American Radiator Company

The American Radiator Company was established in 1892 by the merger of a number of North American radiator manufacturers. The company expanded in the early 20th century into Europe under the brand National Radiator Company.

In 1929 it amalgamated with the Standard Sanitary Manufacturing Company to form the American Radiator and Standard Sanitary Corporation.

History

Predecessors

The Michigan Radiator & Iron Manufacturing Company was founded in 1888. John B. Dyar manager and owner of the Detroit Metal & Heating Works was the main promoter.^[1] Clarence M. Woolley joined the firm in 1887.^[2]

The Detroit Radiator Company was formed in 1882 by Henry C. and Charles C. Hodges.^[1]

The Pierce Steam Heating Company was founded in 1881 by John B. Pierce and Joseph Bond in Buffalo.^[3]

The Standard Radiator Company (Buffalo) was established by Nelson Holland.^[4]

American Radiator Company

a radiator built by the company (photographed 2013)

The American Radiator company was formed in 1891/2 from the Detroit Radiator Company, the Michigan Radiator & Iron Manufacturing Company, and the Pierce Steam Heating Company of Buffalo.^[2][1]

The company made a profit of $400,000 in its first year, but was subsequently affected by an economic depression (see also Panic of 1893) – from 1893 onwards the company entered the European market.^[5] The company began manufacturing in western Europe in several countries in the from the 1890s to the 1920s.^[5]

The company was successful in the United States and in the European market, and attracted the attention of J.P. Morgan. Morgan helped the firm to combine most of the radiator manufactories in the US;^[2][2] in 1899 the company was re-incorporated under the same name, absorbing the St. Louis Radiator Manufacturing Company, and the Standard Radiator Manufacturing Company of Buffalo, and the radiator business of the Titusville Iron Company (Pennsylvania).^[1]

The American Radiator Building was constructed in New York in 1924.^[5] In the 1920s the company added several manufacturing plants in the US, as well as expanding a distribution network.^[5]

In 1929 the Standard Sanitary Manufacturing Company consolidated with the American Radiator Company to form the American Radiator and Standard Sanitary Corporation.

European subsidiaries

In 1894 following the Panic of 1893 and the consequent fall in demand for its products the company began investigating the potential of Europe as a market, and a sales branch was opened in London.^[6] In 1897 the company began investigating manufacturing in Europe, specifically France and Germany, countries with high trade tariffs; a branch was opened in Hamburg, which assembled and machine finished cast radiator parts shipped in knock down form.^[7] In 1898 the company acquired the established plant of Louis Courtot, in Dôle, France (Dole, Jura) forming the Compagnie Nationale de Radiateurs.^[8] In 1901 the company made the decision to establish a manufacturing plant in Germany, a site was selected in Schoenebeck.^[9] Both establishments proved successful and in 1905 the company began planning for a factory in England, and a site was selected in Hull.^[10]

By 1906 the European operations were so succssful that on one occasion profits generated exceeded those from the company's American operations. Much of the profit was re-invested in expansion, and the construction of new factories was initiated in Italy (1910, opened 1911) and Austria (1912, opened by 1914).^[11]

During World War I the plant became in involved in war work: the Dôle plant was requisitioned by the French state, and manufactured shells; the German, Italian, and Austrian plants were also involved in producing munitions for their respective states; the English plant agreed to supply Belgium with hand-grenades, and also undertook contracts for the British state.^[12]

The European operations were incorporated into the American Radiator and Standard Sanitary Corporation in 1929, forming the basis of that company's international operations.^[13]

Compagnie Nationale de Radiateurs

Dammarie-lès-Lys factory (1935)

In the 1880s engineer Louis Courtot developed a central heating system using radiators and boiler, and established a foundry in Dole (Jura).^[14] The factory was acquired by the American Radiator Company in 1898, and a new company established as the Compagnie Nationale de Radiateurs, with a capital of 500,000 francs. Courtot became the managing director of the plant.^[15] The company had with low wage costs and fair productivity, resulting in a saving compared to importing products. By 1903 the plant employed 180 people.^[16]

In 1905 the company opened a new factory in Dole, and the earlier factory gradually ceased production. The factory became the largest in Dole employing nearly 2000. During the First World War the plant produced 155 and 380mm artillery shells, employing mainly female workers. At the end of the war the shortage of manpower led to managed immigration of polish workers, with a housing built for their families.^[17]

During the 1920s new plant were constructed at Clichy-sous-Bois/Aulnay-sous-Bois and Argenteuil.^[17][18] As a consequence, in 1932 the plant in Dole switched to the manufacture of bathrooom furniture, including porcelain sanitary ware.^[17]

The Aulnay-sur-Bois plant opened in 1923. The two main factory buildings 270 by 70 metres (890 by 230 ft) were built of reinforced concrete by the Limousin company to the designs of Eugène Freyssinet. An extension was built in 1930, also by Limousin. Foundry work (boilers, cast iron baths) was switched to Aulnay.^[14]

In 1929 a factory was opened in Dammarie-lès-Lys; the factory structure was also to the design of Freyssinet/Limousin. From 1931 the factory was used entirely for the manufacture of radiators, with a staff of 750.^[18]

In 1949, after the parent company had become involved in the production of bathroom furniture (see American Radiator and Standard Sanitary Corporation, formed 1929) the company was renamed "Idéal Standard".^[17]

