendix, Vincent began collecting antique furniture, tapestries, sculptures and paintings to decorate his mansion and apartment in NY.
The company was putting out an unbelievable list of products. There were the Bendix outboard motors, electric fans. But perhaps Bendix did not make the most well known product that bore the Bendix name at all. Many people across the country remember their mothers loading laundry into the first automatic washing machine - The Bendix automatic washing machine. Yet the washing machine was remotely connected to Vincent and his corporation. He had allowed two young inventors from one of subsidiary companies to use Bendix facilities to refine the new and unique washer the men had conceived. They convinced Vincent to allow them to use the Bendix name when they began to market, and in return, Bendix Aviation would get was to receive 25 percent of the stock in Bendix Home Appliances Inc., founded in 1936. The washer had tremendous appeal to the public, and at one time had 52 percent of the market for automatic washing machines. The Bendix Corporation was frequently connected to the in the public mind. In fact, so much confusion arose when consumers contacted the corporation about the washers that Bendix finally ran advertisements disclaiming any connection with the washers. As World War II approached, the company faced shortages of material, which resulted in losses, and The Bendix Corp. disposed of its stock in Bendix Home Appliances, Inc.
1929 – Vincent Bendix agreed to finance the purchase of two Eastern temples. One for the Chicago World’s Fair and the other for Stockholm Sweden. A replica of a Chinese temple was built in china and shipped to Chicago. The temple was the showpiece of the Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago from 1932 – 1934. Later the temple was moved to New York for the New York World’s Fair. The entire operation was funded solely by Bendix.
Vincent bought a 410-acre tract of land north west of the city, just 1½ miles from the Bendix plant. After building the airport he set out to induce the city to take it over. Eventually the city signed a three-year lease at an average rental of $6,000.00, with an option to buy the property for $210,000.00. The field was christened “Bendix Municipal Airport”. Since then the name has changed several times, lastly, “Michigan Regional Airport”.
Vincent was a large contributor to the building of Notre Dame Stadium. He liked various sports. The Bendix Corp. had a softball team called the Bendix Brakes. The Bendix Brakes won the World Championship in 1941. Records show that Vincent in conjunction with three other individuals was awarded the franchise for a football team in Boston. The team was named the “Braves” after the baseball team. The next year they changed the name to the “Boston Redskins” and moved the team to Washington D.C.
Vincent wanted a whole Bendix car. Not wanting to compete with other car manufacturers, who were buying his parts, he created the Phantom Steel Wheel Corp. to build a single car as his show- piece. He sent a team of 11 engineers and mechanics to a remote garage in St. Joseph, Michigan where they were designing, working and building a car. They could not communicate with anyone about it, not even with Bendix employees. The Steel Wheel Corp. car was finished in 1934 and was a show case of advanced automotive features, such as an aerodynamic body design, airscoop hubcaps for brake cooling and a built in ventilation system, some of which are standard equipment on today’s cars. Several design sacrifices were made to speed up construction. The car was not used much and ended up in storage in a warehouse. Today the hand built one of a kind sedan, known to car buffs around the world, is on loan to the Studebaker National Museum in downtown South Bend’s Century Center.
In 1932 the corporation Vincent had founded was one of the foremost manufacturers of automotive and aviation equipment in the world, with 15 plants in this country and abroad. In 1931 he was elected the 26th President of the Society of Automotive Engineers. He was made a Knight of the French Legion of Honor in recognition of his interest in the social and economic welfare of his Paris plant of Bendix aviation. He received the title of the “Knight of the Order of the North Star” from King Gustav V of Sweden. 1937 – After the Bendix Corp. moved its headquarters to Teeterbory, New Jersey the town in the fall election voted to change its name to Bendix, N.J. In 1938 Vincent held no power at The Bendix Corp. For years he had been selling off his shares in the company, primarily to General Motors, until he owned no shares at all. G.M discovered in mid-1937 that Bendix was losing money at the rate of 1 million dollars a month and Vincent seemed incapable to stop the losses. G.M. sent Earnest Breech and A.C. Anderson to study the situation and make recommendations. Most of the losses were at the South Bend plant. Management was blamed. Malcolm Ferguson was named to replace Bendix, who remained as President, a figurehead. In 1942 Vincent was named chairman of the board, but only remained for a few months before cut all official ties with the corporation. In 1939 he filed for personal bankruptcy listing 14 million dollars as liability and 1 million dollars as assets. Vincent tried to fend off creditors in federal court in South Bend, but all was lost. It was the complete demise of one of South Bend’s greatest tycoons.
He went to New York and tried to start over in a related industry. In 1942 he formed The Bendix Helicopter, Inc., to develop a four-passenger helicopter sedan, and announced that it would be ready for production after the war. The company reportedly made him more than 1 million dollars before death claimed him.
Vincent died March 27, 1945 of a coronary thrombosis at his home in New York City. He was created and buried in Grace Memorial Cemetery in Chicago. The legendary inventor and his contributions to the city and to technology have not been forgotten in South Bend. The Bendix Corp. became part of AlliedSignal, which in turn became Honeywell Corp. School children learn English and Geometry in his Chateau Bendix, now Trinity School at Greenlawn.
