Pittway

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

Pittway Corporation
Formerly
  • Pittsburgh Street Railways Co.[1]
  • Pittsburg Railways Co.[2]
Public
FateAcquired by Honeywell
Headquarters
Chicago 
Number of locations
8 manufacturing facilities (1999)[3]
Revenue
  • US$48.9 million (1967)[2]
  • (?) US$39.4 million (1966)[2]
  • 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]

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] 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.

References
  1. Mowatt, Raoul V. (September 9, 2001). "Neison Harris, 86". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved February 10, 2012.
  2. Markowitz, Jack (May 1, 1968). "New Track At Pittway". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 33. Retrieved 2012-02-10 – via Google News.
  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. 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. "Pittway Corporation". FundingUniverse.com. Archived from the original on February 6, 2012. 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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