Electrifying a nation

In 1906, electricity was in its infancy as a power source in industrial facilities. Contractors used existing natural gas pipes to run electrical wiring into factories, requiring them to cut off the corners of the pipes so the wiring could be pulled. This method left conductors exposed in the corners – damage was frequent and replacement costly. Some contractors used junction boxes for the corners and where multiple runs originated, but this was unsightly and not always practical.

An upstate New York contractor, Morton Havens, Jr., designed and built prototype conduit fittings that met both his own high standards and those of the U.S. Patent Office. As a contractor, Mr. Havens had little interest in manufacturing his product. Fortunately, he had a strong business relationship with the Crouse-Hinds Electric Company, a 10-year-old joint venture of Huntington B. Crouse and Jesse L. Hinds. The company was housed in a small, downtown building in Syracuse, New York.

Albert Hill, who led the sales efforts of Crouse-Hinds, was confident that Havens’ new conduit fitting could revolutionize the market. He worked diligently to sell the idea to Crouse, who was president of Crouse-Hinds. Crouse was interested, but skeptical: Bringing the product to market would require a large investment in machinery and pattern equipment for an idea he equated to “gambling on a horse with no track record.”

But Hill was undeterred, and he persuaded Crouse to approve the investment. Over the next several months, the company developed the Crouse-Hinds Condulet Fitting Family. The name Condulet is a combination of conduit and outlet.

Good ideas breed success

Coincidentally, the Condulet conduit fittings line was brought to market the same year as the tungsten filament incandescent lamp was introduced as an alternative to the carbon lamp. Crouse-Hinds added the tooling necessary to manufacture new reflectors and cases that became the forerunners of floodlights and searchlights. With the combined success of the Condulet line and new outdoor lighting, Crouse-Hinds outgrew its downtown facility and purchased 25 acres of land in northern Syracuse, where Cooper Crouse-Hinds is headquartered today.

The Condulet family tree continued to grow. By the 1920s, Crouse-Hinds explosion-proof Condulet conduit fittings were widely used wherever there was danger from the presence of explosive vapors, gases or combustible dusts. The introduction of other Condulet lines permitted the safe use of electricity in a variety of hazardous environments, such as petrochemical processing, mining and automotive manufacturing.

In the 1940s, Crouse-Hinds was immersed in war production, and Condulet fittings were essential to accelerating production at munitions factories, oil refineries and manufacturing plants. By 1971, 18,000 products in the Condulet conduit fitting line were being produced in domestic and international Crouse-Hinds manufacturing plants. Throughout its 100-year history, the high quality that customers expect is embodied in Cooper Crouse-Hinds’ Condulet, and its legacy will continue to power the world.