History of Fire Alarm and Commercial Manufacturers
SimplexGrinnell
1958- Simplex buys the IBM Time division, setting its position as the industry leader in time clocks and synchronized time systems
1960's- Simplex existence in the fire alarm market grows quickly, with the introduction of the 4245, 4246, and 4247 series control panels.
Early 1970's- Simplex introduces the 4207 and 4208 series conventional control panels, along with their first visual signaling devices, the 4050-80 series.
1976- Simplex introduces voice communication and firefighters emergency telephone systems for high-rise buildings.
1984- Simplex introduces color graphics management consoles to the fire alarm industry – a leap forward that makes systems more user friendly.
1989- TrueAlarm Drift Compensation transforms fire detection by allowing sensors to maintain sensitivity and performance despite dust and dirt accumulation.
1992- The Simplex 4020 mid–range addressable fire alarm panel is introduced.
2001- Simplex introduces TrueAlert, the industry's first addressable notification appliances.
2010- Simplex releases TrueSite Workstation, a touch-screen graphics console that oversees campus-wide fire alarm networks from a single location.
2010 - 2011- Simplex introduces 4100ES and 4010ES fire alarm control panels with eServices, providing unmatched flexibility, connectivity and information sharing capabilities.
Honeywell Notifier
1949- Founded as the NOTIFIER Manufacturing Company by Oliver T. Joy in Waverly, Nebraska
1956- NOTIFIER Manufacturing Company assets transferred to the newly formed NOTIFIER Corporation in Lincoln, NE.
1962- NOTIFIER selected to provide the fire detection system for the Seattle World's Fair.
1968- NOTIFIER sold to Emhart Corporation, the company occupied a building totaling 40,000 square feet…adds 20,000 square feet to assist the manufacturing of smoke detectors and the designing of microprocessor-controlled panels and integrated audio/voice evacuation systems.
1987- Pittway Corporation acquires NOTIFIER.
1988- NOTIFIER expands to new 252,000 square-foot facility in Northford, Connecticut.
1993- NOTIFIER becomes the first in the industry to be approved under ISO 9001 standards and the first to move analog intelligent systems into the "small" building category.
1996- NOTIFIER first with laser- based spot type intelligent detector.
1999- Honeywell International Inc purchases Pittway Corp. NOTIFIER becomes part of Honeywell's Fire Systems Group.
2000- NOTIFIER first to release a fire and security monitoring system—the UniNet 2000—capable of interacting with other manufacturers’ fire systems.
2001- NOTIFIER launches the ONYX Series of intelligent fire alarm control panels.
2004- NOTIFIER fire alarm systems selected to safeguard facilities and venues at 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens…ONYX Intelligent Sensing Introduces FireWarden series fire alarm control panel…Introduces ONYXWorks Integrated Fire Alarm and Security System.
2005- Launches ONYX ExitPoint—an audible exit sign that can decrease evacuation times by 75%...Launches ONYX FirstVision—an interactive touch screen PC that aids firefighters to pinpoint the origin and migration of a fire… Launches NOTIFY-IP which provides remote monitoring and control of emergency communications systems through Internet Protocol.
2006- Introduces NOTI-FIRE-NET fire system network and ONYX Digital Voice Command.
2007- NOTIFIER achieves UL 864 9th Edition compliance—6 months ahead of required date…Introduces ONYX ExitPoint with voice.
2008- Introduces ONYX Digital Voice Command 3.0… NOTIFIER fire alarm systems selected to protect facilities and venues at 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing.
2009- NOTIFIER Obtains FM 6320 Listing for Gas Detection on the NFS2-3030 fire alarm panel, an industry first…NOTIFIER expands limited warranty to 36 months for U.S. manufactured fire systems. NOTIFIER releases its high-speed NOTI-FIRE-NET network that is up to 100 times faster than other networks.
2010- Introduces IPGSM-COM IP Internet and Digital Cellular Fire-Communicator, and FAAST™ Fire Alarm Aspiration Sensing Technology. Increases voice evacuation and emergency communications system’s ability with ONYX Digital Audio 4.0. NOTIFIER’s ONYX fire alarm panels are approved for use in any seismic zone
2011- NOTIFIER announces a combination photoelectric and carbon monoxide detector, FCO-851, for improved life safety in hotels, dormitories, apartments, condominiums, nursing homes and hospitals.