Under the presidency of Earnest Breech (1942), Bendix made many contributions to the war effort and earned 20 Army-Navy “E’s” for efficiency.
1942 - Earnest Breech was elected President. Bendix made many contributions to the war effort. Bendix developed the constant-velocity universal joint for military four-wheeled drive vehicles, the navy ground controlled approach radar, the air position indicator, the automatic pilot, automatic oxygen system, an aircraft fuel injection system, and the famous "Gibson Girl" emergency radio transmitter that led to the rescue of many fliers downed at sea.
Sales of the corporation soared to $900 million in 1944. Bendix had more than $100 million worth of government facilities in use and a peak employment of 70,000. Production of aircraft pressure carburetors leaped to 674,000 between 1941 and 1945. In 1945 when the war ended, production, employment and facilities were all at the highest level in the company's history. Within months of the wars end the government cancelled 21,000 contracts with Bendix worth well over $1 billion. Earnest Breech resigned to become executive vice-president of Ford Motor Company.
Malcolm P. Ferguson was elected to succeed Breech as president. Ferguson was faced with the task of returning the company to peacetime production as quickly as possible. Deactivating many divisions and settling with the cancelled government contracts, withdrawing from the $100 million worth of production facilities, reducing and realigning personnel in 1947.
The demand for Bendix brakes was overwhelming; also Bendix continued to be important suppliers of carburetors, direct fuel injection systems, landing gear, wheels and brakes for the aircraft industry. About this time the corporation launched its automobile radio and electrical connector product lines and began a concerted development program for commercial aircraft items, including automatic pilots, flight path controls, oxygen regulators and turbine starters.
1948 - General Motors decided to eliminate all minority interests in other companies as a matter of policy. As a result General Motors disposed of some 400,000 shares of Bendix stock.
1951 - The first half of the Korean War, Bendix was hard pressed to keep up with the demands being made upon it. Bendix met those demands with a different management approach than it had for WWII. Instead of expanding existing divisions, Korean War activities were spun away from the parent divisions, leaving space for the manufacture of existing products. These spin-offs did not wilt when the war ended. Many are still in operation today as full-fledged divisions. 1950's -- Bendix introduced several new and important products for commercial aviation application, including the Polar Path Compass, which made Arctic Circle flights possible and airborne weather radar, which permitted pilots to avoid storms in flight. Bendix also developed Cermetalix aircraft brake linings to solve the problem of stopping the heavier and faster commercial planes that came off the drawing boards. In 1951 Bendix introduced a power brake system that evolved into the Master Vac Brake system still used in many American cars. Bendix pioneered the development of power steering, which came into widespread use in cars and trucks.
1956 - A Systems Division was established to integrate the efforts of multiple divisions involved in large-scale aerospace development programs and major systems projects. In 1957 came the appointment of a top-level officer to supervise the company's international operations. A special subsidiary, Bendix Field Engineering Corporation, programs to sell technical support management was intensified.
1960 - The name Bendix Aviation Corporation was changed to The Bendix Corporation. The change was not meant to de-emphasize aviation's roll in the Corporations operation because it still represents 51% of the sales that year. But the word "Aviation" down played major involvements in the automotive, space, missile and automation fields. The Corporation entered the 1960's with 32 operating units and 50,000 employees. The military and commercial activities were separated in 1961 with the establishment of two divisions - -Automotive and Aerospace. In 1965 after 20 years at the head of the company, Malcom Ferguson retired as chairman and president. A. P. Fontaine was elected President and Chief Operating Officer and George E. Stroll was elected president and chief operating officer.
A. P. Fontaine first joined Bendix in 1944. He left the company in 1946 to establish the Aerospace Research Center at the University of Michigan, and returned to Bendix in 1952. After being named CEO, he remapped the corporate concepts and thoroughly revamped the company from the top of its management to the bottom of its product mix. The company that emerged was very different.
A major new corporate identification program was launched in 1966. It had a dramatic effect on everything from facility signs to product packaging to new methods of product identification. The name of virtually every division was changed to more closely identify each operation with its main product. A contemporary and dynamic corporate mark replaced the old "Flying B" as the company's logo.
One of Fontaine's primary goals was to reduce the company's dependence on government business. New commercial markets were needed. Diversification efforts were speeded by a number of acquisitions in a manner somewhat reminiscent of the whirlwind acquisitions of 1929. Respected companies such as Besly-Wills, Scully-Jones and Buhr became part of the Bendix family. One of the largest acquisitions was the Fram Corporation in 1967. Adding the Providence Rhode Island based producer of oil; air and fuel filters to the corporation's operations gave Bendix a new product line. This was a major move that expanded the company's role in the automotive after market business.
The FTC challenge the acquisitions and required Bendix to maintain Fram as a separate subsidiary and induct its merchandising, purchasing, pricing and manufacturing policies independent from Bendix. When the final ruling came in 1975, certain operations of Bendix and Fran, were ordered to be transferred to Facet Enterprises Inc., a wholly new subsidiary, which Bendix would divest within two years.
