Reliance Electric and Engineering Company

Product Details

Historical Context

The company was founded in 1905 by Cleveland industrialist Peter M. Hitchcock and his cousin, inventor John C. Lincoln. Originally founded as the Lincoln Electric Manufacturing Company, with offices in the Caxton Building, the company was incorporated in 1907 as the Lincoln Motor Works Company to produce variable-speed motors designed by John Lincoln. When Peter Hitchcock died in 1906, Lincoln sold his interest in the firm to Peter's sons, Charles and Reuben.

In 1909, the company became the Reliance Electric & Engineering Company and moved into a new facility at 1088 Ivanhoe Rd. in 1911. Clarence Collins became president of the company around this time; a position he would hold for 40 years. During World War II, Reliance built two new plants on E. 152nd St., and in 1951 began construction of an additional facility at 24703 Euclid Ave. in Euclid.

Growing dramatically after the war, Reliance consolidated with the Dayton-based Master Electric Company in 1957, and merged with the Toledo Scale Company and the Dodge Manufacturing Corporation of Indiana in 1967.

In 1979, the Exxon Corporation purchased the company for $1.23 billion.

In August 1994, executives at the company entered into an agreement with General Signal (based in Stamford, CT) to purchase Reliance Electric for $1.4 billion in General Signal stock. Before the sale could be completed, however, Rockwell International initiated a hostile takeover of Reliance Electric for $1.6 billion in stock and by November, Reliance Electric became part of Rockwell's Automation Power Systems division, which had total annual sales of $3.5 billion and 27,000 employees worldwide.

Over its ninety-year history, Reliance Electric manufactured many products including electric motors and variable-speed drives, gear-reducers and bearings, precision scales, gasoline dispensing equipment, high- technology telecommunication equipment, power transformers and circuit breakers.

Related Collections