Scintilla Magneto Company

File:New York - Sidney through Stony Point - NARA - 68145257 (cropped).jpg

The origins of the company lie in the development of a magneto by Swiss engineers. The rights to the design was purchased by an American and brought to the United States in 1921. The company was originally located in New York City, but was convinced by a local businessman named Winfield Sherwood to move to the site of the recently-bankrupt Cortland Cart & Carriage Company in Sidney, New York in the mid-1920s. In 1925, it was purchased by an American subsidiary of the Swiss Brown, Boveri & Company.{{cite news |title=Two Electrical Concerns Bought |url=http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/369432516 |access-date=13 June 2021 |work=Hartford Daily Courant |date=5 October 1925 |page=15}} The company was later purchased by Bendix Corporation in 1929 and became the Scintilla Magneto Division. The acquisition of the Hurley Townsend Corporation in 1935 led to an expansion of the plant and a housing project was begun to accommodate all of the new workers. During World War II, the company was a key manufacturer of magnetos used on American aircraft engines such as the Allison V-1710. Its name was changed to the Electrical Components Division in 1966. The Bendix Engine Products Division was split off in 1980 and moved to Jacksonville, Florida a few years later.{{cite news |title=Bendix splits Sidney plant |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/256330982 |access-date=13 June 2021 |work=Evening Press |date=30 September 1980 |page=12-B}}{{cite news |last1=Wright |first1=Jim |title=Bendix division move is on schedule |url=http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/255792301 |access-date=13 June 2021 |work=Evening Press |date=21 February 1983 |page=2B}} By 1985, the portion remaining in Sidney had been renamed Bendix Connector Operations.{{cite news |title=Cost cuts enable plant to gain edge |url=http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/252497648/ |access-date=13 June 2021 |work=Sunday Press |date=27 January 1985 |page=15G}} The Amphenol Products Division was bought from AlliedSignal by LPL Investment Group in 1987.{{cite news |last1=Levine |first1=Steven |title=Investment firm buys Amphenol plants |url=http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/260812261 |access-date=13 June 2021 |work=Press & Sun-Bulletin |date=4 April 1987 |page=1B}} The former Scintilla factory was occupied by the Amphenol Aerospace Corporation until 2011 when, after being flooded in 2006, restored at great expense, and flooded again in 2011, the main factory was demolished. The plating annex still operates on the site but the majority of the site is now a solar farm. The Amphenol Aerospace offices and manufacturing were moved to a nearby location in Sidney NY, on higher ground.

{{Reflist}}

{{Refbegin}}

• {{cite news |last1=Jump |first1=Linda |title=Amphenol of Sidney celebrates its 75th year |url=http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/252952117 |access-date=13 June 2021 |work=Press & Sun-Bulletin |date=8 September 2000 |pages=9B, 12B}}
• {{cite web |last1=Lees |first1=Walter E. |title=Scintilla Magneto Division, Bendix Aviation Corporation, 1935 |url=http://www.earlyaviators.com/eburnsi1.htm |website=The Early Birds of Aviation, Inc. |access-date=10 June 2021}}
• {{cite web |last1=Palmer |first1=I. Jeremiah |title=Scintilla – A Famous Name in Sidney |url=http://www.dcnyhistory.org/Scintilla.pdf |website=Delaware County NY Genealogy and History Site |access-date=10 June 2021 |date=July 2008}}

{{Refend}}

Category:Aircraft component manufacturers of the United States

Category:Defunct manufacturing companies based in New York (state)

Category:Bendix Corporation