In 1967 Bendix reached a milestone when the 200th million automotive brakes come off the line in South Bend. Bendix was recognized as the producer of more brakes for more kinds of vehicles than any other producer in the world was.
Bendix firsts in the automotive brake field includes the Duo-Serve brake, a type which has been the standard in the industry for more than 35 years, and a self-adjusting feature for it; the first caliper disc brakes used on a production American built cars; the split hydraulic system, which is standard equipment on all passenger cars; and Hydrovac power brakes, which have been used on more trucks than any other type of power brake.
NASA called upon Bendix technological leadership for almost every type of space activity from the early days of Mercury and Gemini to the Apollo missions of the late '60s and '70s. The corporation's role included launch support and space tracking in addition to production of components and system for the launch rockets and space vehicles.
Bendix Field Engineering Corporation, which operates space tracking stations to monitor manned missions, unmanned scientific satellites, and deep space probes, started serving NASA with project Vanguard, the nations first satellite program. For Project Mercury, the corporation supplied sensitive radars that tracked U.S. astronauts in their earth orbits and also was responsible for ground to space communications. Bendix personnel operated six of the stations in the worldwide tracking network for the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions.
The Bendix Launch Support Division at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida had responsibility for launching the Apollo Space flights and provided support services in operations, maintenance, and site management of launch Complex 39 facilities. And ground support equipment. Bendix air pumps used on returning space capsules were critical were critical to the success of several Apollo missions. They were designed to quickly inflate airbags and right the capsule in an upside down landing in the ocean. And that was exactly happened on the very first Apollo recovery. July 1969 Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin jr. became the first men to walk on the moon, they carried scientific Instrument packages designed and built by Bendix. Included among the instruments were devices to transmit information about the moon's structure back to Earth and a laser reflector to provide better measurements of the distance between the Earth and the moon and the rotational wobble of the two bodies.
Jumbo Jet - Bendix Aerospace was well represented with an extensive array of important products on the Boeing 747 and McDonnell DC-10. Bendix products included brakes, wheels, landing gear, flight guidance equipment and electronic generating systems. The corporation supplied more standard equipment on the 747 than it had for any other commercial aircraft previously did.
45th Anniversary in 1969 - Over the years, Bendix Headquarters moved from Chicago, to South Bend, and then to Detroit. The Fisher Building in Detroit had served as its home since 1942, but now a new Bendix world Headquarters was ready for occupancy in suburban Southfield, Michigan, adjacent to the Bendix Research Laboratories. The move to the Bendix Center was completed in May 1969.
A restructuring of the organization also took place that year. Division and subsidiaries with similar technologies and markets were grouped together. Bendix Aerospace- Electronics Company, Bendix Automotive & Automation Company, and Bendix International were established as separate companies, each with its own president and chief operating officer.
By the end of the 1960's, Bendix had spanned the globe with a strong foothold in international business. The Corporation had increased export sales and licensing agreements, expanded local manufacturing by overseas affiliates and increased the capacity of plants in Western Europe. Exploratory business ventures in the 70's brought the Corporation into new fields - not all of which would remain in Bendix business makeup.
Bendix opened the decade entering the forest products industry. Wood was far removed from the hundreds of products manufactured, but because the markets for and lumber products was promising. Bendix acquired American Forest Products Corporation in 1970. AFPC was later named Bendix Forest Products Corporation. Acquisitions of related businesses later in the decade expanded BFPC's product line and distribution network across the country. Its products included lumber, plywood, moldings, aluminum siding, windows, patio doors and specialty building materials.
Fontaine retired in 1972 after 7 years at the corporate helm. W. Michael Blumenthal as chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer succeeded him. Blumenthal had been named vice-chairman of the corporation in June 1970 and 6 months later became President and Chief Operating Officer.
President Carter named Blumenthal Secretary of the Treasury in 1976. William M. Agee succeeded him in as chairman, president and chief executive officer. Agee, at the age of 39, became one of the youngest heads of a major U.S. corporation. After completing his MBA at Harvard, he took his position in the forest products industry with Boise Cascade. Agee's responsibilities were in finance during his nine years in senior positions; Boise Cascade grew from $100 million in sales to $1.4 billion. Agee had joined Bendix in 1972 as executive vice-president, chief financial officer and member of the board. He was elected president and chief operating officer in 1976. Shortly after Agee became CEO, William F. Panney, a former executive vice-president of Rockwell International, joined Bendix as vice-chairman and chief operating officer. Panney, who was named president in 1979, was responsible for all operating units of the corporation until his resignation in 1980.
Agee in 1978 guided the largest single investment in Bendix history - the purchase of $128 million in stock in ASARCO Incorporated, one of the world's leading producers of non-ferrous metals and minerals. Bendix sold the stock in 1980 and 1981 for a gain of more than $75 million.
The mobile home/recreational acquisition of 1973 did not turn out to be a well-timed venture. The oil embargo of 1974 caused gasoline shortages and higher prices, the housing market suffered from spiraling inflation and rising interest rates. Bendix divested the business in 1976.
