Cooper Industries

Cooper Industries plc
Company type	Public (NYSE: CBE)
Founded	Mount Vernon, Ohio, USA (1833)
Headquarters	Incorporation: Ireland Operational: Houston, Texas, USA
Key people	Kirk S. Hachigian, CEO & Chairman
Products	Electrical equipment and tools
Revenue	US $6,521.3 million (2008)
Net income	US $632.2 million (2008)
Number of employees	31,200 (2008)
Website	www.cooperindustries.com

Cooper Industries is a company incorporated and headquartered in Ireland but with its chief operational offices at Houston, Texas. It produces transformers, tools and electrical equipment, employing 29,000 staff around the world. Revenues in 2007 was $5.9 billion dollars.^{[citation needed]} It is one of the oldest large companies in United States having been founded in 1833.

History

Originally the company had been a foundry powered by a horse, but bought its first steam engine in 1842 and was soon making its own engines. Incorporated in Ohio as The C. & G. Cooper Company in 1895, it obtained a new charter in Ohio in 1919 that lasted until reincorporation in Bermuda for tax reasons in 2002. The company was reincorporated in Ireland in 2009.

A leading producer of Corliss steam engines in the 19th century, it switched in the early 20th century to making compressors, and became the Cooper-Bessemer Corporation in a 1929 merger. Continuing diversification led to the name Cooper Industries being adopted in 1965.

In 1967 the company entered the hand-tool business by acquiring Lufkin Rule, a maker of measuring instruments, and subsequently added a large number of other hand-tool businesses. In the 1970s it entered aircraft maintenance, but subsequently sold off Cooper Airmotive. In 1979 it bought Gardner-Denver Company, extending its interests in the energy industry.

Acquisition of Crouse-Hinds Company in 1980 and McGraw-Edison in 1985,^[1] as well as the buyout of Westinghouse's lighting division in 1982, made electrical products the largest part of the company, which has remained the case ever since. McGraw-Edison had been the legal successor to the old Studebaker and Packard auto companies and had some auto parts operations, and Cooper made additional acquisitions in that area including Moog Automotive and Champion Spark Plug, but ultimately sold its automotive operations to Federal-Mogul.

In the 1990s first Gardner-Denver was spun off and then the entire remaining Petroleum & Industrial Equipment segment was separated out as Cooper Cameron Corporation, including all remaining product lines from the company's first 134 years and more recent acquisitions in that area such as Cameron Iron Works. Cooper Cameron subsequently sold the Mount Vernon operations to Rolls-Royce plc, whose chairman remained a director of Cooper Industries.

On 8 September 2009, Cooper Industries was removed from the S&P500 index due to the relocation of its headquarters to Ireland.On 10 November 2010, Cooper Industries plc announced its acquisition of Mount Engineering plc, a UK-based manufacturer of specialty threaded adaptors and reducers for harsh and hazardous environments, and Apex Lighting Controls Ltd, a private manufacturer of Energy Management lighting controls, also based in the UK.^[2]

Divisions

Cooper Lighting

A provider of interior and exterior lighting fixtures and related products to worldwide commercial, industrial, retail, institutional, residential and utility markets.^[3]

Cooper B-line

A manufacturer of support systems and enclosures for the electrical, mechanical and telecommunications industries.^[4]

Cooper Bussmann

Manufacturer of a wide variety of North American and European-styled fuses for the electrical, electronics and transportation industries, plus inductors and transformers for electronic applications. The company also offers engineering, training and testing services.^[5]

Bussmann was founded in 1914 by brothers Al, Frank, Joe, Harry and Lee Bussmann in St. Louis, Missouri. In 1929 it was acquired by Max McGraw (later McGraw Edison). In 1979 the headquarters and plant were moved to the current location in Ellisville, Missouri, a St. Louis suburb. McGraw Edison was acquired by Cooper Industries, Inc. in 1985. In 1993, Cooper Bussmann opened the Paul Gubany Center for High Power Technology.

Cooper Safety

Supplier of personal protection products and industrial safety equipment.^[6]

Cooper Wiring Devices

Supplier of product brands including Arrow Hart and CORE Lighting Controls to residential, commercial and industrial markets.^[7]

Cooper Power Systems

Manufacturer of medium- and high-voltage electrical equipment, components and systems. Headquartered in Waukesha, Wisconsin, the company also provides software, communications and integration products.^[8]

The division's products include transformers, transformer components and fluids, capacitors, voltage regulators, reclosers and sectionalizers; distribution switchgear and automation equipment, electrical transmission, distribution, and industrial power system analysis software; other components and protective equipment.

Cooper Crouse-Hinds

Headquartered in Syracuse, New York this subsidiary markets over 100,000 electrical products worldwide. It originated in New York in 1897 and has been a division of Cooper Industries since 1981.^[9]

Cooper Controls

Global manufacturer of lighting controls with offices in USA, UK, China, and UAE. Product brands include Greengate, iLight, iLumin, Light Factory, Lightprocessor, Zero88. Since 2009, the Greengate division specialises in the US lighting controls market. The line was born from a merger and buyout of Novitas (est. 1986) and PCI Lighting Controls (est. 1982). Novitas is credited^{[citation needed]} with inventing and patenting the technology that created the first-ever automatic toggle switch (what would become known as an occupancy sensor). PCI had been a leading supplier of low-voltage lighting control panels.^[10]

Apex Tool Group—joint venture

Apex Tool Group was formed in July 2010 as a joint venture of two manufacturers, Danaher Tool Group and Cooper Tools. The two businesses offer industrial, commercial, and do-it-yourself customers a selection of over 30 leading brands, including Crescent, GearWrench, Armstrong, and Weller.^[11]