| Industry | Ceramics industry |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1893 |
| Founder | Fred M. Locke |
| Headquarters | |
| Products | Insulators |
Victor Insulators, Inc. is the oldest electrical insulator manufacturer in North America.
The company was founded in 1893 as the Locke Insulator Manufacturing Company with a factory in Victor, New York.They suspended operations during the Great Depression but resumed operations in 1935 as Victor Insulators. They manufactured coffee mugs and other serving wear from the 1940s through the 1960s. [1]
In 1984, the managers purchased the company from Brown Boveri and resumed operating under their former name. [2] They are still manufacturing insulators at the same location as their 1935 production to this day.
During World War II, the Victor Insulator Company responded to a request from the military to develop dining ware that was sturdy and wouldn't slide easily on tables. The company developed a bowl and a dual-wall coffee mug using the same materials they use to make insulators. They won the government contract but discovered an even larger and longer-lived secondary market when their coffee mug design quickly caught on in restaurants and diners. The classic thick-walled, heavy duty "diner service ware", now considered an iconic design, is the result of that original Victor service ware. That popular, American, off-white colored diner-style coffee mug ended-up being copied by companies as far away as China. When Victor Insulator Company couldn't compete with the counterfeits on the market, they decided to close their coffee mug and service ware manufacturing in the late 1980s. [3]
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