Manufacture of radiators in Aulnay ceased in 1968.^[18] The oil crisis negatively affected the company's activities, and the plant in Aulnay closed.^[14] The Dammarie plant closed in 1975.^[18] In 1975 production of bathroom furniture ended at Dole. A new company Société Nouvelle Idéal Standard was established under the control of Société Générale de Fonderie (65%) and Société de Dietrich. In 1984 the company came back under the control of American Standard. Bath production using acrylic resin started in 1986.^[17]

In 1996 the company Sanifrance was created by the combination of actitivies of Idéal Standard, Porcher, Piel and Emafrance as a subsidiary of American Standard. In 2005 Sanifrance became Idéal Standard France, and in 2006 Idéal Standard Industrie France.^[17]

Nationale Radiator Gesellschaft mbH

In 1900 the American Radiator Company decided to add a foundry to their existing operations in Germany, which had been assembling and finishing imported radiator parts in Hamburg from the late 1890s.^[19] In 1901 Nationale Radiator Gesellschaft mbH was formed in Berlin as a subsidiary of the American Radiator Company; a factory was established at Schönebeck in 1902. The company was known under the abbreviation NARAG.^[20]

An additional factoy was established in Neuss and production of radiators concentrated at Neuss, boilers at Schoenebeck. With the incorporation in 1919 of the Standard Sanitary company into the parent company its German subsidiaries were also merged into a division of NARAG, adding cast iron baths, brass water fittings, and porcelain bathroom fittings to the company's output.^[20]

During World War I the factory manufactured shells for the German Empire.^[12] During the Second World War the Neuss factory was heavily targeted by bombing campaigns and required rebuilding at the end of the war.^[20] The Schoenebeck plant became a subsidiary of Volkswagen in 1944 and was used to manufacture V1 rockets; the factory was supplied with slave labour from the Schoenebeck camp, a sub-camp of the Buchenwald concentration camp, an estimated 200-400 concentration camp prisoners were used at the plant, other employees during the period included forced labour from eastern Europe, and Italy.^[21]

The Schoenebeck facility was in soviet occupied East Germany at the end of the second world war; as a result in 1950 the Neuss site began production of boilers. In 1951 the company was renamed Ideal Standard GmbH. A refrigeration company 'Gesellschaft die Rheinkälte' (Düsseldorf) was acquired in 1955. In the 1960s, during the German economic boom the company expanded, with a sites in Wittlich (radiators), and in Waldbröl und Berlin (boilers, radiators; acquired from the Projahn-Werkes).^[20]

At the end of the 1960s the Wittlich site was concentrated on the production of fittings serving the whole European market; valve production was reduced at Neuss in favour of the Clichy factory in France, and the site in Neuss became focused on ceramic manufacture. In the mid 1970s the company withdrew from the heating business, and the sites in Waldbröl and Berlin shut.^[20]

National Radiator Company Limited

Ideal Boilers offices, Hull (2007)

In 1905 the company's operations in France and Germany were proving successful, and the firm decided to open a factory in England. The company "National Radiator Companty, Ltd." was established, and $500,000 provided for the establishment of a factory. A site in Kingston-upon-Hull was selected for the factory.^[10]

Construction of the factory began in 1906, and the first casting was produced in December. The plant was expanded in 1910. During World War I much of the production was shifted to the munition production. In 1917 the factory was further expanded, in anticipation of a post-war building boom.^[22]

In 1934 the company was publicly listed as "Ideal Boilers and Radiators" (capital £750,000) in order to raise cash for a factory extension.^[23] By 1938 a new plant producing vitreous sanitary ware had begun operation.^[24]

During World War II the plant produced munitions including mortar bombs and grenades, as well as boilers and vitreous china for military use.^[22]

In 1953 the company was renamed "Ideal Standard".^[25]

In 1976 the boiler and radiator operations of the plant were acquired by Stelrad Group (Metal Box), whilst the vitreous china (bathroom furniture) operations remained under the control of Ideal Standard. Radiator production was ended at Stelrad's Hull site, and production was focused on boilers.^[22] In 1989 the Metal Box company demergered, and MB group formed; Caradon was acquired by MB group becoming MB Caradon in 1989 and the Hull boiler factory became Caradon Ideal in 1993.^[22]

In the 2010s the Ideal Boilers' foundry was closed with the loss of 57 jobs and outsource casting to third parties.^[26][27]

As of 2014 the boiler plant operated as "Ideal Boilers" as part of the Ideal Stelrad group., and the bathroom fittings plant is part of Ideal Standard.

In 2015 Ideal Boilers was acquired from holding company ISG Holdings 1 by French HVAC business Groupe Atlantic.^[28][29]

Recognition

A logo on a radiator from American Radiator Co.

In consequence of the radiator's contribution to the lives, and social history of North Americans, in 2012, the American Radiator Company was inducted into the North American Railway Hall of Fame.^[30]

See also

• American Radiator Building and Ideal House, London ; headquarters in New York and London
• American Radiator Company Factory Complex, formerly the Pierce Steam Heating Company, Buffalo, NY, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2015.^[31]

References

Sources

Literature

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to American Radiator Company.

• "American Radiator Corporation", Historical Society of Montgomery County Illinois (digital archive) 
• "Brochures and other publications by the "American Radiator Company"", archive.org