Bendix commercial aviation received a boost in 1979 when the corporation won a series of contracts to supply wheels, brakes, actuators, and electrical load control units for Boeing's new generation jetliners - the 767 and 757 planned for 1982 and 1983 introductions. For the future, Bendix engineers were working on a new landing system for airport, integrated cockpits, digital flight controls, and carbon brakes.
1980 - Agee consummated the largest acquisition in the company's history, a step that would significantly increase the size and scope of Bendix industrial business. The Warner & Swasey Company, a 100-year-old highly respected manufacturer of machine tools and construction and tex6tile equipment head quartered in Cleveland, Ohio, was purchased for $300 million. This made Bendix the second largest toolmaker in the United States.
Divestiture of the forest products business began in 1980 and by all 1981 all of the operations and timberlands had been sold in transactions involving approximately $425 million. These funds and those provided by the divestment of other operations were earmarked for investment and future operations in other technical and manufacturing areas. By the end of the fiscal year 1980, the Corporation had grown to nearly 100 units with 80,000 employees in three major lines of business. Aerospace electronics, Automotive, and Industrial with revenues approaching $4 billion. Agee announced an important change that would allow the presidents of the three groups to use more entrepreneurial initiative in running their businesses. There would be more decentralization and decision making authority at the group level.
In 1978, Agee bolstered the Corporation's top management ranks with the appointment of Alonzo L. McDonald jr. as president with responsibility for directing all corporate and staff functions, developing Bendix policies for the future and implementing the corporate strategic direction. Previously assistant to the President of the U.S. and staff director at the White House. McDonald had also served as the U.S. Ambassador who concluded the Tokyo Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations in Geneva and earlier as managing director (ceo) of the management-consulting firm of McKinsey & Company, Inc. with offices in most industrial nations.
Agee made several moves to strengthen the company's technological capabilities and confirm a corporate rededication to technologies. Short and long term research and development activities were separated, with short-term tactical engineering and support activities assigned to the group and division level. A new Advanced Technology Center was established to become the central long-term research facility for the corporation.
Dedicated in September 1981, The Advanced Technology Center in Columbus, Maryland was commissioned to develop innovative ideas and technological concepts for Bendix aerospace electronics, automotive and industrial businesses, as well for new ventures in fields such as the biosciences. Scientists and engineers there work with a visionary charter to explore potential products for the market place of the future. The Centers initial "thrust areas" include chemical sensors, microwave integrated circuits, signal processing devices and techniques, particulate-fluid separation, polymer composite technology, friction materials and mechanisms and powder forming technology.
The fledging company that Vincent Bendix launched in 1924 has grown into a diversified worldwide manufacturer with an excellent financial strength, a solid work force, and a broad based management alert to new and changing opportunities.
This ends what I have been able to recall from the memorabilia that you all have sent to me. I believe there is more out there, so if it is possible to send me more I will be glad to incorporate it in our newsletter and historical files. These could also be personnel recollections of places where you worked and what involvement you had in the development of products, projects and sites. I will now continue with the next phase.
Our Honeywell Connection
In 1920 Washington Post publisher Eugene Meyer and scientist William Nichols formed the Allied Chemical & Dye Corporation as an amalgamation of five American chemical companies established in the 1800's. In 1928 Allied opened a synthetic ammonia plant near Hopewell, Virginia, becoming the world's leading producer of ammonia. After World War II, Allied began manufacturing other new products, including nylon 6 (for making everything from tires clothes) and to refrigerants. In 1958, it became Allied Chemical Corp. and moved its Headquarters to Morristown, NJ. In 1962, Allied bought Union Texas Natural Gas, which owned oil and gas properties throughout the Americas. Allied regarded it mainly as a supplier of raw materials for its chemical products. In the early 1970's CEO John O'Connor sold many of Allied's unprofitable businesses and invested in oil and gas exploration. By 1979, when Edward Hennessy Jr. became CEO, Union Texas produced 80% of Allied's income. Under its new name, Allied Corp (1981), the company went on to purchase the Bendix Corp., an aerospace and automotive company, in 1983. By 1984 Bendix generated 50% of Allied's income, while oil and gas generated 38%. In 1985, Allied merged with the Signal Companies, adding critical mass to its aerospace, automotive and engineering material businesses. Founded by Sam Mosher in 1922 as the Signal Gasoline Company. In 1928 the company changed its name to Signal Oil & Gas. Signal merged with the Garrett Corporation, a Los Angeles-based aerospace company and in 1968 adopted the Signal Companies as its corporate name. The addition of Signal's Garrett Division to Bendix made aerospace Allied-Signal's largest business sector. In 1991, CEO, Larry Bossidy, began bold actions to position the company as a global competitive force. The name was changed to Allied Signal. 1999 was the year Allied Signal merged with Honeywell.
The series continues with the beginning of Honeywell.
Man's first encounter with fire must have occurred with volcanic lava. He learned he had control by using wood to keep the fire going and could carry the fire to where he needed to. He could kindle fire by using wood or charcoal for fuel. In the 17th coal was used as a fuel and centuries later oil became the common fuel.