2012- NOTIFIER releases the VESDA™ Gateway, providing a communication link between the NOTIFIRE-NET™ network and VESDAnet™.
2013- NOTIFIER launches FirstCommand™, for small facilities that require voice evacuation or emergency communication systems. Marine versions of the NFS2-3030 control panel and NCA-2 network annunciator are now approved for marine applications. NOTIFIER ONYX® systems have been tested and approved to the UL 2572 standard.
2014- NOTIFIER launches eVance™ Services software, consisting of Inspection Manager and Service Manager. SWIFT® Wireless launches, a robust mesh network with UL listed Class A communication mesh protocol.
2015- NOTIFIER expands superior detection by offering the release of FAAST XT (aspiration detection coverage for up to 28,800 sq. feet), FAAST XS (aspiration detection solution to better serve the needs of small data centers and environmentally challenging spaces), and a new wireless FW-RM relay module to our SWIFT line of devices.
2016- XAS Air Sampling Smoke Detection and FAAST XT Pro are added to the NOTIFIER portfolio.
2017- NOTIFIER®’s next generation of ONYXWorks® and FirstVision™ [Version 4] - a powerful, adaptable program for life safety management, is introduced. VESDA-E series of aspirating smoke detectors can now exchange information directly with NOTIFIER's ONYX® Series Fire Alarm Control Panels.
Edwards Signaling
1872- Edwards and Company was founded by Robert Edwards & David Rousseau to investigate the new phenomenon of "Electricity" and to manufacture, sell and install battery-operated gas-fixture igniters. Among the company's first customers, a New York City church where church officials previously had climbed a 100-foot ladder to light gas fixtures located above the pews.
1873 Rousseau withdrew from the partnership and his place was taken by Adam Lungen. They invented and created an electric doorbell and a burglar alarm.
1880- Edwards Company left the basement of the Lungen family's jewelry store, moved into a three-story plant, and began manufacturing wooden conduits and housings for burglar alarms.
1881- Robert Edwards obtained his first patent for an electric bell. Other patents quickly followed: a drop-type annunciator (1882); an electric gas burner lighter for push-button operation (1883); and an electric door opener (1884).
1884- Edwards displayed its products at the first electrical show in the United States. Held in Philadelphia, it was called the "Electrical Exhibit, National Conference of Electricians."
1886- Along with burglar alarms and fixture igniters, the Edwards catalog listed electrically wound clocks, program systems, and coils.
1896- Edwards stopped installing electrical devices and restricted its actions to the design and manufacture of signaling, communications and protection equipment.
1900- Bell with horizontally actuated plunger devised. The basic design is used for today's Edwards AdaptaBel .
1901- First national distributor of "electrical house goods" appointed by Edwards Company.
1903- New York Stock Exchange bell installed to start the beginning and ending of trading each day.
1912- Edwards carriage call, an all-weather annunciator for department store marquees, introduced.
1915- Bronze Medal of Honor for electrical products awarded to Edwards at the Panama-Pacific Exposition, San Francisco, CA.
1917- Watertight bells and submarine detection devices built for the Navy, special telegraph apparatus created for the Signal Corps.
1927- Holland Tunnel opened with Edwards emergency signaling installed in twin 2-mile tubes. Electrical devices for the White House ordered from Edwards.
1929- Montreal Curb Exchange ordered "Silent Paging" annunciators. Edwards & Company of Canada was founded.
1935- Lungen buzzers 11,300 feet below the earth's surface pulsed survey instrument at the bottom of the world's deepest oil well. Edwards watchman's tour, sprinkler, and fire alarm system installed at Rockefeller Center in New York City.
1936- New break-glass fire stations created to replace hammer and chain types.
1938- Edwards annunciators and signaling systems specified by Boeing Aircraft Co. for double-deck flying clipper ships.
1941- World's largest car ferry, the City of Midland, left its Michigan waterways outfitted with Edwards watertight signals. Budd Co. equipped its newest "Silver Meteor" trains with Edwards annunciators.
1945- Edwards awarded its fifth Army-Navy E.
1948- Edwards-made fire alarms mounted aboard SS President Cleveland and SS President Wilson, new round-the-world cruise ships. James H. McGraw Award, Manufacturers Medal of the Year, presented to R. S. Edwards.
1950- New Edwards plant in Canada launched at Owen Sound, Ontario.
1951- Tear-drop fire alarm station introduced: called by Associated Press "a model of fool-proof simplicity."
