Ever wonder who owns whom? Or what happened to your favorite brand of yesterday? Maybe this page will help. Additions and corrections welcome!
AAON: Started as John Zink in 1928, purchased by Sunbeam then Allegheny
International. In 1988 AAON was formed to by the HVAC products company from
Allegheny.
AMANA: Amana Refrigeration started in 1934 in the Amana Colonies IA. Purchased by Raytheon in 1965, by Goodman in 1997. Appliance division sold to Maytag, which is now part of Whirlpool.
AMERICAN FURNACE [AFCO]: In 1968 became part of the climate control division of the Singer Co. In 1970 became Singer American Furnace. See Singer.
AMERICAN-STANDARD: Started in 1929 with merger of American Radiator &
Standard Sanitary. HVAC products became Tappan Air Conditioning division in
1972. American Standard purchased the Trane Company in 1984, American Standard
name revived in 1988. In 2007 all but HVAC sold off, corporate name changed to
Trane. Trane was them purchased by Ingersoll Rand.
ARCO: Acquired by SnyderGeneral in 1984 from Atlantic Richfield. Added to Climate Control unit as Arcoaire. In 1991 became part of Inter-City Products (now International Comfort Products) with brandmate Comfortmaker. In 1999, ICP was purchased by Carrier.
ARKLA: Division sold to Preway, Inc. Preway sold Servel gas air conditioning to the Dometic Corp. High efficiency furnace technology sold to Trane. Servel name now sold by Robur.
ARMSTRONG:Founded by Lennox in 1928, became division of the Johnson Corp. in
1976. See Magic Chef. Name revived in 1988 to Armstrong Air after Lennox purchased the climate control line from Magic Chef.
BARD: Bard Manufacturing.
BOHN: A subsidiary of Lennox International.
BURNHAM: Boiler manufacturer owned by Burnham holdings along with Bryan,
Crown & New Yorker.
BRYANT: Charles Bryant started Bryant Heater in 1907. Purchased by Dresser
Ind. in 1934. Dresser then purchased Day & Night and Payne. Dresser (BDP) was
purchased by Affiliated Gas in 1945 then by Carrier in 1955.
CARRIER: Started by Willis Carrier in 1903, purchased by United Technologies
in 1979.
CENTURY: Century Engineering Corp, Cedar Rapids, purchased by Heat
Controller in 1975.
CLIMATEMASTER: Formed from the "marriage" of several brands,
among them Friedrich ClimateMaster and California Heat pump.
COLEMAN: Heating division started in 1958. Bought by MacAndrews & Forbes Group in 1989, by Beacon International using the name Evcon Industries in 1990, by York International in 1994.
COMFORTAIRE: A tradename of Heat Controller.
COMFORTMAKER: Old AFCO name revived at founding of SnyderGeneral by former Singer HVAC boss. See Singer. Comfortmaker now owned by Inter-City Products. In 1999, ICP was purchased by
Carrier.
COMMAND-AIRE: Water source heat pump maker purchased by American Standard in 1990.
Appears to have been closed.
CONSOLIDATED: Out of business in late 1990s, remaining assets and furnace designs purchased by Texas Furnace Co. Was also sold as Premier
COOLERATOR, McGRAW-EDISON: Lasted shown as making HVAC products in 1978.
CRANE: Stopped making HVAC products in 1968. Furnace technology sold to Amana.
CUMBERLAND: A brand name used by American-Standard/Trane in the past.
DAIKIN: Japanese manufacturer of commercial products and
mini-splits. Now owns McQuay & Goodman.
DAY & NIGHT: Started in 1909 as a solar water heater maker, later part of the BDP Co. division of Carrier Corp-United Technologies. Name being dropped as of late 1997.
Name revived in 2007 and put on ICP residential products and Carrier light
commercial products.
DELCO: Old GM appliance division left industry in 1964.
DUCANE: Purchased by Lennox in 1999.
DUNHAM-BUSH: C. A. Dunham and Bush Manufacturing merged in the 50s. Most divisions
later sold to Topgroup Holdings Berhad of Malaysia.
DUOMATIC-OLSEN: Canadian maker changed name to DMO Industries with Olsen & Airco as brand names. Now owned by ECR.
ECR INTERNATIONAL: North American brands include Airco, Dunkirk, Hyundai,
EMI, Olsen, Oneida Royal, Pennco, Retroaire, Utica
ELECTRIC-FURNACE-MAN: Now known as EFM Company making boilers & furnaces
EUBANK: Purchased by Fedders
FANDAIRE: Last A/C units manufactured in 1962.
FASCO: Stopped making HVAC products in 1983.
FRASER-JOHNSTON: Became part of Westinghouse. Name now used by York International.
