The Thomson-Houston Electric Company was a manufacturing company which was one of the precursors of the

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 ...

company.

History

The Thomson-Houston Electric Company was formed in 1882 in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

when a group of

Lynn, Massachusetts Lynn is the eighth-largest municipality in Massachusetts and the largest city in Essex County. Situated on the Atlantic Ocean, north of the Boston city line at Suffolk Downs, Lynn is part of Greater Boston's urban inner core. Settled by E ...

investors led by Charles A. Coffin bought out

Elihu Thomson Elihu Thomson (March 29, 1853 – March 13, 1937) was an English-born American engineer and inventor who was instrumental in the founding of major electrical companies in the United States, the United Kingdom and France. Early life He was born ...

and

Edwin Houston Edwin James Houston (July 9, 1847 – March 1, 1914) was an American electrical engineer, academic, businessman, inventor and writer. Biography Houston was born July 9, 1847, to John Mason and Mary (Lamour) Houston in Alexandria, Virginia. He gr ...

's American Electric Company from their

New Britain, Connecticut New Britain is a city in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. It is located approximately southwest of Hartford. According to 2020 Census, the population of the city is 74,135. Among the southernmost of the communities encompassed wit ...

, investors. The company moved its operations to a new building on Western Ave. in

, because many of the investors were shoe manufacturers from Lynn. Elihu Thomson Papers at the American Philosophical Society Charles A. Coffin led the company and organized its finances, marketing, and sales operations.

Elwin W. Rice Edwin Wilbur Rice Jr. (6 May 1862 in La Crosse, Wisconsin – 25 November 1935 in Schenectady, New York) was a president and considered one of the three fathers of General Electric (along with Elihu Thomson and Charles A. Coffin). Early ...

organized the manufacturing facilities, and

ran the Model Room which was a precursor to the industrial research lab. With their leadership, the company grew into an enterprise with sales of and 4000 employees by 1892. In 1884 Thomson-Houston International Company was organized to promote international sales. In 1885 the Lynn G.A.R. Hall was constructed using electric incandescent lighting by Thomson-Houston. In 1888 Thomson-Houston supplied the

Lynn and Boston Railroad The Lynn and Boston Railroad was a streetcar railway chartered for operations between Boston and Lynn, Massachusetts in 1859. Following a number of acquisitions, the railway was a part of a 1901 street railway merger that formed the Boston and Nort ...

with the generation and propulsion equipment for the Highland Circuit in Lynn,
The Thomson-Houston Road at Lynn, Mass.
', The Electrical World, Dec. 8, 1888, page 303
Electric Railway at Lynn, Mass.
', Electric Power, January, 1889, page 21 the first electric streetcar in Massachusetts. In 1889 Thomson-Houston bought out the Brush Company (founded by

Charles F. Brush Charles Francis Brush (March 17, 1849 – June 15, 1929) was an American engineer, inventor, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. Biography Brush was born in Euclid Township, Ohio to Isaac Elbert Brush and Delia Williams Phillips. Isaac Brush ...

) which resolved the

arc lamp An arc lamp or arc light is a lamp that produces light by an electric arc (also called a voltaic arc). The carbon arc light, which consists of an arc between carbon electrodes in air, invented by Humphry Davy in the first decade of the 1800s, ...

and

dynamo file:DynamoElectricMachinesEndViewPartlySection USP284110.png, "Dynamo Electric Machine" (end view, partly section, ) A dynamo is an electrical generator that creates direct current using a commutator (electric), commutator. Dynamos were the f ...

patent disputes between them. Thomson-Houston was later merged with the Edison General Electric Company of

Schenectady, New York Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Y ...

(arranged by

J. P. Morgan John Pierpont Morgan Sr. (April 17, 1837 – March 31, 1913) was an American financier and investment banker who dominated corporate finance on Wall Street throughout the Gilded Age. As the head of the banking firm that ultimately became known ...

), to form the

Company in 1892, with plants in Lynn and Schenectady, both of which remain to this day as the two original GE factories.

International companies

British Thomson-Houston

British Thomson-Houston British Thomson-Houston (BTH) was a British engineering and heavy industrial company, based at Rugby, Warwickshire, England, and founded as a subsidiary of the General Electric Company (GE) of Schenectady, New York, United States. They were kno ...

(BTH) was created as a subsidiary of (American) General Electric in May 1896. It was previously known as Laing, Wharton, and Down which was founded in 1886. BTH became part of

Associated Electrical Industries Associated Electrical Industries (AEI) was a British holding company formed in 1928 through the merger of the British Thomson-Houston Company (BTH) and Metropolitan-Vickers electrical engineering companies. In 1967 AEI was acquired by GEC, to c ...

(AEI) in 1928, which saw BTH merged with its rival

Metropolitan-Vickers Metropolitan-Vickers, Metrovick, or Metrovicks, was a British heavy electrical engineering company of the early-to-mid 20th century formerly known as British Westinghouse. Highly diversified, it was particularly well known for its industrial el ...

. This deal made AEI the largest military contractor of the British Empire during the '30s and the '40s, so 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 ...

. AEI would itself be acquired by the

General Electric Company plc The General Electric Company (GEC) was a major British industrial conglomerate involved in consumer and defence electronics, communications, and engineering. The company was founded in 1886, was Britain's largest private employer with over 250 ...

or GEC in 1967. GEC demerged its defense businesses in 1999 to become Marconi plc and Marconi Corporation plc, now

Telent plc Telent Technology Services Limited (styled as telent) is a British radio, telecommunications, and digital infrastructure systems installation and services provision company. The name was used from 2006 for those parts of the United Kingdom and G ...

Compagnie Française Thomson-Houston

In 1893, the Compagnie Française Thomson-Houston (CFTH) was formed in Paris, a sister company to GE in the United States. It is from this company that

Alstom Alstom SA is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer operating worldwide in rail transport markets, active in the fields of passenger transportation, signalling, and locomotives, with products including the AGV, TGV, Eurostar, Avelia ...

would evolve. A demerger in 1999 formed what is now

Technicolor SA Vantiva SA, formerly Technicolor SA, Thomson SARL, and Thomson Multimedia, is a French multinational corporation that provides creative services and technology products for the communication, media and entertainment industries. Vantiva's headq ...

and

Thomson-CSF Thomson-CSF was a French company that specialized in the development and manufacture of electronics with a heavy focus upon the aerospace and defence sectors of the market. Thomson-CSF was formed in 1968 following the merger of Thomson-Houst ...

(now

Thales Group Thales Group () is a French multinational company that designs, develops and manufactures electrical systems as well as devices and equipment for the aerospace, defence, transportation and security sectors. The company is headquartered in Paris' ...

References and sources

;References ;Sources *Hammond, John Winthrop. ''Men and Volts, the Story of General Electric'' published 1941. 436 pages. *Carlson, W. Bernard. ''Innovation as a Social Process: Elihu Thomson and the Rise of General Electric, 1870-1900'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991). *Woodbury, David O. ''Elihu Thomson, Beloved Scientist'' (Boston: Museum of Science, 1944) *Haney, John L. ''The Elihu Thomson Collection'' American Philosophical Society Yearbook 1944. {{Authority control 1882 establishments in Massachusetts Energy companies established in 1882 Manufacturing companies established in 1882 American companies established in 1882 1892 mergers and acquisitions 1892 disestablishments in Massachusetts Energy companies disestablished in 1892 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1892 American companies disestablished in 1892 Electronics companies of the United States General Electric subsidiaries Technicolor SA Companies based in Lynn, Massachusetts Defunct manufacturing companies based in Massachusetts