The Rival Company is an American manufacturer of small appliances that produces products under the Bionaire,

Crock-Pot A slow cooker, also known as a crock-pot (after a trademark owned by Sunbeam Products but sometimes used generically in the English-speaking world), is a countertop electrical cooking appliance used to simmer at a lower temperature than othe ...

, Fasco, Patton, Pollenex, Rival, Simer, and White Mountain brands. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of Holmes Products Corp. in 1999, and later became a brand of

Sunbeam Products Sunbeam Products is an American brand that has produced electric home appliances since 1910. Its products have included the Mixmaster mixer, the Sunbeam CG waffle iron, Coffeemaster (1938–1964) and the fully automatic T20 toaster. The comp ...

, a subsidiary of Jarden Corporation, which purchased Holmes in 2005. Jarden, in turn, merged with Newell Rubbermaid in 2016. It is now part of the

Newell Brands Newell Brands is an American manufacturer, marketer and distributor of consumer and commercial products. The company's brands and products include Rubbermaid storage and trash containers; home organization and reusable container products; Contig ...

company.

History

Rival was founded in

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...

, in 1932 by Henry J. Talge as the Rival Manufacturing Co., which specialized in

die casting Die casting is a metal casting process that is characterized by forcing molten metal under high pressure into a mold cavity. The mold cavity is created using two hardened tool steel dies which have been machined into shape and work similarly t ...

. It soon began producing food preparation products under the "O-Mat" line, such as the Juice-O-Mat juicer, Can-O-Mat can opener, and Broil-O-Mat broiler. After shutting down to produce ammunition during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Rival expanded their product lines in the post-war era. They acquired Waverly Products, Inc., expanding their products into the home appliances market with Waverly's popular Steam-O-Mat iron. In 1963, the company was sold to Stern Brother Investment Bank, and went public in 1964. Soon after, they acquired Titan Manufacturing Company and their line of portable electric heaters. In 1970, they acquired Naxon Utilities Corp., makers of a little-known product called the "Bean Pot"

slow cooker A slow cooker, also known as a crock-pot (after a trademark owned by Sunbeam Products but sometimes used generically in the English-speaking world), is a countertop electrical cooking appliance used to simmer at a lower temperature than othe ...

. Rival re-introduced the Bean Pot as the

in 1971, and it quickly became one of their top products. Rival went private again in 1986, but became a publicly traded company again in 1992. After going public again, they acquired the Simer Pump Company, Pollenex Corp, White Mountain Freezers, Patton Electric Company, Inc., Fasco Consumer Products, and Bionaire, Inc. during the 1990s. In November 1996 Rival purchased the remnants of Dazey Products Company and their "Seal-A-Meal" and "Food Saver" products. In February 1999, Rival was acquired by Holmes Products Corp, a manufacturer of air handling products such as fans, heaters, humidifiers, and filters (markets in which Rival was also a major player).http://www.allbusiness.com/banking-finance/financial-markets-investing-securities/6746257-1.html Holmes continued marketing Rival's products under the "Rival Products" brand name until they were acquired by Jarden Corporation in 2005. Jarden's Sunbeam Products, Inc. subsidiary continues to manufacture products under the Rival and Holmes brands, although Crock-Pot was spun off as its own brand and its slow cookers no longer feature the Rival logo, and Bionaire and Patton have become Jarden subsidiaries. The "Rival" brand name and logo are also licensed by

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

for some of their

store brand A private label, also called a private brand or private-label brand, is a brand owned by a company, offered by that company alongside and competing with brands from other businesses. A private-label brand is almost always offered exclusively by th ...

small appliances.

External links

Jarden Brands

Rival Products

Crock-Pot The Original Slow Cooker
-(Empty Link 11.25.2022)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rival Company Home appliance manufacturers of the United States Manufacturing companies established in 1932 1932 establishments in Missouri 1999 mergers and acquisitions 2005 mergers and acquisitions 2016 mergers and acquisitions Defunct manufacturing companies based in Missouri