The earliest forms of fire controls were the primitive tools they produced. The fire drill consisted of a bowstring used to turn a dowel in a wooden socket. Friction and perseverance brought a smoldering flame. The flint and steel method was an equally consuming and tricky affair, involving the rain of sparks onto small extremely dry tinder. Once the fire was started, it had to be kept burning as long as possible.
By the Industrial Revolution, making a fire had become a common notion. The earliest forms of matches were usually awkward affairs, consisting of components that were often dangerous. One example was a splint topped with potassium chlorite. The splint was dipped in a vial of sulfuric acid. A vial of sulfuric was carried around in a gentleman's vest pocket, needless to say was dangerous and poisonous. These early matches were positively hazardous.
The first friction match was developed in 1827 and given the name "Jones Lucifer". This was a wooden splint topped with antimony sulfide. It was drawn through a piece of abrasive paper, causing friction, which ignited the match.
The advantage of heat and light obtained by fire were counter-balanced by the obnoxious presence of smoke. The simplest solution was to make a hole in the roof and create a funnel, into which the smoke would enter and billow out.
The Romans used a portable brazier to heat their homes and public places, a sort of tray mounted on legs in which charcoal was burned. They also used aromatic or performed wood.
The chimney came into use in the 15th century, and was the first device to effectively separate heat and smoke. The draft created by the fire served the dual purpose of introducing more oxygen to the fire, causing it to burn faster and hotter while drawing the smoke away from the lungs of the inhabitants. With the invention of the chimney came the fireplace and the hearth, which replaced the fire ring. The chimney was a great advancement but far from a perfect solution to home heating.
Unfortunately, the draft of the chimney caused about 80% of the fire's heat to be lost with the smoke. The quality of the heat was poor because it was unidirectional. If you sat directly in front of the fire you were very warm and as you moved away you got cold. The fireplace was the best technology until the casting of iron. The complexity of fir control and home heating changed completely.
Iron proved to be an ideal material to contain fire for a number of reasons. It transferred heat extremely effectively, while remaining most unscathed by fire. The stove existed in various forms before the casting of iron. The Chinese had a brick oven they used for heating and cooking, the fuel being reduced to embers in the course of a day. By night, the oven cooled enough to sleep on. Europeans had used various types of ovens for baking and cooking. For centuries a variety of kilns, oats (a kiln to dry herbs and leaves). Other fireboxes were used for special purposes, such as pottery and brick firing.
The use of iron became common in the construction of the early stoves. A cast-iron floor or base was elevated on four legs, like the Roman brazier, and enclosed by ceramic tiles, forming a kind of ceramic closet in which the fire burned. These early types of 'stoves' stood over 12 feet tall. The first stove in North America was the Ben Franklin stove, which was more of a cast-iron fireplace than anything else was. It provided better heat transfer than the ceramic tiles, bricks, or stones and more or less inserted into a fireplace. In this way it extended in to the room from which the hearth, while still channeling the smoke up the existing chimney. Before long the stove was fitted with 4 legs and a door, to better control the flow of air to the fire.
The manufacturers of stoves realized they could maximize the transfer of heat by increasing the surface area of their cast-iron wares in artistic ways. The surface castings were decorated with flowers, fruits, and garlands of leaves and vines, pure baroque.
The original cast-iron stoves were designed to be used with wood and charcoals as fuels. But shortages of these fuels increased the use of coal. Coal was not the only fuel. Since coal was not mined in the west until later, stoves were developed which burned hay, corncobs, and even 'buffalo' chips. In the northwest, stoves often burned sawdust.
Coal remained the standard fuel well into the 20th century. Most homes built in cold weather latitudes had a cellar or basement. Stove and furnace salesmen urged the homeowners to install central heating.
Central heating requires a heating plant and a means of distributing the heat to the rest of the house. The terminology of the times changed, the 'stove' being in the kitchen for cooking and the 'furnace' was in the cellar for heating the home. The first central heating system using a coal furnace, was probably the 'Cockle stove'. This was a system used to heat a cotton factory in England in 1792. It was the first gravity hot air furnace. While the first central heating systems was a great improvement over the past heating systems, the homeowner soon realized it became a chore, having to go down to the cellar to feed the coal and stoke the fire. With the husbands away at work, the housewives wound up with job of feeding and stoking the furnace to keep up the heat. This was the precise time for when a clever gadget was invented which would usher in an age of automatic control, which would be associated with the birth of Honeywell.
By 1885 the most common heating systems consisted of a coal-burning furnace in the cellar, which provided heat for a steam or a gravity air system. The typical homeowner needed to journey to the basement several times a day to stoke the fire. Any adjustments in the system in terms of flues and vents, dampers and intakes had to be made at the furnace itself. Albert Butz's invention nicknamed "the damper-flapper" which describes exactly what the system accomplished.
Albert M. Butz was born in Switzerland in 1849 and at the age of 8 he immigrated to America. At the age of 16, he enlisted in the Union Army during the Civil War; he served in Wisconsin's 47th Infantry for the last 6 months of the war. By 1884, Butz had become involved with the invention of fire related devices. He and a partner, RJ Mendenhall, formed a company with the name The Butz and Mendenhall Hand Grenade Fire Extinguishing Company. The partners developed a fire-extinguishing system that consisted of glass spheres filled with water, which were hung from the ceiling in wicker baskets. If the room was set ablaze, the baskets would burn up and the glass spheres would fall to the floor, break and extinguish the fire.
