Pittway Corporation was a diversified

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

best known as a manufacturer and distributor of professional and consumer fire and burglar alarms. In 1962, Neison Harris became president, after having worked as an executive at

Gillette Gillette is an American brand of safety razors and other personal care products including shaving supplies, owned by the multi-national corporation Procter & Gamble (P&G). Based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, it was owned by The Gil ...

, at a time when the company was transitioning from a trolley operating company to a diversified concern running multiple businesses. Pittway completed its divestment out transportation in 1964 through sale of trolley operations to the

Port Authority of Allegheny County Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT, formerly Port Authority of Allegheny County) is the second-largest public transit agency in Pennsylvania and the 20th-largest in the United States. The state-funded agency is based in Pittsburgh and is overseen ...

, receiving more than for the operations.The phrase used in the source is "...Port Authority Transit took over its people-carrying business in a condemnation proceeding...." That would seem to imply that the divestment was involuntary, but need better citation to get a clearer picture. The demise of the trolley operations could likely be attributed to the rise in personal car purchases. Neison Harris' brother,

Irving B. Harris Irving B. Harris (August 4, 1910 – September 25, 2004) was an American businessman and philanthropist. With his brother Neison, he co-founded the Toni Home Permanent Company, which was sold to the Gillette Safety Razor Co. in January 1948 for ...

, also played a significant part in the company. Leo Guthart was previously the company's vice-chairman. Among the company's acquisitions in the 1960s were Barr-Stalfort Co., an aerosol cans filler company, Alarm Device Manufacturing Co., and Industrial Publishing Co. It relocated its headquarters to Chicago in 1967. In 1967, the company was renamed to Pittway Corporation. Later, Pittway became best known as a manufacturer and distributor of the

First Alert First Alert is the retail brand of American safety equipment manufacturer BRK Brands, Inc., established in 1976 and based in Aurora, Illinois, with a production plant in Juarez, Mexico. Products sold with the brand include carbon monoxide detecto ...

brand of home smoke alarms, professional fire and burglar alarms, and other security systems, and as a real estate firm. It also owned the fire alarm companies Fire-Lite and Notifier. , the company's vice-chairman was C. D. Palmer, who was also the senior executive based in the company's former home town of Pittsburgh. In the 1970s, , Pittway and

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...

were the dominant consumer smoke alarm manufacturers. At that time, Pittway units were distributed by

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...

. In 1978, the

Consumer Product Safety Commission The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (USCPSC, CPSC, or commission) is an independent agency of the United States government. The CPSC seeks to promote the safety of consumer products by addressing “unreasonable risks” of inj ...

assessed a fine against Pittway for selling smoke detectors which were themselves fire hazards. Proposed in December 1999 and completed in February 2000,

Honeywell Honeywell International Inc. is an American publicly traded, multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It primarily operates in four areas of business: aerospace, building technologies, performance ma ...

acquired Pittway for as a play to expand the breadth of their business in its home and building control unit.

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References

{{Honeywell Companies based in Chicago Companies based in Pittsburgh Manufacturing companies disestablished in 2000 Holding companies disestablished in 2000 Holding companies established in 1967 1967 establishments in Pennsylvania 2000 disestablishments in Illinois 2000 mergers and acquisitions Manufacturing companies established in 1967