FEDDERS: Left the unitary market around 1980, returned in early 2000s with
Chinese made outdoor units. Now making window units & mini-splits.
FRIEDRICH: Residential HVAC acquired by ARCO in early 80s. In 1985 became Friedrich Climate Master Inc. selling water source heat pumps. Friedrich name dropped from tradename in 1987. Friedrich HVAC products evolved into Arcoaire. Friedrich name still used on window units & mini splits after purchase of Zoneaire from ICP.
FRIGIDAIRE: GM appliance brand name now owned by Electrolux licensed by
Nortek
GAFFERS & SATTLER: In 1969 became a subsidiary of Magic Chef. Name no longer used.
GENERAL ELECTRIC: HVAC division purchased by the Trane Company in 1982.
GIBSON: Name used by Nortek under license.
GOODMAN MFG: Started by contractor Harold Goodman in 1982, purchased from the Goodman family in 2004 by Apollo Management, later owned by Goodman Global. Purchased by Daikin in 2013.
GREEN COLONIAL: Des Moines company stopped making HVAC products in 1975.
HALL-NEAL FURNACE: Indianapolis company closed in 1966.
HASTINGS: Commercial & industrial HVAC manufacturer.
HEAT CONTROLLER: Founded in 1933, merged with MARS in 2013.
Tradenames include Century & Comfortmaker
HEIL-QUAKER: Purchased by Inter City Gas, Toronto, from Whirlpool Corp. in
late 80s. Tempstar name added to replace Whirlpool name. HVAC division called Inter City Products, later International Comfort Products. In 1999, ICP was purchased by
Carrier.
HENRY FURNACE [MONCRIEF]: Purchased by Luxaire, Inc. Now part of York International.
HOLLAND: Last sold in mid 1960s.
HOME FURNACE: Became Home Furnace division, Lear-Siegler Inc. Became
Miller Heating & Air Conditioning in 1986 after being acquired by Nortek Inc.
INTERNATIONAL COMFORT PRODUCTS: See Heil-Quaker. ICP brands include
Airquest, Arcoaire, Comfortmaker, Day & Night, Heil, Keeprite, Maratherm &
Tempstar
INTERNATIONAL HEATER: In 1965 controlling interest acquired by Weil-McLain. Became International Heating & Air Conditioning division in 1973. Last marketed in 1974.
INTERNATIONAL OIL BURNER: Founded in St. Louis in 1919. Became Intertherm in 1969.
INTERTHERM: Became Nordyne company in 1987. Brandmate Miller. Parent company is Nortek.
IRON FIREMAN: Now owned by Vapor Power, making power burners.
ITT: Stopped making HVAC products in 1983.
JANITROL: Division of Surface Combustion Co. became division of Midland-Ross in 1960, division of Tappan in 1977. Janitrol name sold to Goodman Mfg.
(see Goodman) in 1982 now dropped.
JOHNSON, AIR-EASE: Founded in 1958 by C.A. Olsen (who started Luxaire) and brother-in-law Johnson. Became part of Magic Chef in 1972. Now owned by Lennox. Air Ease brand now part of
Allied Air division of Lennox.
KEEPRITE: Long time Canadian brand, now part of ICP
KELVINATOR: Name used by Nordyne under license
KOLDWAVE: Manufacturer of portable cooling equipment
LENNOX: Founded in 1895, parent company Lennox International.
LUXAIRE: Founded in 1939 by C. A. Olsen, purchased by Westinghouse in 1955, was purchased by York in 1981.
MAGIC CHEF: In 1986, Magic Chef was acquired by the Maytag Co. Air conditioning division was sold to Lennox in 1988 and renamed Armstrong Air. See Johnson.
MAJESTIC: Ceased making HVAC equipment in 1966.
MAMMOTH: Formerly owned by Lear-Siegler, now owned by Nortek
MARATHERM: Brand name of ICP
MAYFLOWER: St. Paul furnace company last listed in 1962.
MAYTAG: Name used by Nortek under license from Whirlpool
McQUAY: Formerly a division of SnyderGeneral, later owned by Hong Leong Group Malaysia.
Now owned by Daikin. McQuay name dropped Oct. 2013.
MILLER: Was part of the Home Furnace Company started in 1916. Now part of
Nortek Global HVAC
MONCRIEF: Division of York International. See Henry Furnace.
MUELLER CLIMATROL: In 1964 became Climatrol Div. Worthington Air Conditioning. Eventually bought out by Fedders. See Worthington and Fedders.
NATIONAL U.S. RADIATOR (Capitolaire): Acquired by Crane in 1960.
NESBITT: Acquired by ITT in 1963. Divested by ITT in 1979 and filed for bankrupcy in 1980. Now a tradename of Mechanical Specialties, Inc.