In the early 1800's, Butz also experimented with a system that would become the corner stone of Honeywell the thermostat heat regulator. Thermostats had been in existence >for Over a century. The term "thermostat" was used as early as 1831 by a Scottish chemist. It described any instrument constructed to exploit the principle of the variable expansion of metals. If a strip of copper and silver are attached to each other, they will bend in one direction or the other as heat is applied or removed. By the middle of the 19th century, a Frenchman developed what he called a "thermo scope", most likely an ancestor to the modern thermostat.
In 1879, Julian Bradford was issued a patent for "Electric Heat and Vapor Governors for Spinning and Weaving Rooms." Bradford's invention was probably the first application of a thermostat to the automatic control of heat. His device provided for a DC circuit running through the thermostat, which acted as a switch to a gear train that performed work. Bradford's thermostat acted as part of an automation system.
Alfred Butz, after forming a company to manufacture his device, purchased Bradford's patent. In 1885, Butz applied for his first patent on a device that automatically controlled the dampers on a coal-fired stove, the patent was granted in 1886. Honeywell commonly cites 1885 as the date of its establishment and by 1895, its advertising claimed that the company had been in business for 10 years.
The damper-flapper was a system composed of three basic parts. The thermostat acted as a Bl-metal trigger, placed in a living space of a home. Adjustments could be made to two points on either side of the bi-metal strip to conform to the desired temperature. The thermostat would complete an electric circuit that began with a battery pack and terminated with a solenoid in a wind-up motor. The solenoid engaged and disengaged the clockwork mechanism of the wind up motor, serving as a lynch pin. The whole mechanism worked on half terms. For example, if the thermostat were set at 70°, the circuit would close when the temperature would fall to 69°.
The solenoid would disengage the flywheel, and the windup the motor would make a one-half turn with its bell lever. The lever would pull a chain running through a series of pulleys to the hinged dapper of the furnace, opening it and introducing more oxygen. The fire would burn hotter and faster, causing an increase in the temperature of the living space. When the room had warmed to 71°, the thermostat the thermostat would again close the circuit and this time the motor would turn 180° closing the damper and cooling the fire. This was Butz system and it constituted one of the first automatic controls based purely on reliable feedback.
Even with this automation someone still had to feed the coal into the furnace. To many, having to still shovel the coal into the furnace made the automation of the damper in the living room and than travel to the basement for the furnace seem unnecessary. Yet the advantages of the automatic controls quickly became obvious, once the made to operate smoothly. The Butz heat regulator was a precise method of controlling the heating plant because it could measure small changes of temperature. This precision saved coal by over-stoking and over-ventilation of the heating system, usually caused by members of the household over-compensating for their slow-reacting senses.
Albert Butz probably conceived his damper-flapper in 1884 or 1885, and it is generally believed R.J. Mendenhall urged Butz to patent, manufacture and sell it. Mendenhall also most likely introduced Butz to a group of investors known as Hay & Company, Investors and Business Brokers. They, in turn, provided Butz with funds he needed to incorporate the Butz Thermoelectric Regulator Company on April 23, 1886. Two weeks later, on May 4, 1886, Butz patent was granted. The world was about to buy an Electric Heat Regulator, but first someone had to sell it.
Albert Butz was the first president of the Butz Thermo-Electric Company. Between 1886 and 1889, Butz filed several additional patent improvements and assigned them to his company. As early 1887, the legal firm Paul, Sanford and Merwin secured Julian Bradford 1879 heat governor patent, lending much greater authority to the Butz' invention.
In 1888, Butz attorneys had renamed the business The Consolidated Temperature Controlling Company and had secured even more patents relating to heat regulation. The oldest known artifact from Honeywell's earliest days is a thermostat from around 1888, engraved with the trademark of Consolidated Temperature Controlling Co. By 1889 Consolidated purchased The Guion Automatic Heating Regulating Company of Elmira, NY, which had been producing a heat regulator of its own. Among the holdings of the Guion motor was the key to success of heat regulators. Before 1916 and the wiring of American homes to line voltage, any motor providing sufficient torque needed to be hand wound or weight activated, the same way a grand-father clock is powered.
Manufacture and sale of the Consolidated Heat Regulator began in earnest, and by the end of 1891 the company's factory had moved into larger quarters and employed 5 men. During this period the directors continued to seek investors by encouraging friends and family to buy Consolidated stock.
This was the state of the company that would become Honeywell, when a young man by the name W. R. Sweatt arrived in Minneapolis. Sweatt was the son of Charles Sweatt, a Vermont banker and hardware merchant who had sought greater opportunities in the west. Charles and his family moved from New to Iowa where W.R. was born in 1867. At 24 W.R. had graduated from military school and moved to Minneapolis. Sweatt purchased a manufacturing company, which became the Sweatt Manufacturing Company. The Consolidated Temperature Company full time management, in 1892, the name was changed to The Electric Thermostat Company. On August 16, the stockholders agreed to sell an "extensive list of patents" to W.R. Sweatt for the diminutive sum of$ 1.00.
