Thomson-Houston Electric Company

File:Thomson-Houston Electric Company 1888.png

The company began as the American Electric Company, founded by Elihu Thomson and Edwin Houston. In 1882,{{cite web |author= |date=2014-07-23 |title=Elihu Thomson Papers, 1853–1955 |url=https://invention.si.edu/elihu-thomson-papers-1853-1955 |access-date=2019-10-19 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |quote=in 1882, founded one of the early electrical corporations in the United States, the Thomson-Houston Company}} Charles Albert Coffin led a group of investors—largely shoe manufacturers from Lynn, Massachusetts—in buying American Electric from investors in New Britain, Connecticut. They renamed the company Thomson-Houston Electric Company and moved its operations to a new building on Lynn's Western Avenue. {{cite web |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/collections/view?docId=ead/Mss.Ms.Coll.74-ead.xml;query=Elihu%20Thomson;brand=default |title=Elihu Thomson Papers |access-date=2019-10-19 |author=}} Elihu Thomson Papers at the American Philosophical Society

Coffin led the company and organized its finances, marketing, and sales operations. Edwin Rice organized the manufacturing facilities, and Elihu Thomson ran the Model Room, a precursor to the industrial research lab. With their leadership, the company grew into an enterprise with sales of {{US$|10000000|1892|round=-6|about=yes|long=no|link=no}} and 4,000 employees by 1892.

In 1884, Thomson-Houston International Company was organized to promote international sales.

In 1885, the Lynn G.A.R. Hall was constructed using electric incandescent lighting by Thomson-Houston.{{cite news |author= |title=Lynn's G. A. R. Memorial |work=Boston Herald|location=Boston, Massachusetts |date=1886-04-22 |page=8 |quote=The edifice is lighted by the Thomson-Houston incandescent system, and presents a delightful appearance upon the interior when illuminated.}}

In 1888, Thomson-Houston supplied the Lynn & Boston Railroad with the generation and propulsion equipment for the Highland Circuit in Lynn,[https://books.google.com/books?id=zYVMAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA3-PA303 The Thomson-Houston Road at Lynn, Mass.], The Electrical World, December 8, 1888 page 303[https://books.google.com/books?id=Dzs8AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA21 Electric Railway at Lynn, Mass.], Electric Power, January, 1889 page 21 the first electric streetcar in Massachusetts.{{cite web |url=https://www.sec.state.ma.us/cis/cismaf/mf4.htm#famousfirsts |title=Famous Firsts in Massachusetts |author= |website=History of Massachusetts |publisher=Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts |access-date=2019-10-20 |quote=1888 The first electric trolley in the state runs in Lynn.}}{{cite web |url=http://www.lynnma.gov/about/history.shtml |title=A BRIEF HISTORY OF LYNN |author= |website=About Lynn |publisher=City of Lynn |access-date=2019-10-19 |quote=The first Electric Trolley in the state ran from Lynn in 1888}}

In 1889, Thomson-Houston bought out the Brush Company (founded by Charles Brush) which resolved the arc lamp and dynamo patent disputes between them.

In 1892, Thomson-Houston was merged with the Edison General Electric Company of Schenectady, New York (arranged by John Pierpoint Morgan), to form the General Electric Company. The Lynn plant, along with one in Schenectady, remain to this day as the two original GE factories.

File: Bijou Crystal Receiver.jpg

British Thomson-Houston (BTH) was created as a subsidiary of (American) General Electric in May 1896. It was previously known as Laing, Wharton, and Down which was founded in 1886. BTH became part of Associated Electrical Industries (AEI) in 1928, which saw BTH merged with its rival Metropolitan-Vickers.

This deal made AEI the largest military contractor of the British Empire during the 1930s and the 1940s, so during World War II. AEI would itself be acquired by the General Electric Company (GEC) in 1967. GEC demerged its defense businesses in 1999 to become Marconi plc and Marconi Corporation plc, now Telent.

In 1893, the Compagnie Française Thomson-Houston (CFTH) was formed in Paris, a sister company to GE in the United States. It is from this company that Alstom would evolve. A demerger in 1999 formed what is now Vantiva and Thomson-CSF.

;References

{{Reflist}}

;Sources

• Hammond, John Winthrop. Men and Volts, the Story of General Electric published 1941. 436 pages.
• Carlson, W. Bernard. Innovation as a Social Process: Elihu Thomson and the Rise of General Electric, 1870-1900 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991).
• Woodbury, David O. Elihu Thomson, Beloved Scientist (Museum of Science (Boston), 1944)
• Haney, John L. The Elihu Thomson Collection American Philosophical Society Yearbook 1944.

{{General Electric}}

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Category:1882 establishments in Massachusetts

Category:Energy companies established in 1882

Category:Manufacturing companies established in 1882

Category:American companies established in 1882

Category:1892 mergers and acquisitions

Category:1892 disestablishments in Massachusetts

Category:Energy companies disestablished in 1892

Category:Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1892

Category:American companies disestablished in 1892

Category:Defunct electronics companies of the United States

Category:General Electric subsidiaries

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Category:Companies based in Lynn, Massachusetts

Category:Defunct manufacturing companies based in Massachusetts