Leviton Manufacturing Company, Inc. is an American manufacturer of electrical wiring equipment in North America. It produces

electrical Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by ...

light socket A lightbulb socket, lightbulb holder, light socket, lamp socket or lamp holder is a device which mechanically supports and provides electrical connections for a compatible electric Lamp (electrical component), lamp base. Sockets allow lamps to ...

s, receptacles and outlets,

switch In electrical engineering, a switch is an electrical component that can disconnect or connect the conducting path in an electrical circuit, interrupting the electric current or diverting it from one conductor to another. The most common type of ...

es,

dimmer A dimmer is a device connected to a light fixture and used to lower the brightness of the lighting, light. By changing the voltage waveform applied to the lamp, it is possible to lower the luminous intensity, intensity of the light output. Alt ...

s and other

lighting control system A lighting control system is an intelligent network based lighting control solution that incorporates communication between various system inputs and outputs related to lighting control with the use of one or more central computing devices. Light ...

wire Overhead power cabling. The conductor consists of seven strands of steel (centre, high tensile strength), surrounded by four outer layers of aluminium (high conductivity). Sample diameter 40 mm A wire is a flexible strand of metal. Wire is c ...

power cable A power cable is an electrical cable, an assembly of one or more electrical conductors, usually held together with an overall sheath. The assembly is used for transmission of electrical power. Power cables may be installed as permanent wiring wi ...

power cord A power cord, line cord, or mains cable is an electrical cable that temporarily connects an appliance to the mains electricity supply via a wall socket or extension cord. The terms are generally used for cables using a power plug to connect t ...

s, wall and ceiling

occupancy sensor An occupancy sensor is an indoor motion detecting device used to detect the presence of a person to automatically control lights or temperature or ventilation systems. The sensors use infrared, ultrasonic, microwave, or other technology. The ter ...

s, wall plates,

datacom A computer network is a set of computers sharing resources located on or provided by network nodes. The computers use common communication protocols over digital interconnections to communicate with each other. These interconnections are mad ...

, and other electrical products. Leviton is perhaps most regarded for its Decora wall switch, introduced in 1973. Its flat, low profile form factor was a modern alternative to standard toggle switches in many homes and offices. Today "Decora" is often used as a

generic term Trademark distinctiveness is an important concept in the law governing trademarks and service marks. A trademark may be eligible for registration, or registrable, if it performs the essential trademark function, and has distinctive character. Re ...

for decorative paddle switches regardless of manufacturer, but Decora is still a legally recognized trademark of Leviton.

History

The company was founded in 1906 by Isidor Leviton. He began by manufacturing brass mantle tips for the natural gas lighting infrastructure in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. They sold their mantle tips on a pushcart on the

Bowery The Bowery () is a street and neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City. The street runs from Chatham Square at Park Row, Worth Street, and Mott Street in the south to Cooper Square at 4th Street in the north.Jackson, Kenneth L. "B ...

on the

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Traditionally an im ...

of New York City. He also designed a screw-in lampholder for

Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventio ...

's electric lamp in 1910, and within ten years the lampholders were being used in nearly every apartment in

. In the 1920s Leviton moved to the neighborhood of Greenpoint, in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, and in 1936 the company built its own two square block, four-story factory and warehouse, which still stands today. The following year they acquired the American Insulated Wire Company, adding wire, cables, and cords to their product line. Leviton bought Deal Electric Company in 1950, and Hale Brothers, which was renamed Leviton Canada, in 1953, and started to produce fluorescent lighting. In 1965, Isidor Leviton's son Harold Leviton was named president and CEO. Leviton moved its corporate headquarters to

Little Neck Little is a synonym for small size and may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Little'' (album), 1990 debut album of Vic Chesnutt * ''Little'' (film), 2019 American comedy film *The Littles, a series of children's novels by American author John P ...