On Oct. 5 the directors changed the name to the Electric Heat Regulator Company and recapitalized it and elected Sweatt Secretary and Treasurer. The stockholders agreed to accept the assets of the Electric Thermostat Company and to assume the liabilities of Sweatt as a trustee.
By 1895, the company showed a profit for the first time. In 1896, W.R. Sweatt was given a salary of $1200.00 for the year and a retroactive salary of $1200.00 for the year 1895. The Company struggled to sell a product slightly ahead of its time. A watershed was finally reached at a stockholder meeting February 23, 1898, as W.R. Sweatt purchased the entire company from the other stockholders. By 1900, Sweatt held all 400 shares of stock, and by 1902 he had paid off the company's outstanding debts. The young businessman sold his woodenware company in 1901, which may have enabled him to complete the transactions. From the time he began managing Electric Heat Regulator Co. in 1893, it never suffered a losing financial year.
In 1891, the old Consolidated Company had rented factory space in Southeast Minneapolis. In 1892, fire destroyed the Sweat Manufacturing facilities in Robinsdale, unseat moved the woodenware business in with the regulator business. Once Sweatt Manufacturing was sold, he searched for a new location for Electric Heat Regulator. Sweatt rented an office in down town Minneapolis and a make shift factory was established in a barn behind the house of Wellington DeVoe, the company foreman, and the first known-rank-and-file employee. A small 2-story barn still stands behind 3027 Columbus Avenue in Southeast Minneapolis, only 6 blocks from Honeywell World Headquarters. Company artists since about 1937 have erroneously represented this structure as Albert Butz's home and workshop, where he invented the damper-flapper.
By 1903, Electric Heat Regulator had moved to a new factory a block north on Lake Street, and 3 years later, to an odd little building which has variously described as a roller rink and bowling alley. This long narrow structure is the location at which the oldest surviving photographs were taken of factory operations. It consisted of one large room heated by two stoves. The building was so poorly designed that it actually swayed with the wind and one account purports that in a strong wind the walls had to be braced to keep the production pulleys and belts in alignment. Erick Westrand, who worked for Honeywell and its predecessor companies, recalled that even if the wind wasn't a problem there times when the power cut in the building. We had a funny way of making do. My motorcycle was used to run machinery, when the power went off, by running my motorcycle on a treadmill.
By 1910, Electric Heating Regulator Company employed 12 men in the "bowling alley" factory, where two types of motors were assembled: the original spring wound motor, which required periodical winding, and a newer gravity type motor, which used an iron weight for power. In addition to the motors, the company assembled thermostats from parts purchased from the Standard Thermostat Company of Boston.
Around 1908, W.R. Sweatt and factory supervisor Joel Hersleter began experiments on a new product to further refine the automatic damper-flapper control. The idea was simple. Modify am alarm clock, adapting the alarming mechanism in such a way that, instead of ringing a bell, it mechanically changed the setting on the thermostat. Through a clever arrangement of levers and catches, the clock would be mounted on directly on the thermostat. The "alarm" could be set to go off, say at 7 o'clock, and when 7 o'clock arrived, the device would turn the thermostat up automatically. The clock thermostat idea was around for some time, so it was natural for Sweatt and Kersteter to develop the new product.
By late 1908, Electric Heating Regulator Company was advertising its Minneapolis Heat Regulator, with or without time attachment, and in1911, the company landed in court in opposition to another company over a patent relating to the clock thermostat. The Jewell Manufacturing Company of Elmira, New York brought suit against Electric Heat Regulator for manufacturing a clock thermostat, similar in design to a patent purchased from inventor Schyler Post in early 1908.
Jewell had strong circumstantial evidence of infringement. First, there was a hand written letter from Joel Kersteteter to Jewell dated January 7, 1908 saying, “Gentlemen, I recently purchased a house in which there is one of the controllers but it is all disconnected and does not work. Please send me directions for connecting it up and making it work. The letter gave Kersteter’s home address. Wirt Wilson, W.R.’s brother-in-law, and Electric Heat Regulator board member, dated September 20, 1907, executed on Wilson’s insurance firm letterhead, sent another letter. It reads,” Please send me full particulars regarding your heat regulator. The cost of it and whether a novice can install it. W.R. claimed that a prototype clock thermostat had been in his home since 1906. His only proof, though, was his wife who claimed that she recalled a conversation between W.R. and a friend from Fargo regarding the clock thermostat, and that she had recorded the date in her diary as September 16, 1906. The matter was settled out of court, however as Sweatt agreed to pay Jewell $3,000.00 for a license to manufacture thermostats of the Jewell design, along with a royalty of $10.00 for each thermostat manufactured prior to the settlement. Several years later Jewell was acquired by Honeywell Heating Specialties of Wabash, Indiana, and in 1927. Jewell became part of Sweatt’s company when the Minneapolis and Wabash concerns merged.
