Lamb Electric Celebrates Its First Hundred Years Founded in 1915, Business Remains a World Leader in Vacuum Motor Technology
AMETEK.’s Lamb Electric business remains a world leader in vacuum motors and blowers one hundred years after its founding. On October 21, 1915, the Domestic Electric Company, the predecessor of Lamb Electric, was launched from rented factory space in Cleveland, Ohio.
Over the years, that business grew from a modest punch press shop that turned out steel parts for other manufacturers into a world leader in vacuum motor technology and manufacture. Although never a household name, Lamb Electric became well-known in American industry and around the world for its state-of-the-art, air-moving electric motors that for decades have set the industry standard in terms of quality, performance and efficiency.
Lamb Electric’s business grew quickly in its early years. So much so, that by the early 1920s had its own factory site in Cleveland from which it began to make components for leading local appliance manufacturers such as Black & Decker, Martin Electric, P.A.Geier Company (forerunner of the Royal Appliance Co.) and the White Sewing Machine Company.
It was its oldest customer, Martin Electric that put Domestic into motor manufacture by having it produce motor armatures and fields. It was during this period that Richard J. Lamb (the company’s namesake) joined as an attorney.
By the late 1920s, Domestic had outgrown its Cleveland factory location and purchased a new facility, a former tire plant in nearby Kent, Ohio. Along about the same time, Black & Decker acquired a 51% interest in Domestic Electric and helped finance the move to the new facility. It also named Richard Lamb as president of the new Domestic/Black & Decker business.
Despite the Depression, Domestic’s business grew through the 1930s. It added such new customers as DeWalt, Oster, Skilsaw and Stanley to its mainstay floor care customers, which included Eureka-Williams, Regina, and Royal among others.
During World War II, much of Domestic’s output shifted to wartime production. It manufactured fractional horsepower motors for various Army and Navy aircraft as well as tanks and artillery components.
Following the war, Black & Decker sold Domestic back to its original owners. At that time the new ownership group decided to rename the business for its then leader, Richard Lamb, and thus Lamb Electric was born. Richard Lamb would remain president and later chairman until his retirement in the mid-1950s.
In 1955, Lamb Electric acquired its second motor manufacturing plant in Cambridge, Ohio. That was followed in 1956 by the acquisition of Lamb Electric by American Machine & Metals, which in 1961 was renamed AMETEK, Inc.
Throughout the late 1950s and 1960s, Lamb Electric added to its product portfolio. In 1964, it pioneered the use of square, rather than round, motor laminations, opening entirely new design possibilities for its vacuum motors.
As its business grew, so did the need for additional motor manufacturing capacity. In 1971, it opened a motor plant in Racine, Wisconsin, followed by another in Graham, North Carolina, in 1977.
Lamb Electric also began marketing its motors worldwide, shipping them to its first major overseas customer, Miele, in 1969. That success was followed by others such that Lamb Electric was recognized for export excellence with a Presidential “E” Award in 1979 and an “E Star” award in 1987. It was one of only three companies to earn an “E Star” award, which was presented to the company at a White House ceremony by President Ronald Reagan.
The 1980s and 90s saw the continued expansion of Lamb Electric’s business both domestically and internationally. To meet a growing worldwide demand for its motors, AMETEK acquired several Italian motor operations and established AMETEK Italia in the early 1990s. It also invested in two modern state-of-the-art motor plants. The first opened in Reynosa, Mexico, in 1996 and was followed by another in Shanghai, China, in 1997.
Today, Lamb Electric is a vital part of AMETEK’s global motor businesses, and 100 years since its inception, it remains at the forefront of vacuum motor design and development. Its latest advancements have resulted in quieter, more efficient, robust and cost-effective vacuum motors for household and commercial floor care and a host of industrial applications.
For more information, contact Lamb Electric at AMETEK Floorcare & Specialty Motors, 100 East Erie St., Kent, OH 44240. Tel: 330-673-3451. Fax: 330-677-3812. Web site: www.ametekfsm.com. AMETEK Floorcare & Specialty Motors is a division of AMETEK, Inc, a leading global manufacturer of electronic instruments and electromechanical devices.
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