1956- Manufacturing facilities for products transferred to new Pittsfield, Maine plant.
1961- Audio-visual nurse call with patient privacy feature exhibited at American Hospital Association Exposition, Atlantic City, NJ.
1962- Edwards Company becomes a functional unit of General Signal Corporation.
1964- Edwards fire alarm system specified for world's largest structure, the 52-story Vertical Assembly Building at Cape Kennedy.
1965- Edwards systems installed in Visual Arts Museum designed by LeCorbusier for campus of Harvard University.
1966- Police and fire control centers for the city of Winnipeg, Manitoba, largest municipal public system in Canada, designed and installed by Edwards.
1967- Edwards provided 77 fire alarm systems to Expo '67, Montreal.
1971- JFK Center for the Performing Arts equipped with Edwards fire alarm system.
1973- Edwards acquires Electrons, Inc., maker of the Cat. 280 series heat detector.
1976- Edwards introduces a new ionization smoke detector.
1979- Edwards introduces the new Greenline Series Fire Alarm Bells.
1981- Edwards incorporates state-of-the-art micro-processor technology into a new invention of "programmable" signals with the launch of the Adaptatone product line.
1982- Edwards begins a strategic expansion of hazardous location audible and visual signals that will result in the most up-to-date and comprehensive line in the industry.
1984- The first Edwards piezo-electric signals are introduced, marking the introduction of the latest equipment in light duty signaling.
1985- Edwards begins a proposed expansion of industrial strobes and beacon products that will result in the highest quality and most comprehensive line in the industry today.
1986- A new, current photoelectric smoke detector is introduced by Edwards.
1994- Edwards obtains the signaling product line from Benjamin Division of Thomas Industries. These new products, formerly manufactured in Sparta, TN are merged into the Pittsfield, Maine plant.
1994- Edwards introduces highly advanced, multi-element sensor technology into the "Commercial" fire alarm marketplace. State-of-the-art manufacturing procedures are established at the Pittsfield plant to support production of these products.
1998 - Edwards introduces a new line a stackable visual signals, LED flashing and steady visual signals and strobes. The new Triliptical stacklite was designed around customer input.
2005 - Edwards acquired by General Electric. Edwards was merged with the Kalatel, Sentrol and EST businesses to become part of GE Security. The company was well situated to become an international leader in video, fire and access control.
2010 - GE Security acquired by United Technologies Corporation. Edwards Signaling becomes part of the Detection & Alarm business under UTC Fire & Security.
Today. . . With headquarters in Farmington, CT, manufacturing in Pittsfield, ME, distribution in Portland, TN, and Sales and Service locations around the world, it seems a long way from the basement of Lungen's jewelry store. Yet, many of the different devices that Edwards makes today, are direct descendants of the gas fixture igniters, electric bells and program systems that went into the design and construction of structures over one hundred years ago.
Siemens
1851- The Berlin fire alarm system
In 1851, Werner von Siemens designed an electric fire alarm system that debuted in Berlin. It was made up of familiar Siemens pointer telegraphs and alarm units of a specific kind, dubbed "fire buzzers."
In addition to the city's 36 police stations, the Ministries of the Interior, War and Foreign Affairs were equipped with pointer telegraphs, as were the royal palace, three barracks, the office of the chief of police, the royal post office and the main fire station. Six secondary fire stations got only a "fire buzzer." This was the first fully planned system of the kind to be installed in Europe, if not the entire world.
But it had its flaws. In a major fire, or in a panic, it was often impossible to ensure that the pointer telegraphs would be operated properly. For that reason, Werner von Siemens soon designed a significantly more user-friendly fire alarm: you only had to pull a handle to trigger an alarm automatically at the central station. The device was introduced in 1852, the very year the previous system was completed.
2004- The Sinteso S-Line fire detector
It's not unusual for conventional fire detectors to be set off by mistake – for example if they interpret steam as smoke and set off a false alarm. But the new Sinteso S-Line fire detectors of 2004 were largely immune to that kind of error. They contained a variety of sensors for such factors as heat and smoke that were linked via ASA, a new analytical technology developed by Siemens.
The smart fire detectors in the Sinteso line saw a further improvement in 2009. Siemens multi-criteria fire detectors had two optical sensors, one of which was especially sensitive to bright smoke and the other to dark smoke. That enabled the alarms to quickly and reliably detect all kinds of fires, from smoldering to open conflagrations.
