The Okonite Company is an American manufacturer of insulated wire and cable.

History

The company was founded in 1878 by John Haven Cheever, as the New York Insulated Wire and Vulcanite Company and took its present name in 1885. Its original premises were in

Passaic, New Jersey Passaic ( or ) is a city in Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city had a total population of 70,537, ranking as the 16th largest municipality in New Jersey and an increase of 656 from the 69,78 ...

. Some of its earliest customers included

Samuel Morse Samuel Finley Breese Morse (April 27, 1791 – April 2, 1872) was an American inventor and painter. After having established his reputation as a portrait painter, in his middle age Morse contributed to the invention of a single-wire telegraph ...

and

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 ...

. Charles A. Cheever (1852-1900) was its President for some time. Its products have been used in

Pearl Street Station Pearl Street Station was the first commercial central power plant in the United States. It was located at 255–257 Pearl Street in the Financial District of Manhattan, New York City, just south of Fulton Street on a site measuring . The station ...

(the first generating station built in the United States, opening in 1882), the lighting of the

Statue of Liberty The Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''; French: ''La Liberté éclairant le monde'') is a List of colossal sculpture in situ, colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York City, in the U ...

, and more recently in

One World Trade Center One World Trade Center (also known as One World Trade, One WTC, and formerly Freedom Tower) is the main building of the rebuilt World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Designed by David Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Mer ...

. "Okonite" was originally a material made from the residue produced when distilling the mineral wax

Ozokerite Ozokerite or ozocerite, archaically referred to as earthwax or earth wax, is a naturally occurring odoriferous mineral wax or paraffin found in many localities. Lacking a definite composition and crystalline structure, it is not considered a mi ...

, mixed with

rubber Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Thailand, Malaysia, and ...

, and used as an electrical insulator. In 1965 the company was acquired by

James Ling James Joseph "Jimmy" Ling (December 31, 1922 – December 17, 2004) was an American businessman and former head of Ling-Temco-Vought corporation. While at its helm, Ling used LTV funds to purchase a large number of corporations, and was one of t ...

. In June, 1976, Okonite became owned by its employees through an Employees' Stock Ownership Trust. (King1893NYC) pg936 THE MECHANICAL RUBBER COMPANY, 15 PARK ROW

(King1893NYC) pg936 THE MECHANICAL RUBBER COMPANY, 15 PARK ROW

Facilities

The company is headquartered in

Ramsey, New Jersey Ramsey is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. It is a suburb of New York City, located northwest of Midtown Manhattan. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's popula ...

with six manufacturing plants located around the continental United States.

Products

The company manufactures insulated wire and

cable Cable may refer to: Mechanical * Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof * Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...

ranging from 300V to 345,000V with applications including Instrumentation, Power and Control, Medium Voltage, and High Voltage circuits. These cables are manufactured with a variety of insulating and jacketing materials including Okoguard® EPR, laminated polypropylene paper (LPP), and other thermosetting and thermoplastic compounds.

References

External links

Official website
{{authority control Manufacturing companies of the United States Manufacturing companies based in New Jersey American companies established in 1878

History

Facilities

Products

References

Further reading

External links