In 1906, Mark Honeywell, a young inventor from Wabash, Indiana, was setting up shop as a plumber and heating mechanic. Honeywell was born in Florida and had become involved in the citrus industries at am early age, however he was more interested in the invention of mechanical devices. He invented a very special device, which launched his career and led to the incorporation of the Honeywell Heating Specialty Company. The Honeywell Heat generator, also called a mercury seal generator, created a revolution in the home heating industry.
Water and steam systems had been in use for more than a half-century before Honeywell’s invention. Most were gravity-circulation systems, which directed heated water throughout a building, the circulation resulting from the difference in weight between hot and cold water. This type of system was notorious for both circulation and unsatisfactory heat transfer. The system also incorporated and expansion tank to accommodate the overflow of the heated water, but the tank often spelled. Honeywell’s invention revolutionized the water system by allowing it to operate closed and pressurized. The heat generator featured a column of mercury, which would not permit heated water to overflow until the system exceeded 10 psi. Pressurized systems had greatly improved circulation, required smaller pipes and allowed for the superheating of the water to about 212° Fahrenheit. Mark Honeywell’s invention established him as an important player in home heating field.
From around 1905 all advertising had introduced the country to the heat regulator called “The Minneapolis”. Early thermostats were stamped “Electric Heat Regulator Co.". In a semi-circular around the top of the unit Minneapolis, Minnesota stamped in the center. By 1910 the thermostats were actually stamped “The Minneapolis” in bold face across the cover. The cover itself had been developed by 1892 and protected by the bi-metal strip and electric switches.
In 1912 the company was renamed “The Minneapolis Heat Regulator “. In the same year the name was changed, the company completed the impressive new factory and office complex on the corner of 4th avenue and 28th street in south Minneapolis. Though the complex has since gone many expansions and now occupies nearly a square city block, the original buildings still forms the corner stone Honeywell World Headquarters.
In 1913, W.R. Sweatt named his 22 year-old son, Harold, vice-president of his promising heat regulator company. H. W. had been born in 1891. From a very young age, he had been put to work on weekends and vacations, pushing a broom or boxing shipments. In 1913, H. W. was most likely the graduate of the University of Minneapolis who had already been named a vice-president. The company now had grown to 50 employees and had sales of about $200,000 per year.
Minneapolis Regulator Company was busy developing the technologies, as well the markets to sell the developing products. W.R. Sweatt wanted consumers, as well as the manufacturers of stoves and furnaces, to know there was a spectacular new device promising to revolutionize home heating. The major problem was that the old stoves and furnaces were equipped with a damper that would not accommodate the Butz system. Soon, the advertising directed at the homeowner began to work. As customers began to request home heating controls, manufacturers quickly changed their minds about their potential profitability. Sweatt made the decision not to manufacture furnaces, instead to concentrate on the controls. A 1937 -company profile in Fortune magazine pointed out this important fact about Sweatt and his firm.
In 1926 W.R. commissioned a well-known artist, Phillip Lyford, to create several large oil paintings incorporating the Minneapolis thermostat in domestic settings. Four years later the company sponsored a national broadcast show featuring the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra. This was the first time an American company sponsored a symphony orchestra for a radio program.
In 1920, W.R. announced that his second son, Charles "C.B." Sweatt would be the advertising manager and treasurer of the Minneapolis Heat Regulator Co. When C.B. Sweatt, there were 250 employees in the home office and factory with 100 more in sales and distribution throughout the country. By 1926, there were branch offices in 9 cities, complemented by 15 authorized distributors. The control system ranged in cost from $60 to $180, which might include a clock thermostat, a limit control (which provided a safety valve to prevent accidental overheating) and a damper motor.
The Company's products were starting to cross international borders: such as the diamond mines of South Africa and the Chinese National Museum. In 1938, a letter from London reported news of royal significance "...the King of England sleeps in comfort at his Balmoral Castle, his Scottish residence.
For 35 years, W.R. Sweatt and his company developed and sold his damper-flapper for hand fired coal furnaces. But by the twenties, oil and gas became viable options as technology made their use more practical. In 1927, Minneapolis Heat Regulator and Honeywell merged. Fewer than 10% of homes had been converted to automatic heat. 1942, when World War II slowed business, had converted 4.5 million, most of them to oil business, the rest to gas and stokers. A. stoker was a device, which automatically fed coal into a furnace through a system of hoppers and conveyers. Because methods of burning these fuels in a controlled manner had not been devised, these fuels were previously considered worthless for home heating.
OIL -There is evidence that oil was used as a fuel some 6,000 years ago. However, until the present century it was used primarily to caulk and waterproof watercraft. Most oils have properties that lend themselves to ignition. The wide spread use of oil occurred in part because of the shortage of whale oil in 1860. When whaling nearly rendered the animal extinct, a method of distilling kerosene from petroleum oil was developed. The first oil burners in Europe were fashioned and probably adapted from oil lamps.
The first oil well in the United States was drilled in 1859 by Edwin Drake in Titusville, Pa. Of course, from time, to time oil had surfaced on its own, sometimes in salt mines. About the only use was in patent medicines and some specious products sold from the back of "snake oil" wagons.
Maurice J. Monti
area.mto@honeywell.com
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