, in

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

, New York, in 1973. In September 1999, Leviton acquired

stage lighting Stage lighting is the craft of lighting as it applies to the production of theater, dance, opera, and other performance arts.

controller manufacturer NSI Corp. as part of their Lighting Control Division. Donald Hendler and Stephen Sokolow, two of Harold Leviton's sons-in-law, were named CEO and chairman of the board respectively in December 2007, following the latter's death. Leviton moved from Little Neck in June 2009 to a slightly smaller but more energy-efficient corporate headquarters in Melville, N.Y. In 2011, Leviton partnered with

Ford Motors Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobile ...

to produce their ever-green Electric Vehicle Chargers for Ford Electric Cars. Leviton also partnered with

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

to manufacture chargers for the Toyota plug-in Electric Vehicles In 2012, Leviton launched its Universal Dimming device line which dims any dimmable

light-emitting diode A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits light when current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of photons. The color of the light (cor ...

compact fluorescent light A compact fluorescent lamp (CFL), also called compact fluorescent light, energy-saving light and compact fluorescent tube, is a fluorescent lamp designed to replace an incandescent light bulb; some types fit into light fixtures designed for inca ...

, or

incandescent lightbulb An incandescent light bulb, incandescent lamp or incandescent light globe is an electric light with a wire filament heated until it glows. The filament is enclosed in a glass bulb with a vacuum or inert gas to protect the filament from oxidat ...

. This results in dramatic energy savings. The company also released its Zipline Fluorescent Energy Retrofit Module, which eliminated retrofit wiring of ballasts. Leviton acquired Home Automation Inc. in August 2012, and renamed it Leviton Security & Automation. In October 2013, Leviton acquired UK-based JCC Advanced Lighting. In October 2015, Leviton introduced its Omnistat 3 Hospitality Thermostat for 'cost-effective control of HVAC, lighting, and electrical loads' increasing HVAC energy efficiency in hotel guest rooms. Leviton currently has operations in more than 85 countries on 6 continents, and employs approximately 6,500 persons. Its products include over 25,000 devices and systems, which are used both residentially and in businesses.

North American locations

* Leviton Mfg. Company Inc., Melville, NY * Leviton Mfg. of Canada Ltd.,

Pointe-Claire Pointe-Claire (, ) is a Quebec local municipality within the Urban agglomeration of Montreal on the Island of Montreal in Canada. It is entirely developed, and land use includes residential, light manufacturing, and retail. As of the 2021 ce ...

, QC * Leviton Network Solutions,

Bothell Bothell () is a city in King and Snohomish counties in the U.S. state of Washington. It is part of the Seattle metropolitan area, situated near the northeast end of Lake Washington. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 48,161 resident ...

, WA * Leviton Lighting & Controls, Tualatin, OR * Leviton Energy Management, Controls and Automation (EMC&A) – New Orleans,

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

, LA * Leviton Mfg. Co., Morganton, NC * Leviton S. de R.L. de C.V.

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

Recent awards

2014: Leviton Receives Three EC&M "Product of the Year" Category Awards
2013: Leviton SmartlockPro OBC AFCI Receptacle Recognized as “2013 Best New Home Product” by This Old House Magazine
2012: Home Channel News Golden Hammer Award
2012: Today's Facility Manager magazine Readers’ Choice Award
2012: NECA Showstopper Award

Patent lawsuits

In March 2007, Leviton was sued in

United States District Court The United States district courts are the trial courts of the United States federal judiciary, U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each United States federal judicial district, federal judicial district, which each cover o ...

by Lutron Electronics regarding various dimmers, switches, and wireless lighting control systems. Lutron also filed a complaint with the

International Trade Commission The United States International Trade Commission (USITC or I.T.C.) is an agency of the United States federal government that advises the legislative and executive branches on matters of trade. It is an independent, bipartisan entity that analyze ...

alleging that Leviton has produced several patent-infringing products in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

and then imported them into the United States. The lawsuit was settled with a cross-license of certain of the parties' respective patents.

References

{{reflist, 30em

External links

Leviton's Official Website
Electrical wiring and construction supplies manufacturers Manufacturing companies based in New York (state) Companies based in New York City Companies based in Suffolk County, New York American companies established in 1906 Manufacturing companies established in 1906 Privately held companies based in New York (state)