 The Worthington "Flying W" logo | |
| Industry | Manufacturing |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1845 |
| Founder | Henry Rossiter Worthington |
| Defunct | 1967 |
| Fate | Merged |
| Successor | Studebaker-Worthington |
| Headquarters | United States |
The Worthington Corporation was a diversified American manufacturer that had its roots in Worthington and Baker, a steam pump manufacturer founded in 1845. In 1967 it merged with Studebaker and Wagner Electric to form Studebaker-Worthington. This company was in turn acquired by McGraw-Edison in 1979.
Worthington and Baker, manufacturers of hydraulic machinery such as steam pumps and meters, was founded by Henry R Worthington and William H. Baker. [1] Worthington was the inventor of the direct acting steam pump. [2] The first foundry was near the Brooklyn Navy Yard. In 1854 the partners moved to Van Brunt Street in Brooklyn. The partnership was dissolved around 1860 when Baker died. [1] A new partnership called Henry R. Worthington, or Worthington Hydraulic Pump Works, was formed in 1862. [1]
The United States Navy used Worthington pumps to pump boiler feed water, bilge water, and water for fire fighting and general services aboard various ships during the American Civil War, including the USS Monitor. [3] After Henry Worthington died in 1880 he was succeeded by his son Charles Campbell Worthington (1854–1944). While head of the company, Worthington contributed many useful improvements to pumps, compressors, and other machines. [4] The company moved from Brooklyn to Harrison, New Jersey in 1904. [1]
In 1885 the Worthington Pumping Engine Company, representatives of Worthington pumps of the US, obtained an order from the British Army to deliver ten high-pressure pumps to deliver water needed by the British Expeditionary army coming to the aid of General Gordon in Khartoum, Sudan.
The British pump suppliers could not deliver the pumps fast enough. The British company James Simpson & Co. learned of the Worthington company because of this order, and on 13 December 1885 signed an agreement with the Worthington Pumping Engine Company under which they gained exclusive manufacturing rights for Worthington pumps in Britain. [5] The British company's pumps were sold in the English and Colonial markets. [6] [lower-alpha 1]
Benjamin Guggenheim was a member of a family that had made a fortune in the smelting business in the United States, largely through his efforts, and that controlled the American Smelting and Refining Company. [9] Guggenheim founded the International Steam Pump Company (ISPC). [10] The ISPC was organized by the Seward legal firm in 1899. Lehman Brothers were the bankers. [11]
The ISPC merged Blake and Knowles Steam Pump Works, Ltd. (BKSPW), Worthington Pump Works and other companies that together made up a large part of total American capacity for making steam pumps. [12] The company's products were diverse, including the elevators for the Eiffel Tower. [10] Worthington Pump Works was the largest of the merged firms. [13] Charles Campbell Worthington was president of the company until he retired in 1900. [14] Guggenheim became president of the ISPC. [9] The ISPC soon ran into financial difficulties, and Guggenheim invested increasing amounts of capital to keep it afloat. [10]
BKSPW had been registered in England in 1890 with a capital of £300,000 to purchase in full the George F. Blake Manufacturing Company and the Knowles Steam Pump Works, with three plants in the United States. [12] In its 1901 Annual Report the ISPC reported holding £200,000 of ordinary shares in BKSPW. The George F. Blake Manufacturing Company, an ISPC subsidiary, had liabilities that included $1 million of mortgage bonds and $500,000 of preferred stock of BKSPW. The ISPC 1904 Annual Report noted that BKSPW had been dissolved in 1903, replaced by a company with the same name based in New Jersey. [15] An October 1908 description of the Blake-Knowles Steam Pump Works in Cambridge, Massachusetts, part of the International Steam Pump Company, said it was the second largest of its kind in the United States, employing more than 1,700 men. [16]
In 1903 Guggenheim founded a factory in Milwaukee to manufacture mining machinery. In 1906 it was merged into the ISPC. [9] By 1909 the ISPC as a whole was employing 10,000 men. [9] In May 1910 Benjamin Guggenheim reported strong results with net earnings of about $2 million and profits of about $700,000. The company had purchased the JeanesvilIe Iron Works Company and had obtained a controlling interest in the Denver Rock Drill and Machinery Company, adding at least 30% to capacity. [17] The Holly Manufacturing Company (1859–1912) was acquired in 1912. [18]
Guggenheim was a passenger on RMS Titanic and died on 15 April 1912 when the ship sank. [19] The International Steam Pump Company went into receivership in 1914. A plan of reorganization was issued on 5 August 1915 and under this plan the firm was reorganized in 1916 as the Worthington Pump & Machinery Corporation. [20]
The Worthington Pump and Machinery Corporation had subsidiaries in Atlanta, Georgia ,Buffalo, New York, Holyoke, Massachusetts, Cincinnati, Ohio and London, England. [18] In 1917 the independent but associated British Worthington Pump Co. changed its name to Worthington Simpson. [7] The Worthington Pump and Machinery Corporation purchased a stake in Worthington-Simpson in 1933. [8]
In 1952 the company became the Worthington Corporation. [18] As of 1956 the Worthington Corporation had laboratories in Harrison, Holyoke, and Buffalo. The labs employed five chemists, forty engineers, four mathematicians, four metallurgists, two physicists and thirty five others. They conducted research into hydrodynamics, thermodynamics, mechanics and materials. [21]
In 1964 Worthington purchased the American Locomotive Company (Alco). [22]
In 1967 a merger with Studebaker was arranged by the entrepreneur Derald Ruttenberg. [23] He took the risk of buying Studebaker despite the liabilities that came with it, including dealer warranties and union agreements. He saw that Onan generators and STP engine additives were healthy businesses. The large tax loss was also valuable. Worthington was expected to continue to earn steady profits, but could use the tax loss to avoid paying taxes. [24] The stockholders of Studebaker and Worthington approved the merger despite rumors that the Federal Trade Commission considered the merger would be "substantially anti-competitive". [25] Studebaker was acquired by Wagner Electric, which in turn was merged with Worthington Corporation to create Studebaker-Worthington. [26]
The merger was completed in November 1967, creating a company with $550 million of assets. [27] The former chairman of Worthington, Frank J. Nunlist, was appointed president and chief executive officer. [25] Randolph Guthrie of Studebaker was chairman of the new company. [28]
McGraw-Edison purchased Studebaker-Worthington in 1978. McGraw-Edison was in turn acquired by Cooper Industries in 1985. [29]
Studebaker was an American wagon and automobile manufacturer based in South Bend, Indiana, with a building at 1600 Broadway, Times Square, Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 1852 and incorporated in 1868 as the Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company, the firm was originally a coachbuilder, manufacturing wagons, buggies, carriages and harnesses.