NIAGRA: Acquired by Rybolt in 1961.
NORTEK: In addition to the residential names of Nortek Global HVAC, commercial
brands include Mammoth, Governair, Venmar CES
OLSEN: Now part of ECR International.
ONEIDA-ROYAL: Purchased by Utica Boilers Inc. in 1990, see ECR.
PAYNE: Started by D. W. Payne in 1914, later becoming part of BDP with
Bryant and Day & Night. Now a Carrier brand name.
PEERLESS: In 1964 became Peerless Division, Space Conditioning Systems. Eventually acquired by Dunham-Bush with names dropped in mid 1970s.
PEERLESS HEATER: Boiler manufacturer since 1908.
PERFECTION: Became Perfection Division, Hupp Industries in 1964. In 1965, Perfection name dropped. Later known as Typhoon Div, Hupp Industries. Hupp in bankrupcy in 1991. Perfection Industries was purchased by Schwank in 1981, now operating as Schwank Inc. making radiant heaters.
PHILCO: Name used by Nortek under license.
RHEEM: Started in 1927, purchased by Japan's Paloma Industries in 1987.
ROUND OAK: Last listed in 1963. See Peerless.
RUUD: Founded by Edwin Ruud as a water heater manufacturer, purchased by
Rheem in 1959.
RYBOLT: Last listed in 1973.
SILENT AUTOMATIC: (Timken) Last sold in 1961. See Iron Fireman.
SINGER: In 1982 became climate control unit of SnyderGeneral Corp. with name dropped. In 1984 SnyderGeneral operations included Arcoaire, Comfortmaker, McQuay. In 1988 SynderGeneral bought American Air Filter. In 1991, sold Arcoaire & Comfortmaker to Inter-City Products.
SOUTHWEST MFG: Became Heatwave International in 1984, later going bankrupt.
SPACE CONDITIONER: Became Dunham-Bush division in 1968.
SQUARE D: Production resumed as Sun Dial Manufacturing then stopped in the 1980s.
STEWART-WARNER: Last sold in 1976.
TAPPAN: Became SJC Corp. in 1979 with name Frigiking Tappan. In 1982, SJC sold Janitrol line to Goodman Mfg. Tappan name revived by
Nortek in 1998 under license from
Electrolux.
TEMPSTAR: Name used to replace Whirlpool name when Inter City Gas purchased Heil-Quaker. See Heil
THERMOPRODUCTS: Indiana manufacturer of ThermoPride brand furnaces & air condtioners, now owned by Burnham Holdings
TRANE: Started in 1913, the Trane Company purchased GE's climate control division in 1982. Trane was purchased by American-Standard in 1984.
In 2007 American Standard spun off non HVAC lines changed the
corporate name to Trane. Now owned by Ireland based Ingersoll
Rand.
TORRIDHEET: Last sold in 1972.
WATERBURY: Last sold in 1962.
WATERFURNACE: Fort Wayne Indiana manufacturer of water source heat
pumps.
WEATHERKING: Former trade name of Addison Products, sold to Rheem in 1989.
WEIL-McLAIN: Boiler manufacturer started in 1881 as Weil Brothers. Merged with
McLain Co. in 1918. Purchased by United Dominion in 1993, by SPX Corp in 2001.
Now owned by Marley-Wylain.
WESTINGHOUSE: In 1981, sold to Borg-Warner [York]. Sale rights included names Moncrief, Luxaire, Fraser-Johnston all now used by York International.
Westinghouse now used by Nortek under license from Electrolux.
WHIRLPOOL: In 1972 became Whirlpool Div. of Heil-Quaker, a subsidiary of Whirlpool Corp. Tempstar name replaced Whirlpool after Inter-City Gas Co. bought Heil-Quaker in 1986. See Heil-Quaker. In 2002, Whirlpool
name used by Tradewinds Distributing with line they designed based on and made by Goodman.
WILLIAMS OIL-O-MATIC: Last sold in 1972.
WILLIAMSON: Purchased by Hupp Industries which went bankrupt in 1991. Williamson name was purchased by Metzger Machine (Milwaukee Thermoflo) and used on furnace line. Late 1999, purchased by United Dominion, then purchased by Marley-Wylain.
WORTHINGTON: Became Mueller Climatrol in 1970 after being acquired by Fedders.
YORK: Founded in 1874 making ice machines. Formerly a dvision of Borg-Warner, York International
was spun off. York also makes Fraser-Johnson, Luxaire, Moncrief, Winchester,
Coleman, Evcon,
Red T. Also known in the past as Central Environmenal Systems. York was
purchased by Johnson Controls in 2005.
Copyright 2016 John Mills, reprint only with permission!