They also measured carbon monoxide (CO), a lethal gas that develops during fires. The additional carbon monoxide sensor enables these alarms to detect fires early even in environments with deceptive ambient factors.
Radionics/Bosch
Radionics alarm systems have been installed in homes and businesses for decades. Their panels began with the early Omegalarm 4012/8012 basic systems with just a few zones and user codes. In the last 30 years, expandable systems have advanced to handle 100 zones or more, with about as many user codes available.
The birth of the Building Technologies division
Although Bosch would gradually separate and spin off its communications technology activities after 2000, the security systems business would remain a successful part of the company. However, it needed to be reorganized. In 2002, the Security Systems division — today known as Bosch Building Technologies — was born.
The division took a pointed approach to increasing its area of expertise. Before 2000, the business activities of Bosch Security Systems were focused primarily on the facilities business in Germany. Since then, it has come a long way — both organically and through acquisitions.
In particular, company acquisitions have served to improve expertise in specific business fields and to grow the product range offered by the segment for security and communications systems. The most important acquisitions include Detections Systems (2001), Philips Communication Security & Imaging (2002), Video Communication Systems AG (2004), ADC Technologies International (2005), TeleAlarm Group, and Telex Communications (2006), as well as Extreme CCTV (2008). Today, the Bosch Building Technologies division is among the key suppliers in the international product business, above all in the industry’s fastest-growing segment – video technology.
Honeywell Fire Lite
Fire-Lite was founded in 1952 by Edward Levy, along with his son, Herbert. At the time, the company installed and serviced fire alarm systems. However, Levy began to focus on designing his own components, and in 1962, the company stopped installing and servicing systems
THE NOTIFIER/FIRE-LITE ALARMS STORY:
In 1949, geologist Oliver T. Joy and an assistant began developing fire alarms in a small shop in Waverly, Neb.
His wife Margaret Joy soon joined her husband as Notifier's executive vice president.
The company sold smoke detectors to local residents, installed fire alarm systems in community hospitals and nursing homes and in 1962 won a contract to provide the fire protection system for the Seattle World's Fair.
Emhart Corp. bought Notifier in 1968 and sold it to Pittway Corp. in 1987.
The new owner merged Notifier with Fire-Lite, a family-owned fire alarm manufacturer in Connecticut, and brought the business to Northford.
At the time of the merger, Notifier's export business was restricted to a few international accounts.
Mr. Levy soon decided the global market presented considerable sales potential and began hiring sales managers and creating distributors worldwide to promote Notifier products.
Honeywell Silent Knight
Founded in 1961, Silent Knight designs and manufactures commercial fire alarm and life safety systems. As part of Honeywell Fire, Silent Knight is a leader in the fire alarm industry with its extensive portfolio of products which are offered through security equipment distribution throughout the United States. Silent Knight’s headquarters and manufacturing operations are based in Northford, CT.
Silent Knight provides cost effective non-proprietary fire alarm solutions for small to medium buildings making Silent Knight systems a perfect fit for educational institutions, hospitals and health care facilities, commercial complexes, retail spaces and government buildings around the world. With a vast portfolio of life safety devices, Silent Knight offers the products you need to protect lives and property while in step with constantly evolving code requirements. Offering systems that can be customized for specific product needs with advanced features and flexibility for future development, Silent Knight is able to provide the right solution regardless of the project requirements.
Silent Knight also offers industry leading ease-of-programming to help minimize the learning curve for those new to the platform while reducing set-up time for even the most experienced installer. Combined with a experienced technical support team and year-round training available through the Silent Knight Tech-Ed Knight School program, Silent Knight offers the training and support necessary to help you install and maintain a fire alarm and life safety system.
Silent Knight makes simple, smart, and reliable fire alarm and life safety products providing the protection you need and peace of mind you’ve come to expect.
Potter
In 1898 Charles E. Potter began creating products that sent electronically coded signals to a central monitoring station. This allowed fire and police officials to be immediately dispatched to any fire or security emergency.
By 1920, Potter Electric Signal Company was utilizing customized products and monitoring them with the latest telecommunications equipment. In a time when human initiative was the most valuable industrial commodity, Charles Potter was able to combine state-of-the-art equipment with committed people to provide St. Louis with the finest night watchmen service in the metropolitan area.
