Pittway

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Pittway Corporation
Formerly
  • Pittsburgh Street Railways Co.[1]
  • Pittsburg Railways Co.[2]
Company typePublic
FateAcquired by Honeywell
Number of locations
8 manufacturing facilities (1999)[3]
Revenue
  • Increase US$48.9 million (1967)[2]
  • (?) US$39.4 million (1966)[2]
  • Increase US$5.8 million (1967)[2]
  • (?) US$4.4 million (1966)[2]
OwnerStandard Shares (40% in 1968)[2]
Number of employees
7,600 (1999)[3]
SubsidiariesB.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[edit]

  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.

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c Mowatt, Raoul V. (September 9, 2001). "Neison Harris, 86". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved February 10, 2012.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Markowitz, Jack (May 1, 1968). "New Track At Pittway". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 33. Retrieved 2012-02-10 – via Google News.
  3. ^ a b c "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. ^ a b c 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. ^ a b "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. Archived from the original on January 18, 2013. Retrieved February 10, 2012.
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