Iconic History

1890s

• John K Stewart forms Chicago Flexible Shaft Co. With lifelong friend Thomas Clark
• Stewart & Clark from Sterk Mfg. Co. To produce speedometers & automobile horns

1900s

• Stewart & Clark Mfg. CO. Formed; plant built on Diversey in Chicago
• Clark killed while demonstrating speedometer in Packard; Stewart acquires Clark’s assets.

1910s

• Stewart buys rival Warner Instrument Company; forms Stewart-Warner Speedometer corp.
• Stewart opens Stewart Phonograph Co; later expands to include radios and televisions
• At 47 years of age, JK Stewart dies from a stroke

1920s

• Jones Speedometers co. Purchased; centrifugal speedometer added to portfolio
• Stewart-Warner acquires Bassick-Alemite Corp., becomes market leader in vacuum tanks
• Net sales top $25MM; Stewart-Warner enters rapidly growing radio market
• Stewart-Warner established as LARGEST manufacturer of automotive accessories
• Chicago Plant expansion to 1 million sq ft.

1930s

• New products included power brakes, hydraulic shock absorbers, fuel pumps & carburetors
• Name changed officially to Stewart-Warner Corp.; stock markets crash limits Q4 sales
• Company experiences first-ever operating loss as sales drop 20% during depression
• Power braking system adopted by Pierce-Arrow; new movie cameras & refrigerators
• Motion picture cameras & Projectors dropped; radios and refrigerators redesigned
• Radios & refrigerators turn their first profit; automobile heater introduced (Southwind)
• Marmom plant in Indianapolis purchased for its refrigerators & Kitchen appliances

1940s

• Operations converted to support war effort; radio & electronics business given new life
• Stewart-Warner plant in Amboy, IL produces shells, bombs, grenades & fuses
• Stewart-Warner listed as one of the top 100 military products suppliers
• Total military products sales total $330 MM from 1940-1945: $2B in today’s dollars

1950s

• Military sales total $194 MM from 1950-1953 in support of the U.S. effort in Korea
• End of radio & TV production; focus shifts to non-alliance-related electronics
• Purchased Hobbs Corp. & Aero Div. Of Cornelius Company; added datafax to portfolio

1960s

• Less than 13% of total dollar volume from OEM passenger cars; shift to industrial focus
• Deluxe™ Line of instruments was introduced
• Introduced custom Deluxe™ instruments
• Deluxe™ line instruments to Carroll Shelby for the Cobra

1970s

Built groundbreaking electronic scoreboard for Toronto Blue Jays MLB stadium

1980s

British Tyre & Rubber purchases Stewart-Warner & moves production to Juarez; Diversey facility closed soon after

1990s

• British Tyre & Rubber Sells SW to group of investors
• Wings™ line reintroduced shortly thereafter
• Massive fire destroyed Chicago Diversey Plant

2000s

• Competition (SWP) Performance line launched ushering in a rebirth of the product
• New products features; return of Green Line™
• Stewart-Warner was sold to the Actuant Corporation

2010s

Stewart-Warner was sold to CentroMotion.