Mid-century Potter Flowswitch
As the century continued, Potter's central station business became the foundation for the development of sprinkler supervisory devices, switches for intrusion protection, vault and safe protection systems, and fire control panels.
Today, Potter is carrying on the legacy of Charles E. Potter by combining the latest technology in fire protection with the dedicated workforce for which they have been known for over one hundred years. With steadfast dedication to their customers, Potter looks to continue as the industry standard in both product and service.
Potter Electric Signal Company has been operating in St. Louis, Missouri for over 120 years. In that time, we've gone through many changes and expanded as a company by developing high quality products with a global reach. However, one thing that hasn't changed is our commitment to American manufacturing. Our headquarters and manufacturing facility has continued in St. Louis since 1898, and we are proud to have become a leader in the fire and life safety products industry. We have a vested interest in providing Americans with quality jobs so that they may support their families. At Potter, we understand the significance of family because we are a family.
We take pride in delivering quality products that save lives every day. Nothing leaves our facility without going through meticulous testing and quality checks. Assembling and shipping from the same location in St. Louis makes our quality assurance very consistent. Every flow switch, fire panel, and nitrogen generator that you purchase is not only manufactured to the highest possible standard, but it puts money in the pockets of American employees. Americans who buy local food, support local businesses, and contribute to the U.S. economy in numerous ways.
Our desire to stay in the United States has set us apart from our competition. Assembling in the USA provides several distinct advantages to not only us, but you as well. High safety standards for our workers mean that we have a happy and healthy staff eager to create high quality products for you. Quick shipping turnaround allows us to get products to you rapidly. Direct supervision of quality control allows us to make sure that you are getting the best product available every single time you place an order. For all of these reasons, we at Potter couldn't be more proud of the fact that we are an American manufacturer you can count on!
Space Age Electronics
Founded in 1963, Space Age Electronics is a life safety equipment manufacturer offering complete engineering and design solutions for critical industries including electrical, fire alarm, security, access control, emergency communications and mass notification. Our code compliant products help contractors increase their profits by saving time, reducing liability, and building brand recognition.
All three of our Massachusetts facilities are ISO 9001 certified and produce a wide range of products such as:
• Prefabricated panels with IPC certified wiring and labeling
• Smoke control panels
• Building evacuation signage
• Graphic annunciators
• Modular annunciation, notification, and control components
• Accessory cabinets in custom sizes and colors
• Code-required document boxes
• Standard and custom terminal cabinets
• Telephone cabinets for emergency communications
• Relays for every application
• Self-aligning, point-to-point, and explosion-proof beam detectors
• Indoor and weatherproof duct detectors
• Ultra-low capacitance surge protection
• Keyed breaker lockout kits per code
Wheelock
Some of the initial signals produced by Wheelock were the A-1 series of AC-powered, dual-projector electromechanical horns. In the early 1970s, Wheelock introduced the 31 (AC-powered) and 34 (DC-powered) series of electromechanical horns. Around 1976, Wheelock created the 7001 (2-wire, flush-mount DC), 7002 (2-wire, surface-mount DC), 34+WS (4-wire, surface-mount DC), and 7004 (2-wire, surface-mount AC) electromechanical horn/strobes. These were the first fire alarm signals to use xenon strobes instead of incandescent lights. The horn and strobe on the 7001 and 7002 models are wired in series, causing the horn to generate a unique "skipping" sound when the strobe flashes. In 1985, Wheelock redesigned the horn's grilles, making them vandal resilient. This product line became enormously popular among third-party security companies, such as Honeywell, Ademco, and Cerberus Pyrotronics (now part of Siemens AG). In 1994, Wheelock discontinued this series, because their low-intensity strobes did not meet the new light distribution constraints of the ADA. The 31T is still in production today for general signaling purposes. (The red 31T 115 does fit all the requirements for a Fire Alarm signal and can be placed on a strobe plate without issue.) Cooper Wheelock also creates several bells as well as speakers, synchronization modules, chimes and voice evacuation products. Around 2006, Cooper Industries bought Wheelock. Cooper Wheelock does not manufacture fire alarm control panels, smoke detectors, heat detectors, or pull stations. Many fire alarm control panels are fully compatible with Cooper Wheelock's line of notification appliances and other products.
System Sensor
Formed in 1984 to concentrate on the fire alarm systems market, today System Sensor is one of the largest manufacturers of fire detection and notification products in the world.