Montreal Locomotive Works (MLW) was a Canadian railway locomotive manufacturer that existed under several names from 1883 to 1985, producing both steam and diesel locomotives. For many years it was a subsidiary of the American Locomotive Company. MLW's headquarters and manufacturing facilities were in Montreal, Quebec.
The Studebaker-Packard Corporation is the entity created in 1954 by the purchase of the Studebaker Corporation of South Bend, Indiana, by the Packard Motor Car Company of Detroit, Michigan. While Studebaker was the larger of the two companies, Packard's balance sheet and executive team were stronger than that of the South Bend company.
Allis-Chalmers was a U.S. manufacturer of machinery for various industries. Its business lines included agricultural equipment, construction equipment, power generation and power transmission equipment, and machinery for use in industrial settings such as factories, flour mills, sawmills, textile mills, steel mills, refineries, mines, and ore mills.
Henry Rossiter Worthington was an American mechanical engineer, inventor, industrialist and founder of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1880.
The Case Corporation was a manufacturer of agricultural machinery and construction equipment. Founded, in 1842, by Jerome Increase Case as the J. I. Case Threshing Machine Company, it operated under that name for most of a century. For another 66 years it was the J. I. Case Company, and was often called simply Case. In the late 19th century, Case was one of America's largest builders of steam engines, producing self-propelled portable engines, traction engines and steam tractors. It was a major producer of threshing machines and other harvesting equipment. The company also produced various machinery for the U.S. military. In the 20th century, Case was among the ten largest builders of farm tractors for many years. In the 1950s its construction equipment line became its primary focus, with agricultural business second.
Wagner Electric Corporation was an electric equipment manufacturing firm established in 1891 that became part of Studebaker-Worthington in 1967.
The Weir Group plc is a Scottish multinational engineering company headquartered in Glasgow, Scotland. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
Charles Campbell Worthington, or C.C. Worthington, was an American industrialist whose efforts were in part responsible for the foundation of the Professional Golfers Association. He invented the first commercially successful gang lawnmower for fairway maintenance.
The Hydraulic engine house is part of the "Underfall Yard" in Bristol Harbour in Bristol, England.
The Blake and Knowles Steam Pump Company National Register District encompasses the historical industrial complex of the Blake and Knowles Steam Pump Company and its successor, the Worthington Pump and Machinery Corporation in East Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is located in a one-block area surrounded by Third, Rogers, Binney, and Fifth Streets. The property was developed by the Blake and Knowles Steam Pump Company, one of the nation's leading manufacturer of industrial pumps from the late 19th century into the mid-20th century. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997.
Dresser-Rand is an American engineering and manufacturing company owned by Siemens Energy. The company designs, manufactures, and services equipment used in the extraction of petroleum and natural gas. The company was formed in 1986 as a joint venture of Dresser Industries and Ingersoll Rand.
Austral Otis was a Melbourne engineering works established in 1887 on site of former Langlands foundry in Grant Street, South Melbourne. It was one of the largest manufacturers of elevators in Australia and continued as the Otis Elevator Company.
McGraw-Edison was an American manufacturer of electrical equipment. It was created in 1957 through a merger of McGraw Electric and Thomas A. Edison, Inc., and was in turn acquired by Cooper Industries in 1985. Today, the McGraw-Edison brand is used on industrial, commercial, and institutional lighting products, and is now owned by the Pennsylvania Transformer Technologies Inc. Company as of being acquired in 1996.
Studebaker-Worthington was a diversified American manufacturer created in 1967 through a merger of Studebaker Corporation, Wagner Electric and Worthington Corporation. The company was in turn acquired by McGraw-Edison in 1979.
Worthington-Simpson was a British pump manufacturer. Many of their pumps were used in municipal waterworks in Great Britain.
The Worthington Mower Company, originally called the Shawnee Mower Factory, produced lawn mowers and light-duty tractors in the United States from the early 1920s until around 1959. Founded by Charles Campbell Worthington and run as a family business, in 1945 it was purchased by Jacobsen Manufacturing. It continued to produce tractors and mowers in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, until around 1959.
The Worthington Automobile Company was a short-lived automobile manufacturer in the United States that made automobiles between 1904 and 1905.
Derald H. Ruttenberg was a lawyer who became a deal maker, organizing large industrial mergers. He arranged the merger of Studebaker and Worthington Corporation, and for some time ran the combined Studebaker-Worthington. He provided the financing for the Derald H. Ruttenberg Cancer Center at Mount Sinai Hospital, New York.
Frank J. Nunlist was an American businessman who became chairman of Worthington Corporation, and then of Studebaker-Worthington. After retiring, he was appointed Assistant Postmaster General, Bureau of Operations.
Notes
Citations
Sources
Media related to Worthington Corporation at Wikimedia Commons
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