Pittway

Last updated
Pittway Corporation
Formerly
  • Pittsburgh Street Railways Co. [1]
  • Pittsburg Railways Co. [2]
Public
FateAcquired by Honeywell
Headquarters
Chicago   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Number of locations
8 manufacturing facilities (1999) [3]
Revenue
  • Increase2.svgUS$48.9 million (1967) [2]
  • (?) US$39.4 million (1966) [2]
  • Increase2.svgUS$5.8 million (1967) [2]
  • (?) US$4.4 million (1966) [2]
OwnerStandard Shares (40% in 1968) [2]
Number of employees
7,600 (1999) [3]
Subsidiaries B.R.K Electronics [4]

Pittway Corporation was a diversified holding company best known as a manufacturer and distributor of professional and consumer [5] fire and burglar alarms.

In 1962, Neison Harris became president, after having worked as an executive at Gillette, at a time when the company was transitioning from a trolley operating company to a diversified concern running multiple businesses. [1] Pittway completed its divestment out transportation in 1964 through sale of trolley operations to the Port Authority of Allegheny County, receiving more than US$16 million for the operations. [2] [nt 1] The demise of the trolley operations could likely be attributed to the rise in personal car purchases. [2]

Neison Harris' brother, Irving B. Harris, also played a significant part in the company. [2] Leo Guthart was previously the company's Vice-Chairman. [6]

Among the company's acquisitions in the 1960s were Barr-Stalfort Co., an aerosol cans filler company, Alarm Device Manufacturing Co., and Industrial Publishing Co. [2]

It relocated its headquarters to Chicago in 1967. [7] [ when? ] In 1967, the company was renamed to Pittway Corporation. [8] [9] Later, Pittway became best known as a manufacturer and distributor of the First Alert brand of home smoke alarms, professional fire and burglar alarms, and other security systems, and as a real estate firm. [8] It also owned the fire alarm companies Fire-Lite and Notifier.

By 1968, the company's vice-chairman was C. D. Palmer, who was also the senior executive based in the company's former home town of Pittsburgh. [2]

In the 1970s, specifically in 1977, Pittway and General Electric were the dominant consumer smoke alarm manufacturers. [4] At that time, Pittway units were distributed by Sears. [4] In 1978, the Consumer Product Safety Commission assessed a US$100,000 fine against Pittway for selling smoke detectors which were themselves fire hazards. [10]

Proposed in December 1999 and completed in February 2000, Honeywell acquired Pittway for US$2.2 billion as a play to expand the breadth of their business in its home and building control unit. [1] [3] [11]

Notes

  1. ↑ The phrase used in the source is "...Port Authority Transit took over its people-carrying business in a condemnation proceeding...." That would seem to imply that the divestment was involuntary, but need better citation to get a clearer picture.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Mowatt, Raoul V. (September 9, 2001). "Neison Harris, 86". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved February 10, 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Markowitz, Jack (May 1, 1968). "New Track At Pittway". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 33. Retrieved 2012-02-10– via Google News.
  3. 1 2 3 "Honeywell buys alarm maker Pittway for $2.2 billion". Business. The Daily Herald. Illinois: Paddock Publications, Inc. Associated Press. December 21, 1999. p. 2, Section 4. Retrieved 2018-04-30– via Newspapers.com.
  4. 1 2 3 Metz, Robert (December 3, 1977). "More smoke than fire in home alarm market?". Business. The Sun-Telegram. Gannett. New York Times News Service. p. 8–7. Retrieved 2018-04-30– via Newspapers.com.
  5. ↑ Ommerman, Betty (December 13, 1980). "Households should be "child-proofed" for safety". Milwaukee Sentinel. p. 4 of Part 4. Retrieved 2018-04-30.
  6. ↑ A. Wilson (14 November 2014). Major Companies of the USA 1988/89. Springer. pp. 671–. ISBN   978-94-009-1297-7.
  7. ↑ "History of Pittway Corporation – FundingUniverse". www.fundinguniverse.com. Retrieved 2017-04-15.
  8. 1 2 "Pittway Corporation". FundingUniverse.com. Archived from the original on January 23, 2013. Retrieved February 10, 2012.
  9. ↑ "Pittsburgh Railways Company Records, 1872-1974, AIS.1974.29". Archives Service Center, University of Pittsburgh. Retrieved February 10, 2012.
  10. ↑ "Smoke detector may be smoke maker". The Sun. California: Gannett. Associated Press. November 7, 1978. p. 1. Retrieved 2018-04-30– via Newspapers.com.
  11. ↑ "Pittway Corporation". Bloomberg. Snapshot > Company Overview. Retrieved February 10, 2012.
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