1987- Pittway Corporation acquires NOTIFIER.
1988- NOTIFIER expands to new 252,000 square-foot facility in Northford, Connecticut.
1996- NOTIFIER first with laser- based spot type intelligent detector.
2000- NOTIFIER first to release a fire and security monitoring system—the UniNet 2000—capable of interfacing with other manufacturers’ fire systems.
2004- NOTIFIER fire alarm systems selected to safeguard facilities and venues at 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens…ONYX Intelligent Sensing Introduces FireWarden series fire alarm control panel…Introduces ONYXWorks Integrated Fire Alarm and Security System.
2007- NOTIFIER achieves UL 864 9th Edition compliance—6 months ahead of required date…Introduces ONYX ExitPoint with voice.
2009- NOTIFIER Obtains FM 6320 Listing for Gas Detection on the NFS2-3030 fire alarm panel, an industry first…NOTIFIER extends limited warranty to 36 months for United States manufactured fire systems.
2011- NOTIFIER announces a combination photoelectric and carbon monoxide detector, FCO-851, for enhanced life safety in hotels, dormitories, apartments, condominiums, nursing homes and hospitals.
2013- NOTIFIER launches FirstCommand™, for small facilities that need voice evacuation or emergency communication systems.
2016- XAS Air Sampling Smoke Detection and FAAST XT Pro are added to the NOTIFIER portfolio.
Honeywell Gamewell/FCI
The first practical fire alarm system was developed in Massachusetts during the late 1840’s by Dr. William F. Channing and Moses G. Farmer, a telegraph operator. Their new system was installed in Boston in 1851, being the first urban fire alarm system in the country. Before this, people would have to run and inform fire stations of a fire, who then rang a bell, to rally the citizens and firefighters. John Gamewell, realizing the potential of such a system, purchased the patents and continued to enhance the system. While the headquarters for the business was in New York, the units were manufactured in Newton, Massachusetts. By 1886, Gamewell systems were installed in 250 cities across America and Canada. Four years later in 1890, Gamewell systems were installed in 500 cities. To meet the growing company’s needs for space, it moved from Newton Highlands to Upper Falls and built a new factory. As the company continued to grow, it built an addition in 1904 and another on the other end in 1912. The system has been used all over North America, noticeable by the large red boxes on street poles and buildings with the lightning bolt logo. The business remained in Upper Falls until 1970, when it became a division of Gulf and Western. The company moved out and the buildings have been restored, with many small and local businesses located inside.
Johnson Controls
1883- Warren Johnson patents the “electric tele-thermoscope,” a building temperature-control device, and journeys from his Whitewater, Wis., home to Milwaukee in search of manufacturing financing.
1885- before any talks about carbon footprints or climate change, Warren Johnson introduces a company to explore new ways to use and conserve valuable energy resources. In doing so, he also launches a tradition of customer-focused innovation—a belief that has inspired thousands of employees for more than 130 years and that continues to push the success of Johnson Controls. Even before he founded the firm now known as Johnson Controls, Warren Johnson is the classic inventor. His pneumatic tower clocks, electric storage batteries, wireless telegraph business and steam-powered luxury cars and postal service trucks anticipate—and shape—the future.
1990- The breakthrough Metasys® Building Automation System links a building’s environmental control, energy management, lighting, fire management and security systems. Johnson Controls enters the European automotive market by acquiring an interest in German component maker E.A.H. Naue GmbH & Co. KG.
1998- Johnson Controls ranks first among South America’s automotive seating suppliers, installs its 10,000th Metasys® Building Automation System and acquires the Becker Group, a European automotive interior supplier, and Cardkey integrated security solutions.
2005- Johnson Controls makes its largest ever procurement: York International heating, ventilating, air-conditioning and refrigeration products and services, with worldwide presence. The company also acquires Delphi’s global automotive battery business and is named to the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index.
Fike/Cheetah
1945– Fike is Founded Lester Fike Sr. and Rose Fike open L.L. Fike Metal Products in the basement of their Independence, Missouri home. The “Triple Topper” jar opener becomes their first star product.
1955– Rupture Disc Patent Fike Sr. learns his earlier company’s rupture disc patents were set to expire. To fulfill a need for corrosive-resistant rupture discs, he files his first rupture disc patent for high-pressure vessels.
1957– Fike HQ Ground breaks in Blue Springs, Missouri for what would become Fike Corporation’s World Headquarters.